all done!

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!

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.

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!

weekend/1st day of railroading class

Currently Listening to: Smashing Pumpkins-London 1994 bootleg 

first off, a shout out to my ancestrial countries in the world cup.  obviously i’m rooted for the U.S. to do well, but since they didn’t I was happy to see the Swiss and England make it to the round of 16.  The other countries i have heritage with, Ireland and France…well Ireland didn’t make it into the world cup and i dont care much for france…so yeah enough soccer.

Got back from a nice trip to oklahoma over the weekend to visit my cousin Matt and his wife Amanda.  played some bad golf twice, although i did manage to post a sub 110 score which i guess is progress.  hopefully i can get closer to 100 this next weekend when i play in topeka. 

train conductor school started today and i enjoyed it quite a bit.  There is about 120 or so people in the 6 week program, and they divided us into 30 person classrooms.  In my classroom there was 2 fairly distinct groups of people-

1. The kid just out of highschool looking to follow in his father’s/family’s tradition of railroaders.

2. The upper 30s/low 40s married guy with a few kids who decided his exisiting job wasn’t cutting it money/benefits wise or just didn’t like his job.

I of course was the minority as a 25 year old single guy just out of college.  I’m fairly sure most of the people there didn’t have a college degree.  A lot of people talked about their previous job and it included things like “corrections officer in a texas prison” (lot of people from texas in the program) or manufacturing jobs.  I’m happy to get in at a younger age than most of the people there because railroading is strongly based on seniority when it comes to how a lot of things operate.

I do have homework/quizzes everyday, but nothing real difficult.  There are exams every week, all multiple choice-my specialty.  Its a lot of info to memorize but nothing i can’t handle.  It sounds like I should be a shoe-in to work within a few weeks after the program is over.  Just hoping its somewhere near KC.

my 6 week vacation is going quick

Currently Listening to: Smashing Pumpkins-Siamese Dream  

1 week left till train school.  Been trying to adjust my sleeping patterns so i’ll be ready to be up by 7am for class.  NOT EASY when you are used to a 4am-1pm sleeping pattern.  I’m already late for bed as i’m typing this.

OK, still living it up a bit before class starts…went to worlds of fun this week for the first time in 2 years.  i think the park is in about as good a shape as i ever remember it.  The new feet-dangling Patriot roller coaster is a sweet ride.  But my favorite is still the ricketty(sp?) as ever Timber Wolf.  Any ride where you feel like it will separate from the track at any moment is a winner in my book.

Trying to sharpen up my horrible golf game for a trip to Oklahoma next weekend to visit my cousin and his wife in Ponca City.  Usually manage to get down there about once a year.  Only a 3 1/2 hour drive or so.

Hey, 4th of July is coming up, my favorite holiday!!  Bout ready to start shopping for fireworks soon.  YES.

LAtEr

a relaxing time

currently listening to: Tool-Aenima

just finished reading: The Davinci Hoax

just saw: X3

2 weeks since graduation and i've mostly just been playing a lot of poker, biking, sleeping, seeing some movies, bowling, and reading.  In the midst of that I did manage to enroll in Train Conductor school at Jccc.  I've been accepted, the final paperwork is on its way to me.  School starts in 4 weeks-its an 8am-3pm M-F class for 6 weeks. 

Bowling Average Update-145.6 (overall-329 games) 159.6 (last 100 games)

Been bowling really well lately, usually well over 160.  Didn't end up joining a league this summer, but perhaps in the fall.

K, thats it, I'll probably update again before I head to Seattle on Sunday!