Job fair tomorrow at Nashville Tech. Somewhat anxious about it since this might be the chance I have for a job. I hope I make a good impression. But then again I’ve been told I sell myself short. I’m not good about talking about myself. I’ve been told all along not to brag about myself. Now when I’m supposed to be looking for a job, I have to talk about my accomplishments and everything. When I’ve been trained to do one thing, and then be told to do the complete opposite, it is difficult to adjust.
Bought 2 CDs today: The Wallflowers – Red Letter Days and U2’s The Best of 1990-2000. Some thoughts:
The Wallflowers’ version of “Everybody Out of the Water” is really different than the one I originally heard before the album was released. I’m not sure if I like the album version. Usually I could count on the Wallflowers not to be vulgar in their lyrics. Yet this song which I enjoyed listening to has one curse word in it.
U2’s Album contains a pletora of remixed hits. One of the better versions is the one of Numb. Instead of Bono’s falsetto voice thoughout, he actually sings normally, which sounds much better and improves the overall song.
I’ve discovered a really good U2 song – “The First Time.” Lyrics are here. Good song with alot of Biblical references. I had forgotten it was on “Zooropa.” It doesn’t really belong on there amongst all the techno songs.
As far as U2’s albums, I have just about every official release from “The Joshua Tree” onward. “Rattle and Hum” and “Achtung Baby” are some of their greatest work. “Zooropa” was a lesser album. “Pop” was my least favorite U2 album. I couldn’t find a song on that album which I really liked. It was very refreshing to have a really good album – “All that You Can’t Leave Behind,” which really put more soul back into the group. Less techno; more rock.
Wednesday night class was good tonight. At least some of the kids listened and made some really good comments. Unfortunately my brain was zapped for some reason, so I wasn’t able to me worthy comments in class. Sometimes I will want to say something, but the teacher in charge will move on so quickly, I won’t be able to comment. Like I said, some of the kids listened. The side of the room I was on, there were a few boys who seemed to whisper throughout class. I knew they were distracted when they brought in the Gameboy to class. Why would you bring a Gameboy to church? But we did put away the computer toys and get started with class.
Frederica
Frederica, one of the school’s janitors, is the heart and soul of Lakeview Elementary School. She has been there since 1978, longer than any teacher currently there. When I visited the school yesterday to vote, she had plenty of stories to tell me. She tells me that Ralph, one of the other janitors was an alcoholic. He died 9 years ago due to lung cancer. After he left Lakeview, she cleaned out his room and found plenty of liquor bottles. Sad. What was even sadder was that one of the students, apparently a close friend of Ralph, was bringing him alcohol to school. I was shocked. I imagined some kid bringing in liquor in their Aladdin lunchbox…maybe Ralph was sipping Jack Daniels from their Mickey Mouse thermos….who knows? What appeared to be such an innocent part of life…elementary school….was actually just the same as some of the things that happen in college, high school, junior high. Innocence has been shattered. That was going on right under my nose and I didn’t have a clue.
We never dealt with drugs or alcohol in elementary school. The only controversal thing I remember seeing was some kid wearing a KISS t-shirt in the 5th grade. I was sure that KISS meant “Knights In Satan’s Service,” so I made sure to stay away from that kid. The problems of sex, drugs, and rock ‘n roll were reserved for high school, and to some extent junior high. I remember one day during my junior high year. One freshmen girl had a t-shirt on which said “Yes, that’s my baby,” with an arrow pointing to her pregnant stomach. I knew I had arrived to a totally different world.
The local news media is reporting each and every election result, no matter how small. At the bottom of the screen, they just showed 61 people voted for Chip Jenkins, the winner of the mayoral race in tiny Woodburn, KY, while 39 voted for his opponent. Why this is significant enough to run at the bottom of the screen, I don’t know.
Honestly the results didn’t surprise me much. I knew the lottery was going to pass, I just thought it would be a little bit closer. Republicans taking over the Senate was a surprise. Usually the president’s party looses seats in the midterm elections.
Exercising Democracy: Sweatin’ to the Oldies
If you are reading this right now, then it is probably too late to vote. Yeah, I voted today. It has been raining all day today, which makes me wonder how that will effect the outcome. It might help the anti-lottery people since they see their vote as a moral duty, whereas pro-lottery folks just might stay home.
Voting was easy. They use an electronic voting thingy at my voting place. Absolutely no problems. The only way anyone could mess it up is if you didn’t hit the button for the next page. Or if you hit the vote button too soon. Honestly I don’t understand how anyone could mess up voting. People just don’t need to be in a hurry to vote. I read over the ballot 3 times before actually voting.
There should be some statewide or nationwide eligible voter database. Voting should be as easy as writing a check at a retail establishment. Someone should be able to go to the polls with proof of citizenship (drivers license or SSN) and proof of residency (water or electrical bill) and be able to vote. Poll workers could use the nationwide database to verify the eligiability to vote. Since most of the election workers are retired people who might not be familiar with databases, it will take some extra training to get everyone up to speed with this system. In 10 years we just might be able to vote over the internet. However right now the chance of fraud is just too high. Somehow something has got to change. I’m tired of hearing my procrastinating friends telling me they didn’t vote because they never got registered.
I’m just glad its all over. I’ve been growing increasingly tired of these negative political ads; the political phone calls; the anti-lottery sermons…. I want it to be all over. There’s more interesting things to talk about.
So I met with some of my teachers at Lakeview. All of them remembered me (or at least acted like they did). It was great to see them again. However seemingly after finding out what I was doing now, there wasn’t too much to talk about.
6th Grade:
My elementary school was K-6. When you got in 6th grade, you might have well have been on the UN Security council or on the Microsoft board of directors. In our eyes, 6th graders pretty much ruled the school. To some extent we did. The school used slave labor of 6th graders to work the bookstore, library, office without pay. They tricked the kids into thinking it was a privledge to work there.
Regardless, 6th grade was fun. We were out in a portable classroom. From talking with Mrs. Day, my 6th grade teacher, we both agreed that it was a good year and a good group of kids. She said the class seemed to bond well because we were away from the rest of the building. Supposedly we missed out on alot of things. I, however couldn’t tell the difference.
We had mice in the portable. I wasn’t too scared of them since they never really got close to me. One kid in our classroom became famous for stomping on the mice once he saw them. Got the nickname “The Terminator.”
Let’s see, “The Terminator” movie came out in 1984, so it is reasonable that was a reference to the movie. But why would 6th graders be seeing rated R movies?
That’s it for now. Maybe I’ll tell some stories about my 5th and 3rd grade years, to go along with the front page pictures.
Digital Enlargements
Friday Five comes from a website called “www.fridayfive.org” These are not random questions I thought up on my own. So just in case you were wondering…..
I spent most of the day making enlargements of church photos at Kevin Bass’s printing company. Kevin was nice enough to let me bother him about it. I hogged Amy’s computer printing out the photos. Digital photos turned out much better than the regular copied photos. I’m going to concentrate on digital photos from here on out. No need to copy meaningless dark photos.
I vote at my old elementary school. Everytime I go to vote I usually try to look up my old teachers and try to see them. A lady from my church is now vice principal, so there shouldn’t be any problems with me trying to see an old teacher. I think my 6th grade teacher and my 5th grade math teacher are still around. So tomorrow I’m going to bring along some old pictures and try to find them.
Redesigning this Site
Is a redesign of this site in order? I’ve had basically the same design and same colors since this site when online. If I do redesign it, the background will still need to be black since I think that looks best. Other colors might change, though. I’m gonna hate having to redo all those cheesy banners which are randomized. Most all of them are in the color scheme of blue lettering on black background. I might have to design the site around that size of banner.
I’ve also thought about putting together a photo page of the people I talk about on this weblog. Just to get a face with the name. So you’d know who “bob” is. Bob already revealed his identity on this webpage a while back. However I think some of the other people might have privacy concerns. So it might not be a good idea just yet.
There is a job fair at Nashville Tech on Thursday. Looking over the list of participating companies, I have a feeling that most of the positions they will be hiring for would be sales positions. I don’t do sales. People are always looking for salesmen. When was the last time you heard of an unemployeed salesmen? Come to think of it, when was the last time you heard of an unemployeed nurse or teacher? People are always getting sick and people are always needing to learn something. Maybe I picked the wrong profession.
I’ve been told I need to get in my application for a job with the state ASAP. The new governor we elect tomorrow is very likely to put a hiring freeze when inaugurated. Since it takes at least a month to get it processed, I might have a chance to get a job with the state before the freeze takes effect. However I’m not sure I want a dead end job with the state.
Top Ten Silliest Historical Sites
Hayride Highlights
It was cold. I sorta wished I had brought a blanket. Our path was paved roads in and around the Corinth community…..Route 52 and Dobbins Pike. I was sorta suprised that we took relatively busy roads around the community. A pickup truck followed us so that cars wouldn’t crash into us going in a high speed. Afterwards: Hot chocolate. Nothing tastes as good as hot chocolate on a cold night. I didn’t take any pictures. I didn’t feel like blinding people with the camera flash. Trying not to rock the boat too much.
My predictions for the upcoming election:
Governor: Bredesen
Senate: Alexander
Lottery: Yes
State House: Lynn
State Senate: Beavers
I haven’t been paying attention to the latest polls, so this is mere speculation. I’ll predict a high voter turnout based on early voting numbers. All of this since the whole Florida fiasco. Everyone knows their vote counts.
Hayrides with Camp Friends
Back to Portland for their fall hayride today. It has been less than a week since I was there last time. I always have to be very much aware not to wear out my welcome there. Sorta trying to stay in the background and not trying to rock the boat too much. Anyways it will be good to see everyone again. They’ve been so welcoming, and they barely know me. I am getting to know them and forming some good friendships there.
Scottsville notes: When I was there for the hayride last weekend, I noticed they re-did the lettering on the church van. Previously it was a hippie inspired airbrush lettering. Now the maroon van has nice white block lettering. And they’ve put the URL of their web address which I maintain. Seems they’ve embraced the concept of an internet presence.
Also the church has their own 1-800 number, which will be very helpful to me if I need to call them for church business. Shelton is really trying hard to jump start the church up there.
It is November already. The last time I have been without work for this long was when I was in school. But I was still working at the Lipscomb helpdesk for the greater part of the school year…..maybe 15 hours/week. And much of it wasn’t hard work. Managed to be able to surf the web while watching the computer labs and assisting students.
For the most part, nobody is hiring. I’m somewhat enjoying the sabbatical. On the suggestion of a friend, I’m going to try to learn MySQL. Many of the jobs I’d like to apply for require MySQL. It is freeware. The only problem is that I haven’t been able to figure it out. I feel stupid. I guess I need to go out and get a book.
Ebay Feedback Generator….if you have
Ebay Feedback Generator….if you have trouble writing comments for your auctions.
Other People’s Religious Upbringing
I find myself interested in other people’s religious upbringing. Looking over everyone else’s Friday Five entries (at http://www.smattering.org/archives/00000773.php ), there seems to be a common theme among many people’s religious preferences. They grew up with some religious upbringing, but they don’t practice it anymore. Sad. Many object to fundamentalist and Catholic holier-than-thou dogma of their religious roots, which is why they have turned away.
I hope I don’t come across as being holier-than-thou. I hold myself to high standards of the Bible. It is hard not to hold others to similar high standards. I realize that many people have not had the same opportunities and religious nurturing that I have had. Why can’t we all believe? Why can’t we all love God and attend church? Why can’t we believe all of the Bible instead of picking and choosing which verses we agree with and which we do not?
What happened to Telalink.net? The domain is for sale. This used to be a relatively big local ISP in the Nashville area. Now I can’t even get to any webpages hosted by them.
I saw on NewsChannel 5 that the Hermitage Kmart will be closing within a year. Sad. I worked there 2 summers in ’95 and ’96 as a sporting goods/automotive associate. Nevermind I knew nothing about sporting goods or car engines. Where am I going to drop off my film to get developed. Wal-mart’s film developing takes an extra day and is a few more miles down the road. I guess I’ll look into Walgreens.
Maybe we’ll get lucky and a Target will move into Kmart’s space. Right now there’s a Target store in Donelson, which is conveniently located for people in Donelson. However I will gladly drive past the Wal-mart to shop at Target. Wide alises, less crowd. I didn’t realize how much I hate Wal-mart.