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.

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

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

AT&T Training - Day 23 of 49

Not much to report. Just watched more TV all day.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 18 of 49

I am so happy today to over. Now I got a three day weekend to enjoy Fireworks. I can also take a brake from updating this blog every day...... Now don't get me wrong I love typing my blog I just am not use to posting this often.

Tomorrow at 4am will be leaving for Tennessee. I can not wait. Bummer I only have one whole day down their. We are/I am taking Megan Car so I can drive back on Sunday night to be back in time for class room training on Monday. I sort of wish this strike would happen over the weekend so I could at least get one more day in Tennessee.

So here is the test results for todays test.
Brian 94
Dan 95
Chris 96
Demetrius 97
Me 97
Joe 98

My install was perfect except for I forgot to DRESS my wires in the crossbox which I lost a whole 3 points over. one point for each wire end. stupid. I did not even remember him say dress your wires. According to him he said couple other people did it so they set the requirement other wise he would not care. Everyone else lost points over small things at the install like scraped wire and lose connections. But at least no one failed.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 17 of 49

One more day of this torture. But I am proud of one thing. For the last day we have practiced our hands on test. I feel a bit more confident because the build I did today my instructor said would pass with flying colors. So now I know my method and knowledge is not flawed. But can I build something just as good tomorrow in a different design. Our instructor said we are almost like artists making a design with wire.

Our classroom with a messy table. The night class
mess this room up too but at least we clean it up.

This is the back side of the modal homes we install the U-verse in.
It is a pain having to wear hard hats up their.

I sure hope no installer will ever come into your house and install a router like this.
But maybe if they are a comcrap installer. It just needs to pass not look pretty.

I was not to happy with this job but my instructor said I would have gotten a perfect score for this work if we really were testing not practicing. Look how bad the wiring next to mine looks for the night class. What are they thinking?

C3

AT&T Training - Day 16 of 49

Our instructor does it again. We had a customer service test today and several steps of greeting the customer we had to do. I say I got a perfect score but he dinged me on two stupid things. First he said at the end you did not ask me to turn on my TV's. That was not even on the test as a required step he said to say it two hours earlier. How am I suppose to remember that. He said follow the steps. Then second he dinged me for shaking during the test. Come on I was hungry (All I had was bagel that morning) and nervous because this is a pass/fail test. Of course I would be nervous. This is a one of one chance not a typical one in hundreds of customers that I would really deal with.

The one hard thing to this do-it test is we have to wear all the safety equipment and I tell you who is going to wear a hard hat in someones house and second who will where safety glasses well making coax cable or almost anything. They fog up and you can not see a thing.

Who ever invented the Telephone Company's names for equipment and parts must of had a job at a gentleman club or something because there is a ton of words that sound like they relate to sexual or drug things like 1. Butt Set (Say it 10 times fast and see what end up saying.) 2. Then there is POTS (Plain Out Telephone Service) and more but I can remember then right now.

Two good reminders for inside house wiring is tip-top and right-red-ring. The tip wire is on top or left and the ring wire is on the right or bottom. Also red is a ring color since it is the first color in the column.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 15 of 49

AHHH!!! This is driving me crazy. Our instructor tells us one thing then another. A good example is yesterday and today he says bring your thumb drives and laptop so he can give us the powerpoint files so we can follow the modules easier and easy access for out tests since the test later this week is open book. But then yesterday someone in my class walks up then offers to hand him his thumb drive for the files but then he says we will take care of it tomorrow. So I ask him today if I get the files and he says I will give them to you after class so I ask again after class to hear him say after class meaning the end of week. I do not know about you but to me saying END OF CLASS means when we are ready to go home. Besides what about him saying it will help us with out tests. I claims if he gave us them we will take them to AT&T's competitor and say this what they are teaching. Truly that logic is flawed. First would we do that. For how hard it was to get into AT&T and how intense the background check was being a double agent for Comcrap would be a major operation plus all the cover up and LARGE pay for risking getting sued. Later this week we also have a PASS/FAIL test he says you fail you are gone. NO SECOND CHANCE. WHY? He says you must know this but then says it take you a year to remember this. This say one thing then another and this contradiction thing he dose really messes up our expectation of the week. At least we found out he will not be teaching next week. Someone named Bruce will teach us. Well, Three days left then we will be going to Tennessee. No word on the strike but they keep on talking. I do think it would be cool if they strike well I'm gone. I know it would be tight but it would be cool to get a day or two more in Tennessee.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 14 of 49

Today was day 14 (Week 2) of my 49 days of training. I can not wait till this is over. I am not to happy with this new instructor. It seems like he dose not jokes and he is very serious about the tests. I know and hope he is joking. Last weeks instructor is is building training modals like the one below at a different center. Hope he will be back next week.

AT&T Westmont U-verse Premise Wiring Class Room. Live U-verse Feed in Class.

I finally got my paycheck yesterday. We had the biggest problem finding my check because it had my managers name on it with my name in the corner. Because she had me work Saturday instead of Friday and I am not going to drive 45 minutes just to pickup my check. But because my bank closes at noon I have to wait until Monday. It is a good thing my mom offered to take my check to the bank. I have a few things I need to pay for. 1. Ties. 2. Almost $100 for Gas owed to my Dad. 3. Food/Lunch for the next two weeks. 4. Cell Phone. 5. Razers and Body Wash. 6. Upgrade to the new iPhone 3Gs. 7. Build a new server. (Maybe next check).

I went to the AT&T store and was able to get my 18% discount on my cell phone bill. I said something to Joe my class and he says you can not get any employee discounts until 6 months but I got it and my Manager says I can get my U-verse discount after my 6 months of after I signed up. So I have 2 months left. Maybe he is getting that mixed up.

Hope this week goes quick.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 13 of 49

I finally got my paycheck today and it is big. Much bigger then I expected. Yesterday my dad upgraded to the iPhone 3G and yes I know its the old one but it can do the same thing as the new one except for the specs. I now know I want to upgrade to the iPhone 3Gs. I know I will do that with my next paycheck.

Training again next week.

Today by accident we left a traffic cone in front of the truck and ran over it. Once we noticed the cone missing we went back and found the cone in the middle of the road with two teens poking at it. The guy I was with went to get it and there was a LARGE tire track on it. LOL!!!

I rode with Anthony again we did two installs and one repair. My mom put my referral cards on doors in my neighborhood. I made a deal to split the commission with my mom. Things are looking up.

They took the vote and yes we are going on strike if the contract is not renewed by monday. The drivers have to return there company issued belonging to their lockers every night. What a pain. More details to come. I can not wait till next year let along end of July!!!

I just watched a few episodes of a Anime called Chobits and I think its a real funny Anime. I love the theme song. I'm thinking of buying the series on DVD but it is over $100 for all the episodes.

I'm trying to include pictures with my post again but I would like to insert videos down the road.

C3

AT&T Training - Day 11 of 49

It sounds like a strike it quite possible. People are getting fired up and saying AT&T is being greedy. Everyone wants to get paid more and yes I believe we should get paid a bit more. But I believe it should be between $17 and $20 an hour but not this crazy $28/hr. You got to remember we Uverse installers have no education and most of us have to experience. The first thing I hear out of the typical mouth is "Well, AT&T made 4 billion in profit last year they can afford it.". That is not a good reason you got to remember AT&T is not keeping that money they role it in to next year and use it to expand there service. Profit is progress without profit things fall apart and never work.

I heard the rating results from the Obama Infomercial today and it got 4.5 million viewers. Not do blame me. I'm just the messenger but 4.5 is not that much for how much advertising ABC and WLS had. I'm am so glad the American people are starting to wake up on how much of a bad idea this plan is. Yes, I am not the only Conservative to say the current Health Care system is messed up but there is a better plan then what the Liberals want to do.

The installer I road with todays name was Anthony. He was cool and I basicly got to do my first installer almost all by my self. I gave my input and he let me go to town and do about 90% of the install. We had no choice but to run the wires around doorways and though the wall it was a apartment with no basement access. They had a old punch down block that was not labeled so I had put a wire tracer at the cross box and find the incoming wire.

One thing I will be pushing in the next several days in my ability to get paid for referrals. I got a couple hundred door hangers I will hang on some doors in my neighborhood. If anyone is interested in signing up for Uverse please call 1.877.827.5288 or visit http://att.com/uversereferral and use the referral code "JG092M".


Almost everyday I see a airplane leave out of Midway since my garage is so close to the Airport. Every time I see a plane take off. I track it in the sky and pretend that I'm on that plane going to Japan. PLEASE. PLEASE. PLEASE. Pray for me that I can get though all this training and that this job WILL WORK OUT and I will make it to Japan. I believe I get to Japan SOON!!! My wish for the next two years is. 1. Get a nice new car. 2. I save enough money by June 2010 to take my 2 week trip to Japan. 3. By June 2010 own at least one property and collecting income by renting it. 4. No later then late 2011 have to ability to leave AT&T to pro sue rental properties and follow my dream of Japan by taking frequent mission trips in Japan... 5. By 2015 get married. (Hopefully my dream Japanese Wife.) 6. By 2020 build or live in my dream home that looks just like or is just a Modern Traditional Japanese House... LIVE ON!!!

As you can see in the Image above that North Korea is so close to Japan and if war brakes out between Japan and NK making travel difficult I would be so upset.

Sayonara,
C3

AT&T Training - Day 10 of 49

I have finally reached the big double digit day of my training. I just got home and I am tired. Since I have not worked a full time job in so long this job is taking a lot of energy plus the heat did not help. Today I found out that we trainees are off Friday have to work Saturday. WHY!!!.

Today I worked with someone named Mark he is cool and I found out he is conservative like me and believes the union is corrupt and he dose not trust that the union will fight to get us the best deal. The only two downsides is he is a chimney smoker and I did not like his training methods. My shirt smelled like smoke and the strong smoke smell made my insides burn. I asked him is he could smoke outside the truck but he did not care. Plus not to mention company policy prohibits smoking inside the truck. Today we did two installs and then one repair. It was pouring rain and the tornado warning were going off for an hour but stop and the HEAT returned.

Also some employees were doing some prestrike before work this morning. So I thought something happened and I was in the not suppose to be their.

C3