New for 2010

It is official congress haves passed a unwritten senate health care bill, now it is the judicial branches turn in which I know and hope they turn it down for being unconstitutional. Apparently there are 38 states that are planing to take this to the courts about and 10 have already started. They claim the government is forcing the states to do something that would to much burden on them.

My dad on Saturday tripped and hit his face on my sisters car fender in which he put a big cut in his chin. (and swung tons of cat liter on the hood.) He went to the doctors office and had to get 7 stitches...OUCH!!!. It only took him a couple hours but we were thankful we do not have ObamaCare yet because if we did it might have taken several hours instead.

I should probably not say this because I don't know who is reading it but when I got back to the garage on Monday from Pole Climbing I discover that Jonas (My Manager) is once again out to get me. He tells me about some job I did where the customer was IRATE. Weird Word because it dose not mean "I Rate You" or something like that. Apparently it is a word that AT&T likes to use a lot. They must of liked it better then saying "Your customer was angry". Yes, I should of paid more attention to detail but that was nothing compared to the real problem. Which sorry to say I'm not going to get into. (NO NO It is nothing like that. It was a stupid complaint.) But it comes down to Jonas was seeking to fire me. This time we sat in a investigative meeting and Jonas tried to chew me out for this and that but Justin on of the other managers actually stood up for me and said Jonas we need to look at what the company says how to do a job not make up our own ideas and that was one of the wises things I have heard Justin ever say.
So now I have not heard anything yet which I'm glad and hope there is nothing else.

Also on Monday I learn that almost everyone including me was denied their transfer request. The only ones who got it was those who said they would transfer into the city. BUMMER!
I was really bummed out because I wanted to get out from under Jonas mainly because of the reason above.

So come last Friday and I learn that Jonas is being transfer to the northlake garage and my new manager will be Tony White. This will take effect the 29th and hope it goes over well including hopping Tony is a good guy.
Big news I finally upgraded from my old Motorola Rokr E1 to a new HTC Tilt 2 (Smartphone). I have been out of contract for almost ichi-han (1.5 in Japanese) years. This new phone is nice but I was disappointed in the TouchFLO shell from HTC so I just disabled it went to the default Windows Mobile interface. Yes, I am not a fan of Microsoft but because I'm into modding I figured the HTC was my best choice since the iPhone is not that modable except for jail breaking it. But so far I am happy with this HTC.

And the last thing on my post today is my excitement to attend the Anime Convention coming this May. I'm still hopping to get the time off approved. It is in May on the 14th, 15th and 16th. So any of my friends who enjoy Anime you are welcome to join me. I'm real excited because Anime is one of my favorite ways to learn more about the Japanese People. No, I don't mean like Japanese People watching one of our Soap Operas to learn about American Life because we all know that is a made up wonderland or sometimes horrorland.

Oh and one last thing my parents have suggested that I not focus on Japan this year and instead focus on buying a house since the prices are so low and the first time buyers credit ends soon. (Which I might still miss.) If I did this my dad would put focus on joining me next year even try to get my grampa to come too. This is disappointing to admit they are right but why is my goal of Japan such a problem for me to reach. Please continue to prey for me and ask god to send me tons of connections over this year especially at this conference I'm volunteering for this May.

Pole Climbing, Bucksqueeze and Ladders. Day 5 of 5

I am so glad this training is done with and passed. Last week we finally had preference (Garage Transfer Request) for us techs and today I found out half the people in my class had already got approved for transfers starting Monday. When we first were told this transfer would not go though until April 15th. It must be March 15th because Monday would be the 15th, maybe I was misinformed.

My first choice was Mokena and Second was Chicago Heights. Hope I get one of them.

Like I said I passed my class and was one of eighteen people who passed. We had twenty people, 4 instructors, 18 passed and 2 failed. One failed because of a titanium knee that bugged him climbing and the other failed because he believed the chemical they use to preserve telephone poles is cancerous. I would not be surprise if that was true but the fact we might rarely climb poles after this class the 5 days of contact should have a minor effect. Besides most I&R Techs have been climbing poles for decades and never got cancer or so I think.

- C4

Pole Climbing, Bucksqueeze and Ladders. Day 4 of 5

Another official for me I pasted my 18 foot climb test. I am very excited and relived to be free of that burden.

See more picture at this link on Facebook.

I think this picture deserves to be framed and hung in my bedroom with the caption "For god has not given me a spirit of fear but a spirit of courage and peace."

- Joel Greene

Pole Climbing, Bucksqueeze and Ladders. Day 2 of 5

I am happy to report that at 10:20am on Tuesday I passed the 6 foot test. It is a good thing that our maneuvers do not chance on the different heights just the height. So I will enter Wednesday morning session with a sound mind and the brave spirit of the samurai. I NEED YOU TO PRAY THAT THE DEVIL WILL NOT OVER TAKE ME NOR WILL I INJURE MY SELF. My right leg is bugging me already.

I will be on that pole between 7 and 11 this morning so pray like never before. If I have the courage I might even go for the 12 foot and 18 foot test in the same day.

Pole Climbing, Bucksqueeze and Ladders. Day 1 of 5.

If the title makes you wonder it should because it is the title the course I have been enrolled in starting today and going till Friday. I tell you climbing a pole if one of the hardest things to do. I required to use a bucksqueeze fall restriction device to prevent the user from well hitting the ground. Apparently the user will and can still hit their face and body into the pole.


Today I climbed as high as 8 feet then realized how much I was afraid of heights. I confident I can pass the 6 foot test and maybe the 12 foot test but I'm scared to death of the last test of 18 feet. Please pray for me that god gives me strength to climb that pole without fear and without forgetting the steps. My fingers are cold and fatigue from gripping the bucksqueeze. I'm trying my hardest not forget the steps but when I learn a new step I forget something in between.

I feel like I deserve a reward if pass this class at the end of the week. I might have to think of something myself.

Feb Update 2

So I return to work tomorrow and I'm definably going to say something to my union rep. Boy how time goes by so fast.

I e-mailed someone by the name of Justin and Amy who are on their way to returning to Japan for Missions. I just thought I share my first e-mail.

<<< --- Start of E-mail --- >>>

Dear Justin & Amy Perry

My name is Joel Greene and I am 23 years old and currently live in the South Chicago Suburbs. I first heard of you guys though some friends of mine and it is great to hear what you guys have been doing in Japan and admire you for it. For the last 5 years I have had a strong burden on my heart to help spread Christianity in Japan. I have prayed hard since then and have decided that I would like to take a short trip to Japan to help me find out if this is what God is calling me to do. I have had some contact with Christian Japaneses involved in the ministry and Missionaries over the last couple years but the disappointment is that every time I make contact they either past the buck to some else or forget about me all together.

My family and I have been attending Believers Church in Matteson, Illinois for more than 17 years. I have had a youth pastor who is very involved in missions and would have guest missionaries quite often. In fact my father has even been of mission trips to Guatemala. I know this must be God because when I was about 12 years old I would sit in my Youth Group and listen to my Youth Pastor and be scared of God calling me into the ministry or a place like the 10/40 window but now I have a peace about this. I have committed myself to God for whatever he wants me to do even if that includes relocating to Japan and going full time into the ministry.

The reason I'm contacting you is to ask if at all possible you can get me in contact with ANYBODY that can help me on my quest. I may finally have the opportunity to visit Japan coming this June if the right connections are made. I work for AT&T and I have saved half of my goal of $5000 and about 3 to 4 weeks of vacation time. (which is only available to me in whole in the month of June) The only bummer at the moment is my work blacks out the last two weeks of June and any other time is already taken. My Union Rep said he might be able to get me special consideration if I can provide a letter from a missions organization proving that I'm requesting the time off to do what I really am doing.

I am really just in love with Japan, I love the people, their culture and location and I just feel extremely burdened to help. I've attended Japanese Events, Been to conferences, Eaten their food (a lot) plus I've even worn a Kimonos. yes, I have even come realize that there is still a lot to work to do and It might not even work this year (again) but this is closes I have ever come to it possibly happening.

Mental support is one of the things I need. Thank you for reading my e-mail and please help me out. I'm behind you and I pray for you.

Sayonara,
ジョエル グリイン (Joel Greene)

<<< --- His Reply --- >>>

Joel,

It sounds like the Lord has definitely put Japan on your heart! We are actually not leaving for Japan until August. We start our term at the beginning of the school year in Japan.
My advice is just to remain patient. When I returned to the USA after my first mission term when I was 23, I was prepared to get ready and go back right away! Well, this is 2010 and the Lord has delayed my returning to the field for six years! It doesn't sound like you'll be delayed for nearly that long with the time you've spent raising funds and accumulating time off. Let me tell you from experience, when the Lord allows you to go, the door will open wide for you. He probably has a time and a place for you to serve the Japanese people and it's just not here yet. From experience again, let me tell you that while you are waiting, get as immersed in the Japanese culture in Chicago as possible. Especially, get to know Japanese people; build relationships. Make friends with some guys at the sushi shops, at the markets, etc. We found a nice, intimate Japanese restaurant in Wicker Park when we were in Chicago in 2006 and it's a place like that where some great relationships could start.
Keep in touch and we might have a lot better connections for you after we move. I will definitely pray for you and your desire to go to Japan in His service.

-JustinP-

<<< --- End of E-mail --- >>>

I will be sure to continue to talk with him.

Small Things Add Up

I find it funny how thing just seem to add up and seem to become even bigger then one big.... thing.
Time goes by and a lot of small thing add up fast until it become time to post it on my blog about those things to the best of my knowledge. And you know now is one of those times.


For starters some good news. Ever since I filed my tax return and somehow had some extra money left over. I now have over $2500 of $5000 saved up for my trip to Japan. I get a grin on my face every time I see my savings balance. Now I need people to continue to prey for me because now I'm running to problems getting the time off. Because of my hired date my Vacation Balance will be the fullest around June 12th. So I thought I would go to Japan the entire month of June. But now I find out that the last two weeks in June are blacked out by the Company because of the end of second quarter and the first two weeks are already taken by employees. I talked to our Union Rep and he said that he said try to get special permission from our Regional Manager to allow me to get the month of June off anyways. But he said I would need a letter from a missions organization to confirm that I'm doing what I say I am. So it sounds like I have no choice but to go with an organization. But SEND International has not gotten back with me about the missions open coming this June for a assistant to a christian camp in Japan. If I get a hold of them I will post more details then. But basically I NEED TO TALK WITH THEM ASAP.

Now for the bad news. I am NOT working til next Monday............................ because I got suspended again for something SUPER SUPER stupid. Super Long Story Short I was on my way to a customers house. On my way there I called the customer and the customer told me she was busy had some appointment babababa.... Basicly she wanted to rescheduling. After she said NOT to come I was already in front of the house. But since she already denied dispatch I called CRC (Customer Retention Center) to notify them and left to my next job. The only mistake on my end was not calling my Manager just to notify him. Where I got in trouble was about an hour later the customer called in and complained that I refused to do the work and said I just left. She claims she NEVER told me to reschedule. When I heard this I was speechless because I could not understand why they would say tell me to reschedule then call and say something else. When I told my boss that I called CRC he basically called me a lier without saying it. He pulled my phone records and in the investigation meeting had to ask me what the CRC phone number was. I told him and he looked at my phone records and I could see the look on his face when he saw I not lying about that. Few Days later he hands me a FIVE DAY Suspension for something this crazy. My union Stuart said she will fight this hard. I will update more about this later when I learn more. I just fell like my manager is out to get me.


On a little note I redrew my Anime Character a couple weeks ago with a new aspect and I think she looks more like an Anime Character.

I'm in the works of starting a Anime Content Review Website where I will judge Anime & Manga based on Christian point of view and list any profanity, lanaguage and more. I encourage people to give it a try and give me feedback. I'm also in the need of anyone who can help me contribute to the site. Visit it Here

Enjoy the rest of your day,
Joel Greene

Twenty Ten?

WOW... Some year 2009 was and it definably held up to the title of "Year of Growth and Gain". So lets see this years title will be the "Year of Rewards and Discovery". Yeah, Now that title gets me excited. Seeing that Japan MIGHT JUST MIGHT be coming in June just makes me leap for joy. I already have my two weeks of vacation saved up from my first 6 months then come June 12th I get an additional 2 weeks. I'm trying to plan that I can enjoy Japan for a very long time. So here comes REALITY. First I still have the burden of raising at least 4 THOUSAND DOLLARS, Second my parents suggestion [which i sorta agree] of a traveling buddy or at the very least someone I can visit/stay with while in Japan and Third Travel Plans. So continue to pray for me.

I just ordered my own customized Travel Guide for Japan.
Here is the link to my new guide: http://printer.offbeatguides.com/pdfs/screen_25801_20100118-103255.pdf

On note with my job, Tomorrow I'm go for training on how to hang drops. When our union contract was renewed last year one of the new duties was to hang drop not get INR to do it for us. I'm actually going to the second part which is how to actually to hang the drop the first part is how to climb a telephone pole which we ask why because we are going to use a latter anyways. I asked why part 2 before part 1 I was told that they said it did not matter what order you go. I'm bummed that my class starts at 3:30 in the afternoon till midnight Monday though Tuesday and then Wednesday its 3:30 to 7:30. It will take me an hour and half to drive to the training center in Westmont. I'm amazed at how much effort my garage makes at keeping company asset at the garage but has no problem with you taking them home when it comes to you need them for training. I was told that in the past they would have the employees drive to the garage then drive there company truck to the training center. I'm glad I get paid for millage.

Sayonara

Update 7

At the beginning of this year when I decided this would be my year of growth in which I was correct. In this year alone I have got a new job that's paying me more then any other I have ever had. I also got a brand new(USED) car. I'm still wondering about next year though.

In three days I will have OFFICIALLY hit my official 6 months and my boss can finally drop that silly excuse of why I can't do or have things and I will have my first week of vacation available for my long desired JAPAN TRIP. My Union Stuart said I have a total of 13 days off (7 days vacation, 3 floating and 3 personal. I think!) So I had her project them into June. It still is not set in stone but if June works then I will take all that time off in June before June 12th and then I will immediacy take my next set a vacation days off right after that. So I will have a total of 26 days available to enjoy Japan. I better have enough money saved up. $5000 Minimum... I guess I will stop hoping for other people to help me out in my quest for Japan and I not talking money. I'm talking Support. Yes, My parents, Grandparents(Dot and Gary) have been the most supportive but people like my Grandparents on the other side sort of disappoint me with their WHY JAPAN??? attitude. They ask why not just settle down with a American Wife and exceed in your job till they put you in the grave... NOOOOO... I have never been normal nor am I willing to accept normal. If something is normal I make it abnormal on purpose. I have a bumper sticker in my car window that says "NO NORMAL HUMANS ALLOWED" in both English and Japanese with the outline of one the most abnormal characters from one of my favorite Animes to show some flare. So please every one who reads this just accept me for my DREAM and just accept that is what I want to do. My BIG dream is to get it to Japan and meet a VERY CUTE Japanese Christian Girl and get married and possibly one day follow my dream of Japanese Ministry. And I'm not talking the preaching on the stage stuff. I talking work that will help someone else expand their ministry by giving them IT support. It surprises me some people still just do not believe I will carry out this DREAM. I fell like they are calling me loser and a failure before I can have the chance to decide for my self.

So I back from Florida and it went fine. I got a short breather from the craziness of work but yet I'm return to it yesterday. I fount out that my schedule it super crazy this month start with yesterday when came in expecting a 7:30 or 8:30 shift but no I got scheduled for 11:30 super surprising since I never had the chance to see the schedule before hand. At least my boss let my start earlier since I was there. But Wednesday though Saturday I will start at 11:30 like now I'm waiting for that magic 10:30 to come around so I can leave. Then I got to work Sunday for the first time ever at AT&T. then I have Monday and Tuesday off. I scheduled to work 11:30 the week of CHRISTmas including working CHRISTmas day. This is a insane month so please wish me luck.

I will post video of my Florida trip very soon. Stay Tuned!!!

Sayonara,
C3

November Update

It always amazes me how fast the year can come and go. Before I know it I've worked 5 months at AT&T, Got a new used car, It's getting cold outside and I'm almost 23 years old. (Most scary of all.) As I mentioned before my union is filing a grievance over the whole suspension thing which was approved. I got my paycheck and was only paid for two of the three days. Will let them know. Our stewards said that our garage almost never fills grievances and not because we have no problems it's just a lot of employees are ignorant. They said if a manager says your BAD numbers out loud or you work more/less overtime then everyone else on a regular basis then that is a grievance. Yesterday I was on 111th street and at 4pm (quitting time) my manager sent me to the other side of our area for a simple 1 box install. Over a 111 blocks away. Took me an hour to get there and once I got there a text message went out saying all AM tech could go home. Something was wrong when he said that there was still tons of jobs left. I did not get home until 10 o'clock and yes I do get paid for it but I really don't care about that.

The weather is awesome but we have rain scheduled for tomorrow.

This morning I heard the news that the house on Saturday at 12am passed the Nancy Polosi Health Care bill the most radical of them all with the public option and more!!!. The government is now one step closer to controlling all aspects of your life. You may ask how Socialized Health Care controls our lives? Well, Once the government is paying for all your health care bills they will use that as a excuse to dictate what you eat plus how and when you exercise. Imagine going to Wendy's and ordering a Baconator but given a salad instead and when you ask why they say you failed your health exam "It's The Law!!!" or how about getting a letter in the mail say you have been automaticly scheduled for a routine Health Exam. It's bad enough getting a drivers exam or jury duty. This is just one of the several reasons why Socialized Health Care is not the way to fix the Health Care Issue. We could cover the uninsured for far less then a trillion dollars. At least the Senate has not passed it yet. Watch this cartoon I found from 1948 about government take over of the private sector.



C3

Update 6.2

So last Thursday (10/15) I came into work and was given the news that the Suspension was canceled and was not suppose to be delivered. So yes my Union is filing a grievance to get me paid for those days. This is so far the only reason I like having a union. It is complicated but there is other reasons I don't like unions. This week I tried requesting two days off so I could possibly join my family in Tennessee for our last weekend out of town before the SUPER COLD gets here. But I had TWO not ONE Managers come to me and say we can not approve your request because... BEATING AROUND THE BUSH... Stuff about my seniority is the lowest in the garage and I'm under 6 months. What BS. The only reason they should bring up seniority is if someone else requested that time off too but NO they did not and why is the stupid 6 months so important. Most companies do 90 days but not AT&T... I so need to get a transfer to a different garage. I do not want to miss the possible upcoming preference...

I got my paycheck the other day and I got my signing bonus and retro pay since we renewed our contract the 1st. I had a over $3000 dollar paycheck before taxes. I hope the put a lot of the money away. This is a big stop to saving up for JAPAN...

[OLD CAR]

[NEW CAR]

Here is the LONG awaited picture of my new (used) 2002 Toyota Rav4 I bought a couple months ago. The thing is fun to drive and gets good MPG. I'm getting 21 to 26 MPG. I got the OIL changed today at the dealership since I have been doing a ton of driving and also today I received my IPASS in the mail. I'm so happy because now I can drive the toll roads without borrowing my dad's IPASS. I also included a picture of my old 1993 Ford Mustang.

C3

Update 6.1

To continue my last post. I last said that I was delivered a suspension notice for a so called preventable vehicle accident but was put on hold for the week until the suspension is approved my my Union but I was redelivered the notice last week on Oct 7th. But this time they changed the dates to the 8th, 13th and 14th. I asked my Union Stuart if this suspension was approved but so far she dose not know. But she said that if the suspension was unjust then they will file a grievance that will get me paid for the three days of suspension.

We have two employees in my garage who like to mess with each other. Yesterday I found that one of the employees had wrapped a reel of coax around the others truck. Just a little funny side note I thought I would share.

As I also mentioned in my last post I was attending a Japanese Christian Outreach Conference last week on Oct 10th. I went and had a great time and learned a lot of new information. If I had to pick one thing I learned it was that we christian need to let Japanese Know when reaching out in Japan that they can honor there Japanese Culture and use it to worship god. Most churches in Japan are very Westernized. Most Japanese view Christianity as a "western" religion but it is not God had his hand in Japan from the very beginning. Many christian researchers believe that even though the Japanese believe in Many gods and spirits (also know as "Kami") but wall scrolls in two of the oldest temples in Japan show that there is three gods who created everything with no begin nor end. Christian researchers believe this is reference to God, Jesus and the Holy Ghost. This conference gave me a positive encouragement for Japan but the side effect is it just made me want to go even more.

I also met a guy by the name Paul who has a passion for media creation to outreach to Japan. He has made about 8 short movies filmed in Japan in Japanese but none of them have been released due to distribution problems he said hopefully you will see them out in 8 to 10 months. The cool thing is these are not your typical christian film with bible verses and strong christian morals no these films are mode to be accepted by the main stream media and so far they are. One of the films has been running in film festivals for the last 4 months and has gotten excellent results.

Sayonara,
C3

Update 5.3 - 2 of 2

This day was crazy. First I got a job to install service I called and went to the premise with no answer. So I had to JEP (Skip, Cancel, Return. You Pick your favorite.) the job for NO ACCESS and pickup a new job. So I ended up getting two repairs which I hate repairs. You never know what the install did and you have to hunt for a problem. But I believe tomorrow will be better then come Thursday is my day off and my mom and me are going on a date to Mitsuwa (Japanese Grocery Store) and IKEA. I'm staying in my sisters room until we refinish my old room aka the basement. So we are going to IKEA for some decorating ideas.

C3

Update 5.3 - 1 of 2

I am 10 minutes away from leaving for work. I am so excited because today I officially go LIVE. More details to come latter.

AT&T Training - Day 37 of 46

Day 37... Well still no word about Friday. Today we did Inside Wiring the stupid thing is what we are doing is basically the same thing as earlier this week. It is a real bummer that the other techs have to do this for a whole week. If nothing happens for Friday, I'm thinking of asking my manager if I can just have Friday off.

Out of the blue I have gotten two orders on my JMPetProducts website. One was for four copies of a book written by Jack. (A vet my family has know from church for the last several years.) and other order was for some bracket for a fish filter which I can not find of my drop shippers website. I raised the price on book after this order because this my third order for it and I am not making any profit from it.

Asakichi-san emailed me and said he was sending me some more green tea from his grand mother. I need to think of a gift to send him in return. I like making this connection with Asakichi because I hope if I visit Japan one day we can meet up and he can give me a personal tour.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 36 of 46

8 days remaining... Thank god. Today in class we finished up the second day of Voice over IP training. Tomorrow we will learn Inside Wiring which seems it could be merged with Week 2 Wiring Week. Today we found out that our instructor switched with tomorrows instructor. So he will be teaching Inside Wiring tomorrow instead of Frank. I also found out the they are not sure if we are suppose to do Pole Climbing on Friday. Seems that some managers say we do but the instructors say there is no Pile Climbing scheduled for Friday. They know this because there is no instructors scheduled to teach it on Friday. I guess we will see.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 35 of 46

As you know this week is my last week of class room training. I hope this week will not be that bad since I only have 4 days instead of 5. Tomorrow will be the second day of VOIP Training. Wednesday and Thursday we will learn Inside Wiring. Technically we already learned this but according to our instructor some guy in who knows where drilled into a water pipe and he claimed he did not learn how to drill in class so that is the only reason we have to take this IWing class. Then Friday we will return to our garage. Part 1 of this week we have Nick as our instructor, He is only 26 years old. Then in Part 2 we will switch with the other class that going on at the same time and our instructor will be Frank.

I have adjusted my total days of training to 46. Day 46 would fall on Friday July 31. Now Deduct the two days for this weekend and that means my remaining days of training is "9".

On Saturday my dad and I tried replacing the one of two coils on my car to try to make it run better. My dad saw on a forum someone suggested to unplug each coil. One at a time and the one that give you problems most likely is faulty. This has halped a bit but my car still stutters from time to time.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 32 of 49

OK, OK, OK, I know I forgot to post yesterday. The last two days have been tiring. Going from working 5 hours a week to 11 hours in a single day really takes a hit on me. So yesterday I rode with someone named Thomas he was finally the person I needed to ride with he had me do so much. As soon as my manager Justin said to ride with Thomas, Thomas put his IFD (Laptop) in my hands and my first though was "OH Great, He is the type of guy that makes you carry all his stuff" but then we got to his truck and asked if I wanted to drive. At first I though he was joking, Me drive? What an offer. But, I declined because I felt I was not that confident to take the wheel just yet. Then he told me dispatch our first job. I was like okay where is the camera? Whos playing this joke on me. So far no one has offered for me do so much of the job. So I dispatched our first job which then resulted in getting a two STB, VOIP and Internet Install. On our way he even told me to call the customer. We got to the job and he had me do everything except install the STB boxs. Which is no big deal the previous guys I rode with had me install plenty of boxs besides he needed to do something too. I wired the Gateway, NID and COAX Backfeed. I was so excited.

Today the guy I rode with (Which I can not remember his name.) had me do a lot but not as much. But I did not care after yesterdays ordeal. Today we did two repairs and one install. I coordinated the install and upon arrival found the customer tore down their old house then built a new one on top of it. the DROP was cut from the house so we had to call INR to come install a new one. That took two hours then we installed the service and that took another two hours. Fours hours for a install is not good since all the customer was getting was VOIP and Internet.

So next week is my last week of Class Room Training. Two weeks left then its my turn to go LIVE. That might be fun.

My garage is so close to Midway Airport that every time I see a plane take off I day dream that plane is heading for Japan with me on it. I can not wait until that day comes. One thing my dad has always told me "A lot of people believe god is calling them to someone but when they magically get from point A to point B without any pain or labor then I believe they were not truly called.". Not to say miracles will not happen but the whole should not be a miracle. Look at me I have then desiring what I believe is my calling for more then 3 years now but yet I know old friends from my childhood who just decided "OH, I want to go to Japan" and suddenly half their family seems to come up with more then 3/4 the money for them to stay there for more then 6 months. But yet if I want to do it I need to earn at least $5000 just to visit Japan for two short weeks. I was always jealous of those people. But now I believe I am really being called to this since things are not coming that easy. This road I travel is a long and dirty path. Continue to pray for me please.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 28 of 49

Today I did a ride along with someone named Milton. I got in my garage today and found out they changed my Manager Again. This time from Angie to Justin. Wonder Why? Today was the first day in a while I drove my car to work. On my way home I stop at the same traffic light that it stalled at a couple weeks ago and I prayed my car would make it home. Thank god it did.

One Sunday we did a couple things to my car like install the new alternator and top off the transmission oil which fix the main problem. On Saturday we looked at a couple cars but because I have no credit no one will approve me without a co-signer and my dad does not want to co-sign. I guess I'm stuck with my mustang for a couple more months. I'm looking at two cars I like Ford Mustang Convertible 2000-2004, Camero w/ T-top and Hyundai Santa Fe. Yes, I for some reason like that little SUV. I was thinking the Santa Fe would be nice because it is a somewhat large car so transporting stuff will not be problem. It gets 21/25 MPG. Which is what my Mustang gets already. I figured I should wait to get a new car but I hope my mustang holds out until then. Pray for my car to continue to run.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 24 of 49

Well, Again not much happened just watched more TV.

We did get out early at 12:45 on good behavior, Just Kidding!. But yes we did get out early. Our instructor said he has done about 25 classes on week 3 in Chicago and he said our class is in his top 5 favorite. He said we were so far always on time and we listened and did not think we known everything. (If I did not mention before our instructor is from Indianapolis.)

I watch a movie called "Knowing" today. Most of you know what this movie is about. It was not a bad movie but I hate movies where in the ending everyone dies even the Hero. "I am legend" ended like that. You should read the review from pluggedinonline.com here.

This morning I drove my dad to work since my car has been out of commission for the last 4 weeks, I think. We left the van at home so the rest of the family could go see "Monster VS. Aliens" at the discounted rate. So we got out early and I all of sudden realized I will have to wait to pick my dad up from work but then I remembered I need to get my hair cut so I went to the Trend Setters School in Tinley Park. (If you are on a budget this is were you should go.) I still had to wait for my dad for 45 minutes but at least I got my hair cut.

I had two funny things happen today first I was driving down the road and noticed a construction sign on a bridge and since the medium was so thin someone had ran into the sign and cracked the corner off the sign. Then at Trend Setters I got my hair cut and the girl who cut my hair was so nice and did such a good job I decided to give her a nice tip of $8. Well, when I paid I noticed a lot of the girls had ice cream and I said "Yum, Ice cream sounds good right now." and the lady said "Go in the back the Ice Cream Truck will give you some for free." even though I did not work there. So she walked me though the building and the class rooms then out the door. After I got some Italian Ice I walked back in the door and noticed the girl who cut my hair was standing on the over side of the room talking to some girls and hold my tip envelope in her hand. As so as I walked in she said "I don't maybe he though I was cute!" then she saw me then blushed and broke eye contact. I left the place with her embarrassed and thinking I gave her such nice tip because she cute. Not to say she was not cute. She was very cute and I will leave it at that.

So I got to get tested tomorrow. So pray I have no problems and remember the steps perfectly. Our instructor said he has never failed anyone so this should be a snap. But I still need confidence. I have always had a bad case of shacking when nervous. I'm slowly fighting to not to shack but since I was young I would always shack when nervous. I had one time someone wanted to ask me about a situation that happened between me and someone else and I known I was not in trouble but I shock rapidly because I was nervous. Last week during my last test I was shacking and my instructor asked me why I was shacking and I said "I usually shack when I'm being tested". Then he embarrassed me in front of the class by saying "You are not being tested."; Because he was asking me as a customer. But I would never shack in front of a customer put on the field and I will be your best in customer service. For crying out loud I worked in Customer Service since the being. I was always the top Customer Service rep at Radioshack.

Sayonara,
C3