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.

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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.

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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.

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AT&T Training - Day 30 of 49

Today was officially was day 30 of 49. So I have 19 days left or 2 1/2 weeks. Today I rod with someone named Ralf. He was ok but he also smoked and made me suffocate. I asked to him if I could be more hands on as possible and yes he did allow me to be more hands on but he gave me the tidiest work starting with having me replace all the coax ends while he connected the gateway which I first asked he if I could do. I'm not complaining it just the point is that I will not learn anything if he has me replace coax ends which I already know how to do. I need to do stuff like the NID and Gateway.

I really can not wait until I have my own truck and tools. My old supervisor said she has a IFD (Laptop) and SecureID Tag but she said she is not giving it to me yet. I think because of the pending strike but according my last several instructors I need my IFD to finish training next week. Again I will not learn how to use my IFD until I can personally have it in my hands.

I can not wait until this job becomes a permanent job then I can focus on working and not dealing with training or these annoying ride alongs. Down the road I want to go to Japan with two weeks of vacation and one day buy my first rental property. So get it together!!!

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AT&T Training - Day 29 of 49

AAHHHHH!!!!!!!, I got stuck riding with Mark again today. Not that he is bad to ride with. But one he smokes like a chimney. I asked him to ease up on the smoking but he just ignored my request. I come home smelling like smoke and my lungs burn. I was with him three weeks ago. The one thing I hate is he gets mad at me for any mistakes I make or lack of knowledge. I ask him a question to reinforce my knowledge and he treats me like crap.

Today was the second day I drove my car and it works fine but the engine skips and stutters. My dad says it is a advancing issue but since my car has two distributors my dad is unsure how to fix it.

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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.

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AT&T Training - Day 25 of 49

Hurry, I'm done with this week and PASSED the silly test.

I going to do some car shopping tomorrow. Hopefully I find something. I have been driving my families cars for so long I'm not ready to drive my car again. If anyone
wants to know my personal website is JoelGreene.com and JoelGreene.ws.

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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,
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AT&T Training - Day 23 of 49

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

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AT&T Training - Day 22 of 49

I'm two and half days away from half point but as far as class room training goes I'm over half way though my 4 weeks of class room training. Next week is ride along then I come back for 2 days of voip and 2 days of inside wiring. Then one more week of ride along. Our new instructor is awesome and the most interesting thing is he is Japanese. But he dose not know very much about his origin because he was adopted at a young age. Like expected he can't make out the difference between Japanese, Chinese and Korean even since hes Japanese.

As per the screenshot above this week is all about the internal portion of U-verse. We have to learn how to customize the AT&T Yahoo! Homepage for the customer and teach the customer how to use the remote and TV. This is our last Pass/Fail test and then we are official employees. In a few months we will have to come back and take a advanced trouble shooting class which sounds fun and not. This week is super boring today I watched nothing but 6 hours of TV. The purpose of this part of the training is for the non-Uverse subscribing employees but this dose me no good since I have U-verse. My instructor said to bring in a DVD and that still was not long enough.

My parents will be home tonight after 9pm and I have few things to do. Well, I have chicken in the frying pan let me attend to it and post tomorrow. HERE IS TO MY FUTURE!!!

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2009 Tennessee Weekend

Already my three day weekend is up and I feel like a million dollars..... Well maybe not if I had million dollars I would be living in Japan by now.

I had some fun it was bummer I had to return only after one day. The drive was long and things almost kept going wrong. first I get stuck in a traffic jam around Louisville, KY that took me 15 minutes to get 1 mile to a exit and then took a detour around. Then only 50 miles from home another traffic jam that took me 45 minutes to go 5 miles that got off at the exit and went sort of a long but nice way around. It seemed to go way fast to me. I got home at 8:40 and had to almost instantly got o bed. I really wanted to do it because I know if I did not do it then I might never get out of town for the next year. I hope Japan is worth the pain of all this. Like I have said before people ask me "What will you do you get to Japan and decide you hate it their.". Well..... The answer is easy. "I would kick my self so hard my kids will feel it.". I have invested the last 4 years and more to come to making it to Japan so all the pain and troubled it has brought will drive me crazy. Like I said before I can not explain this passion for Japan I really think I could live without it. But I feel fueled to pursue it.

I took my old dish network satelite hopping to get signal but I think my dish is to broken to work the plastic adapter for the LNB is cracked. I hope to get a different dish so to see if it works next time.

Funny as it is. I would wondering if my grandpa could get DSL at this farm house in the middle of no where and according to AT&Ts website yes he can. Which is a surprise. But not washburn which is a small town only 5-10 minutes away can get it.

Click Here for my Tennessee 2009 Pictures.

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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.

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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?

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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.

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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,
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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.

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AT&T Training - Day 9 of 49

Well, Not much to say about today. Today I had some guy by the name Marcus. He was cool and seemed to have better control over the situation and was able to give me a whole lot more to do well plus not to mention a 8 Set Top Box Setup...WOW. So far the last 2 crossboxs I saw had 1/3rd new wire code (yellow/black) meaning 1/3rd of the people in that box were on U-verse already. The lady was real nice she keep offering us food but because of company policy had to turn it down. At one point she ask how we worked for 9 1/4 hours with no food. But after that Marcus went to a deli on Archer and Charleston in Willow Springs and they had some really good sandwiches. I got a three meat and two cheese sandwich on wheat and man it was good. This place looks like it been there for 100 years. Hope places like that never close. Willow Spring looks like Cape Cod.

The guys at my work keep telling me that we will be one strike next week and are so worried. I'm not worried about it. There is nothing threat until the 27th is here. I heard though the grape vine that the Union dose not pay you for going on strike but only expects you to show up one day a week. I think to many follow way to close to the Union they act like they work for the Union but they need to realize that its AT&T they actually work for. Mostly these are new guy who get the job and they run around shouting "I'm in the Union you ****** ******". (Yes as you can guess the people at my work use words like that all the time. Surprised they can hold back around customers.) It will be quite interesting if we do end up going on strike and because of it I get to go the Tennessee the whole time my family goes.

I found out a new guy yesterday had an accident and fell though the customers attic ceiling. he scraped his sides falling between the rafters and was rushed to the hospital. No word on his condition and in other news my paycheck will be coming this Friday...YAY!!! I keep telling myself the prize for doing this much work is JAPAN next year.

まにかかる　まろ　あす (menikakaru maro asu),
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