one week left

finished interviewing for conductor jobs last week and on friday we started our outdoor railyard training.  have to be at the yard at 6am for that so we can avoid the heat.  After this week I basically play the waiting game until a job opens up somewhat close by.  Most of the jobs available now are in far away places like Wyoming, Montana, Texas, and Louisiana.  There should be some Kansas and Missouri jobs opening up in the next few months. 

Bowling Average update-147.1 (161.1 in the last 100 games) been an up and down last few weeks but I got some help last week from a guy working at the alley and bowled pretty good tonight-for the first time ever i bowled back to back 200+ games.  Pretty happy about that!

Other news…I dont think i’m gonna get a car until i get a job, its gonna suck to not have one for a while…

Passed

got a 96% on the final.  missed 11 out of the 280.  appeared to be one of the higher scores in the class.  woo-hoo!

railroad “bar exam” this friday

my final over all the railroading rules is this friday.  its 280 question multiple choice and you have to get 90% to pass to work for BNSF.  There are some leways in that if you miss between 29-43 questions, you can redo just the questions you miss.  otherwise you have to retake the whole thing and you get one extra shot at that.  beyond that you have to wait a while before you can attempt again. 

if all goes well, i should start interviewing next week!

car wreck pics

everything looks fine here….

oh no…

good thing i was only riding with my imaginary friend.

had to jimmy the glovebox open with a crowbar to get to my papers n’ stuff (crowbar not pictured).

dash is a little jacked up.  radio still works though, as does the engine.  the damage pretty much stopped about halfway through the car.  which was nice for me.  i was disapointed the airbags didnt come out though, i always wanted to experience that.

if you look closely you can see the broken tierod.  thats really all that was preventing me from still driving the car.  couldnt turn that wheel.

got a whole $250 salvage value for this thing.  and thats all i’ll get most likely.  a solid $5k down the drain in less than 8 months. 

thoughts about “school” in general

got a lot on my mind today

anyway yesterday in class i started thinking about how much i really enjoyed railroad school compared to any other school i’ve ever gone through.  why is that?

I think eventually with the rediculous costs of college now, people will probably gravitate more toward trade schools.  to me, you learn enough “basics” in high school that you dont need 2+ more years of that (gen ed) in college.  really all you probably need to do is figure out what you like to do most and spend maybe a solid 6 months learning it at a trade school or on the job training (obvious exceptions for really high end work like doctors, lawyers, architechs). 

yes, i get the idea that college is more than just the classes.  its the life experience.  fine, go live in a college town, maybe take a few fun classes and have a part time job.  you can still get that experience and not spend 10’s of thousands of dollars.  then dive into whatever you really want to do later (when you are even more sure of it).  how many people are sure of what they want to do when they are 18?  heck i didnt decide on this railroad thing until i was 24, and this is a solid 3 years after i already knew i didn’t like what i was learning at kstate.

i just meet too many people who never use their degree for what they intended and they are way in debt for it.  i just dont see any way that keeps up in the long run.  or maybe it will, i dunno society is never in a hurry to change whats broken.

been an eventful year

even before today’s events…

last night i was thinking about this.  i’ve had a lot happen to me this past year, moreso than in other years.

May/June 05 parents move into new house for first time in 25 years and i help build the basement

Aug 05 finally quit my job at hillcrest for good after 7 years and also move back home for first time in 4 1/2 years

Sept 05 after realizing i wouldnt finish school till the next spring i get a job at gold bank

Dec 05 the 86 toyota i was driving breaks down and i get a used civic in its place.  i also resign at gold bank for numerous reasons

Jan 06 start my last semester at kstate.  also jen and i call it quits for good after an up and down 2 years together

May 06 graduate at kstate

June 06 visit seattle, start railroad school

July 06 car totaled

last summer i knew i just wanted to fast forward to aug 06 cause i knew everything in between would be long and difficult and could only at best be ok and at worst be a total life disaster.  that of course still remains to be seen (not getting hired by the railroad would seal that deal).  just another month to go.  please God help me through it. 

If Job had owned a car…

I’m fairly certain he would have dealt with what i’ve dealt with the past 22 months.

Sept 2004  Car Stolen (95 acura)

Dec 2005 Timing belt destroys engine (86 toyota)

July 2006 Car totaled (94 honda)

yeah some dude barreled into me today when i was turning left at an intersection.  he kept going straight(from the other direction) when i had a green arrow.  so he crushed the passenger side of my car and the repairs are beyond its worth.  The question is my word against his and a few witnesses (that left the scene but apparently contacted the police). 

oh yeah by the way i’m ok and so is the older gentleman who hit me with his lincoln towncar. 

he said he had a green light and thats about all he said.  all i said was i thought i had the green arrow (the light is a duel green arrow/yield light) and circumstances would appear to validate my green arrow right of way.  It’ll probably be a while till it all gets sorted out and meanwhile i have no car….

if i win, i’ll get a check for close to the value of my car and otherwise pay nothing.  if he wins i get nothing and my ins pays his repairs and i get a bad record.   if we tie i still lose cause i dont have full coverage…but i wouldnt have any marks on my record.

sigh.  it doesnt pay to own nice things.  we are clearly meant to live simple lives and not bother too much with earthly things.  thats about all i can take from this, just like i have in the past.

i thought these games were all about realism

someone on a webboard recently pointed out a crucial inconsistency in the NCAA football video games.

observe:

ku’s mark mangino in the video game

hmmm not real close considering:

and now a much more likely depiction:

coming up on the 3rd week

currently listening to: Smashing Pumpkins-Earphoria

currently playing: Gamecube-NBA 2k2

train school week #3 began today and we got a new instructor.  out goes the 37 yr old guy in comes the upper 60s guy (just for this week it appears).  he’s much dryer but has more rr experience.  kinda funny though, since he has been in the railroad since 1970, as we are going over more safety rules (which i’m finding out is basically what this entire course is about-how not to screw up) he likes to add things like “its a good thing this rule is here now” or “a lot of people were getting hurt/killed before this was in effect” or “haha they sure don’t let us do that anymore, those were the days.” 

I did manage to get 100% on my open book final last week.  it was over hazardous materials so now i can safely transport Spent Nuclear Fuel across America (and other rediculously dangerous explosives/flammables/combustables/poisons).

My bowling game has not been good for a few weeks, but i blame bad practice habits and wasting my time with golf the past few weeks.  should do better starting tomorrow night.

in other news, all but 1 or 2 of my closest friends will be living with a female roomate this fall.  most are not married.  i’ve got a good picture for how that usually turns out:

 

1st week of RR school/4th of July

currently listening to: Sunset Rubdown-Shut Up I am Dreaming

well if i ever had any doubts about whether the whole RR thing wasn’t for me, those are gone cause I’m definitely liking this.  Took my first “final” and got 97/100, one of the highest in the class.  I’m pretty excited for each day to come as i learn more and more.  can’t wait to actually get outside in the yard and start doing the stuff we are learning.  that’ll happen in week 5 of class. 

From what i’ve gathered in a little over a week, my life will change quite a bit come mid/late august.  if i go to work for BNSF (who runs the course i’m taking), i’d likely start out in places like emporia, newton, or arkansas city rather than KC.  But i can put my name in for a transfer once its available.  That would probably be at least a 6 month wait or so, but it would happen eventually.  Thats fine by me. 

I would be on call 24/7/365.  Planned events will pretty much go by the wayside in day-to-day life.  Anything i’d really want to have a whole day for i’d have to ask off.  work week will likely be well over 50 hours but i’ll be making pretty good $$. 

4th was fun, played some more bad golf over the weekend, and i think thats it for me this year for golf.  that sport just isn’t for me, i’m sticking to bowling.  shot off a lot of fireworks at my uncles house like we do every year, but for the first time ever i managed to see some friends on the 4th.  we were gonna shoot off some more stuff at a friends house in lawrence, but about 30 minutes or so after i got there firetrucks came by because of a bonfire in the backyard (that was perfectly legal, they have them all the time at this house) but whatever, some neighborhood woman freaked out for whatever reason.  so now i have a lot of fireworks leftover.  oh well…next year!