September Post

This is a time in my life where I need to make progress within my life and I find harder then ever to make progress. I am making some good money again and I have been determined to finally make it to Japan by next May. Because of some mistakes I have made I own a little money here and there but I am unable to pay back any of it with ease. I lost my unemployment back in June and now I am making just enough money to make small dents in my debt. This is discouraging because I wanted to have visited Japan since 6 years ago. I have made no wasteful spending for a last couple months now and I am looking forward to this May that it will finally be my turn for some reward.

I hate making progress then other things fall apart. I finally made a few hundred on the side which could have given me some progress and then I had an on the job injury last week. I have been off work for one week and just went back today. 8 days ago I was pulling some wire in the ceiling in a Dunkin' Donuts up north and behind my back a Light Fixture fell from the ceiling and cut the back of my calf. There was four code violations with the construction of the drop ceiling which includes: 1. The fixture was 2'x2' in a 2'x4' opening with no cross bar. 2. No side clamps holding the fixture to the bars. 3. More then 5' of BX from the light to the junction box. Which left the light hanging 6 inches from the ground. 4. No anchors (Wire or Chains) connected to the fixture and the joists. I went to the Hospital and received 8 stitches and an expensive hospital bill. (Don't get me wrong we have the best health care system in America with some faults that far exceeds to quality of any system in the world.)

On a lighter note the guy who took me to get an X-ray was named Ray. So now I have the joke X-ray Ray. LOL.

As I mentioned before I have been learning Japanese from a private tutor. My progress of learning Japanese is coming along. I get all fuzzy inside when I make my own combinations of words to form sentences that where not directly thought to me. My vocabulary has been lacking since my primary focus is on learning the Japanese alphabet.

By the way, For anyone out there that is interested in learning kana like I am should check out this website I found. (http://www.manythings.org/q/kana.php?u=hiragana) It has some different kana (hiragana and katakana) quiz flash card games. I can already see my progress in learning kana when I get 102 out of 105 correct. That right, 105 variations of unique sounds in the Japanese alphabet. Plus, not to mention that their are two different alphabets with the same sounds and the over 2000 kanji characters which are combinations of kana sounds. This is nothing like when I used "Hooked on Phonics" when I was a kid.

One interesting thing about Japanese is the heavy use of loans words from other languages. Many loan words we use in English come from French, for example, words like beef, pork and poultry came to indicate the meat of cows, pigs and chickens through the interaction between French-speaking landowners (who ate the meat) and their English-speaking hired help (who tended the animals). Most foreign loan words in Japanese are from the 20th Century but quite a few others came into use in the Edo Period and before, including tempura (from the Portuguese word for spice), ga-ra-su (window glass), ko-hi (coffee), and ki-ri-shi-tan (Christian). (Remember, In Japanese, "i" makes the sound of "e" as in "he") In fact, these words have been used for so long they have kanji characters assigned to them, which violates the (modern) rule that katakana is to be used to write foreign loan words.

This time will be different because this time I am laying the stepping stones to solidly hold feet as I make progress to Japan Such as supporting a missionary family in Japan since last march and now seriously learning Japanese. I am putting my money where my mouth is. Please continue to pray for me.

Where Am I?

As much as you probably know I have been off work since April, 2010 and it is probably safe to tell everyone that I was laid off from AT&T. During the past year I have been asking GOD why this stuff happens to me. I tell you, I feel like I have been though more hardship then what is really necessary. My family and I have become more involved with the Revival going on at World Revival Church in Kansas. (Not to mention the trip my family is taking to World Revival Church this weekend.) The other day I listened to a message by Pastor Steve Grey. He said that the fact hardship is present in your life is just a sign that GOD has not abandoned you and he still loves you. I have come to figure out I am like two people from the bible. First one being Joseph and the second being Abraham. I believe that my dream of Japan is similar to GOD's promise to Abraham that he would give him a son and my hardship is similar to Joseph being betrayed. When I was younger I was always jealous of people who always got an easy pass to do what they thought they really wanted to do. I remember when we had are youth trips costing about $450 and I had to raise that money all by my self going door to door selling chocolate bars, but some kids parents would just whip out their check book and write a payment in full on several occasions. I have come to understand that I learn more from a experience simply because I worked very hard to get there. If you compare my current state to Josephs Path then this should be my last major fall and things should start to really look up.

To starting with, My dad informed me that his work is about to hire four new employees for Coffee Services (Dunkin' Donuts Equipment Repair and Install Service) and since I have experience with service calls this job be a good choice for me. According to my dad, the Manager of Coffee Services personally requested I turn in a resume. I know both Steve (Coffee Service Manager) and Dave (Warehouse Manager) because last time I was unemployed I helped my dad with Equipment Deliveries to the stores. The only downside to this job is if I get hired I might have to relocate to around the Orlando, Florida Warehouse. But I believe if I get the job then moving will be good experience for me when Japan comes.

Hardships are sign of GODs love. | My dad works as a truck driver for Dunkin' Donuts DCP.

It's funny how perceptions work differently in different languages. If you're below a certain age, the most famous Chinese name after Mao Zedong (or Mao Tse-Tung if you're even older) is probably Chun Li, the cute fighting vixen from Street Fighter II who shouts "Yatta!" ("I did it!") after she wins a fight. While the brains of English speakers labor over properly memorizing a strange-sounding name like Chun Li, which has no mental hooks for us to attach it with, Japanese have the benefit of being able to internalize the name using kanji characters. Because kanji names have meaning, Japanese might get the impression that Chun Li was a beautiful baby born in the spring, since the characters mean "Spring Beauty."
Someone I am paraphasing this paragraph from said he has a house in Tierrasanta area of San Diego, and just for fun he asked his Japanese daughter what she thought the name might mean. Her answer was really cute: "It means Santa Claus wearing a tiara crown."

I want to tell everyone that in my spare time I am building a website called GetPlugged :: Japan, Please visit it and support me by using it. Please cometinue to read my blog posts and pray for me.

June Update

I can not believe how much time can pass in what seems to be only a week. I hate the feeling of being super busy but not really being busy.

This week my mom and I started a new diet that sounds really awesome. This diet is called "Dr. Simeon's Pounds and Inches Weight loss Protocol". This very strange approach to weight loss has been around for 70 years but has been amazingly improved over time. The first part to the diet is cutting your calorie intake to only 500 calories but this sort of intake is not sustainable with out a Homeopathic called "Human Chorionic Gonadotropin" or known as HCG. Now the strange thing is this is this stuff comes from the urine of pregnant women or at least I know the injection version did. I'm doing the drops that you hold under your tongue for 30 seconds to 2 minutes in which the stuff enters your body. The other day my mom made a joke to my sister saying if she and I took a pregnancy test it would return positive because HCG is the stuff that pregnancy tests detect. My sister jokingly replied saying I should just for kicks. From what I know this stuff is one step from being a hormone that forces your body to brake down fat into the blood so your body will burn the fat in place of the calories removed from the diet. This diet is very limited what you can eat but it comes down to skipping breakfast and avoiding all sugar and oils. Only 200 grams of meat and a couple fruits and/or vegetables each day. But the benefit is losing from one to one and half pounds a day.

My family and I will be leaving for vacation in about one and half weeks. We are leaving June 24th and we will be gone for about 10 days. We are taking two cars so us kids can have more room and freedom on this trip. We are going to Florida first then hitting Tennessee on the way back. I just can not wait. It will be nice to get a fresh breath of air.

Well as you might guess I have suspended from work since early April and things have still not gotten better. I'm waiting on the decision if I will be returning to work or not. PLEASE PLEASE continue to pray for me.

Sometime this week I am planning to start selling high quality Japanese Green Tea (Matcha) as a income supplement. If you are interested in buying some please let me know. I just love the taste of real organic Matcha.

April 2010

Where do I even start with this post. So much to say but so tired at 1:30 in the morning. I know I will compile a list of subjects I want to touch on.

1. Job.... O-: Um, Lets just save this one for the end.
2. Japanese Conference.
3. Cell Phone.
4. Japan.
5. Life.

1. Japanese Conference.
As you might remember from my previous post I mentioned this Japanese Conference coming this May. Well, At this point I can say I'm not going to do it. I could not get the time off anyways but after some talk with someone in charge of volunteers I found out they wanted all attendees even volunteer who where not even going be able to enjoy the conference to payand I don't mean the pay for a room and food, I mean the whole thing even the conference. I don't have a problem to pay for a room and food. But hello I'm volunteering for it. You can't expect someone to freely volunteer if they got to pay almost $200. So unless they offer to wave the conference fee, I out. Which I beat it will not happen.
2. Cell Phone.As I mentioned before I just upgraded my cell phone and I can report I'm still loving this phone. Couple things are annoying but hey far less then some of my past experiences.

3. Japan.
Japan looks like it is definitely in the fine print. Because I don't see it happening till next year because of some big changes in my life that need to be leveled out until then.

A good Japanese TV Series I can suggest you should watch is "Myu No Anyo Papa Ni Ageru". It's a movie about a young father who contracts CIDP.


4. Life.
Firstly last week I twisted my angle then just this Tuesday twisted it a second time and man I tell you it really hurts. There, So if you were curious how much a twisted angle hurt you don't have to wonder anymore because I already tried it for you and I give it a 7 out of 10 of the scale of survivable injuries. 1 being a paper cut and 1o being losing a limb or body part. Just Kidding.

Second we are coming up on us digging around our foundation to replace the drain tile because we have a massive flooding issue in the basement that might of mentioned before. (not to mention it was my room and I want it back.) We are doing it Wednesday, Tuesday and Friday. It will be a big task and I hope to post pictures after.

Third the Anime Convention is paid for and I'm ready for some fun. Others are still welcome you just have to pay the $55 at the convention for a weekend pass.

Next week I'm planing on working hard on developing our company because I've discovered I'm definitely not corporate material.
Well, I guess that brings me to my Job and well... I don't want to go into detail but I can say Tony White my new manager really has become a great manager so far. He is much more encouraging then Jonas and is willing to get me what I need.

One thing I will say is I have been off work since April 3rd........ The one job I was in that investigation I mentioned before was the catalysis and with out saying to much all I ask is everyone pray for me. I'm in a HUGH pickle and I need all the prayer I can get. Sorry for so little detail, I hope to say more in the future.

-C4

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.

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