Oh Crap

I'm recovering from a week long bout with Strep Throat. It's the second time this year that I've had it (it's been miserable) after never having it the previous 32 years of my life. This illness has been inopportune for a number of reasons.

Last time I had strep, it took me about a month to work back up to where I was in my workouts. With my upcoming fitness tests, I can't afford to be out of commission that long.

I don't know where I picked it up this time, but I started feeling the effects of it in California on our mini vacation. Dad made an amazing smelling (and tasting) pork shoulder on our last day there, and I was too out of it to eat more than a scrap or two.

The next day I had to drive back to Utah. Jennifer and I were supposed to work on Saturday, so staying an extra day wasn't really an option. I couldn't drug myself as heavily while behind the wheel, and about 4 hours in I really started feeling the effects of strep bacteria running rampant on my throat and tonsils. We made it back to Spanish Fork and Jenn dropped me off at an urgent care office so I could hurry up and get on antibiotics.

I spent the 25th in bed trying not to breathe or swallow too much. I didn't get to see any of the kids open their presents. I had to call my route regular and ask her to cover my Saturday, she didn't seem too enthused about having to work the day after a holiday, and I don't really blame her, but there was no way I could have gotten around town delivering mail in the cold for 6 hours that day. She told me she would cover it, but that she had also decided to take the rest of the next week off. I thought I might be healed by then, but I would have preferred to have more time to get completely well.

Friday and Saturday were the bad days, and yesterday it started feeling better.

I went to work this morning. There were a ton of stupid magazines that I needed to get sorted out for my route. Experienced carriers usually take 2-3 hours of prep work before they can leave on their routes. I was in there for 6 hours this morning, and left for what would probably be 6-7 hours on the road. I still only get paid for 8 hours. When I left, the main roads were clear, with snowbanks built up on the shoulders, making quick delivery impossible. I nearly got stuck a few times. Once, after pulling up close to a mailbox to deliver, I pulled forward over a gigantic block of ice that I didn't see, and ended up putting a really big dent under the door of the van.

I had been out for about 4 hours and only was able to deliver about a third of my route. I started to think about the rest of the week, and how I wasn't getting any healthier sitting out in the cold, and how I've got to fly to Texas in 2 weeks to take one challenging CPAT and another that isn't a cakewalk. I also thought about how much damage and wear and tear I'd done to the van, and how the vehicle allowance I was receiving wasn't coming close to covering it.

I ended up quitting the post office today. It wasn't a bad job really, I enjoyed doing it. My boss said my timing to start was bad and that he understood my decision. If I had started in the spring, I could have learned a few routes and warranted buying a vehicle with right hand drive and 4x4 in time for winter. Since I was only guaranteed 22 hours a month, purchasing a vehicle would mean that I was only making enough to pay for the car that I delivered mail in once a week.

So my already crappy unemployment situation has somehow gotten worse with no end in sight. I really don't know what I'm going to do.

Dinky Vacation

Since we are very uncertain how far away we will be living next Christmas, we decided to take a short trip to California this year. We're spending 4 days with my mom and dad, and then driving back up so I can deliver the mail on Saturday (should be delightful with all the late packages and After Christmas Sale ads.

I still haven't heard back from Oklahoma City about how my interview went. I was told that they were still undecided if they would be able to budget for new positions. I'm hoping that no news is good news, because if I hadn't done well enough to be considered for a job, it would have been easy to tell me even if they were waiting on budgetary decisions to be made. I'm not holding my breath though, but I'd be happy to work and live there.

I am forging on in the Houston FD hiring process now. I was called 2 weeks ago about getting travel plans there in the middle of January. I'll be taking my fitness test, getting interviewed, fingerprinted and polygraphed. A few days later I will be taking the San Antonio fitness test, which is great because it saves me another plane trip and forces me to spend a few days in the area checking things out. I intend to go to church in Houston and ask the people there where I should be looking to live.

Anyways, thats about it for me. I'll post news whenever it happens.

How it went

I'm in the Denver airport right now waiting another hour for my plane to Salt Lake.

The Oklahoma City interview went ok I guess. There was a pretty strict time limit on the panels, and I forgot to mention a few important things, like that I'm fluent in Spanish. I also may have said a thing or 2 that I'll probably regret when final scoring comes out, it really depends on what mood the panel was in when I was with them. Some of my hardest worked for goals have to do with running track, and since I ran at BYU and they happened to ruin the Sooners' season this year, I couldn't not mention it. I think it went over well, but you never know. They're not even sure they're going to have positions approved for next year, but as soon as they know they'll notify who is continuing on with the process. I think there were about 80 people total that were interviewed, and I heard they only want to hire 10. I'm not sure my chances are very good, but it would be an amazing place to live if it works out.

San Antonio looks pretty promising after showing up for the orientation. As long as I don't fail during the process, I should get offered a job for the June academy, if I don't already have a job before then. They made it sound like scoring high enough on the test was the hard part of the process. Their academy looks fairly intense as well, it would probably be fun.

Oh, the bacon on the burgers at Nic's is amazing. I hope I didn't go there for the last time.

Heaven?

I am now back in Oklahoma City for my interview tomorrow. I got in this afternoon and sat around the airport for a little over an hour because I didn't want to have my rental car for more than 48 hours. I didn't eat anything all day, not really by choice but by necessity. I slept as late as I could this morning, and only made it to the airport about 45 minutes before my flight took off. Since I knew in advance that I was going to be hanging around the OKC airport for a few hours, I didn't buy any food at my stop in Denver either.

The plane I flew to OKC in was a little tiny dual propeller plane. They didn't have room for carry-on luggage in the cabin, and they asked us to check larger bags at the gate. Normally when you gate check your bags, you get them immediately upon de-boarding the plane. Instead, they sent them all to a carousel, which meant that I had to leave the terminal where all the restaurants are, and wait for my car outside at the baggage claim. I wasn't too happy about that.

Anyways, I got my car, and finally left to go get something to eat. I stopped at the same BBQ place that I had eaten at last time, hoping to try something else on the menu. It turns out they were having their Monday Night Buffet. All the ribs, brisket, pork, beans, potato salad, coleslaw, hotlinks, and soda I could eat/drink. It was awesome. I went a little overboard with the brisket and pork before I realized that there was fresh apple cobbler and peach cobbler for dessert. I painstakingly cleaned my plate of the BBQ, and got a small serving of each cobbler. I figured that since I was already stuffed, I wouldn't be too impressed with the cobblers. I was wrong, they were awesome and I wish I would have eaten a lot less meat and a lot more cobbler. I'm in my hotel room right now wondering if I'll ever want to eat again. Boy there are some good restaurants out here.

After my interview tomorrow, I'll be driving to San Antonio in my Chevy Cobalt rental for a CPAT orientation on Wednesday. It's a 7 hour drive. When that is over, I'll immediately get back in the car to drive back to the OKC airport and hope I make my 7:30 pm flight.

The food makes the hectic schedule worth it. Totally.

Eat at Nic's

We watched an episode of Diners, Drive Ins, and Dives during one of our visits to California. One of the restaurants was in Oklahoma City, a little burger shack that might be able to squeeze 15 people inside. It looked really good. I was hoping to get to go during one of my trips. The last time I went to Oklahoma City, I was just getting over strep throat and a greasy burger wasn't sounding too appetizing.

I did my physical agility test today. When I was done, I drove straight over to Nic's. It was around 11:30 when I showed up, and there were people waiting in line outside to get in.



It didn't take long to get in, and I asked for the fried chicken special. They were out. There were a few people inside that were eating it, I must have just missed it. I got a cheeseburger instead.



There were just 2 guys behind the counter. One cooking, and one taking orders, bussing tables, and refilling drinks. I learned the hard way that if you order bacon on your burger, you've got to tell the guy making the burger as well as the one taking the order. The bacon looked so good, but since they were so busy trying to keep up, I didn't want to bug them to get my order right. I'm way too polite sometimes, I'm sure it wouldn't have been that big of a deal. I've been kicking myself all day now, thinking about 2 strips of thick bacon that I left sitting on the grill.

Conversation with Emery

Me: What are you doing?
Emery: I guess I pooping.
Me: You're pooping?
Emery: Yes I pooping. You change me?
Me: I don't want to change you. I don't like poop.
Emery: Yes you do.


It now smells in here. I guess I'm going to change a diaper. It doesn't mean I like it though.

A Cute Bunch of Grapes

Jenn tells me I'm in charge of putting up the videos.

Emery was pretty cute in her purple grape outfit. She really didn't want to put it on, but as soon as we told her she was going to get a lot of candy she halfheartedly went along with it. After she found out how easy it was to get candy, she got really excited going from door to door.

We all had a really good time.

Happenings

I finally was able to see what my testing schedule for San Antonio is going to be like. I set up an appointment for my CPAT (fitness test) orientation for Nov 18, the day after I will be interviewing in Oklahoma City. I'll be driving a rental car from Oklahoma City to San Antonio on the 17th, and then driving back on the 18th after orientation to catch a late flight and return the car. It's going to cost me slightly less than taking 2 separate trips out there, but I'll save a lot of time which is nice.

I also will be allowed to waive my practice session in San Antonio, so I won't have to take an unnecessary trip out there in December. I'll fly back out in January for the actual test, unless I am either hired on with Oklahoma City or the Border Patrol by then. I was really worried that I was going to have to make 3 separate trips out there for a job that I wouldn't be able to take if I was already hired somewhere else. I'm happy that lately for once, something is turning out somewhat in my favor.

I am doing my carrier training for the Post Office this week. It's been kind of boring, but it looks like it will be a decent job once I finally get to do it. It's really too bad that they only hire part time substitutes for 8 hours a week. The instructor of my class is telling us that there probably won't be too many openings for the next 20 years or so because now whenever someone quits a route or retires, they'll split it up and give it to existing full time carriers rather than let one of the substitutes take it over to become a full time employee. I don't know if that's just what is happening at his office, or if that's how things are going to be everywhere for a while. Right now, I'm just glad that I don't really have to count on it, and that I have other options.

I've looked into what it is going to take for me to finish my bachelors degree. I'm going to be taking advantage of the General Studies Bachelors at BYU. I looked at my transcripts and found that I am only 16 credits short of a degree with an emphasis in management. It may not mean much, but it will at least be a piece of paper I can hang on my wall, and maybe open up a few more opportunities for me down the road. I'm hoping to get my paperwork filled out soon, so I can possibly finish my degree by next Christmas, maybe a little later if I'm in some sort of work related academy for a few months. I've given up playing the golf video game that I was wasting so much time on, and I'm more than ready to ditch all the stupid facebook games. I think I should be able to knock my required classes out quickly.

Job News

I received notification that I passed everything in the Border Patrol hiring process, and that I am now on the hiring list. Everyone that makes the list is guaranteed an offer eventually, so I shouldn't be jobless forever. From what I understand, a lot of the applicants are waiting 4-5 months now from the time they are notified that they pass until they are actually offered a job. They usually offer 2 locations for you to pick from, so we should be able to get a somewhat family friendly duty station. There are a few places that we probably won't be able to accept just due to the lack of amenities for a large family.

This is nice, because it leaves me time to see if I can get on with Oklahoma City Fire. It also gives me time to learn a few routes at the Post Office, and maybe pick up a few extra days a week.

Sunday Afternoon Session

Jenn's dad had a few unclaimed tickets for today's afternoon session. Rather than let them go to waste, I took Bailey up there so she could go to a session once without the distractions of her brother and sisters.

We got there about 45 minutes early, found a seat, and waited.

It was nice to not be pressed for time, we weren't hurried, and we took in what was happening around us. About 20 minutes before the session started, it was announced to everyone that there was no picture taking or recording allowed. Immediately, flash bulbs started going off all over the center, and Bailey asked why people continued to take pictures even after we were asked not to. I told her that a lot of people don't think that the rules apply to them, and that I hope she never turns out that way.

The session started with such an amazing choir performance, "O Divine Redeemer" that I had tears welling up in my eyes. It is amazing how well the Tabernacle Choir sounds in person, and when everyone around you is quietly listening with you. It really brought the spirit into the conference center.

I loved all of the talks, and to be honest, it was the first time in a very long time that I felt like I got something out of church attendance. It was nice to not have to deal with hyper and/or noisy children.

At the end of the meeting, there was still a large number of people heading for the exit during the final hymn. This time, I just felt sad for them. I didn't want the session to end, and here people were climbing over each other to get away from feeling the spirit. Bailey asked why people left, and I told her that some people apparently don't respect our church leaders. I told her that it showed disrespect towards Heavenly Father and Jesus, and the prophet and apostles. I asked if saving a few minutes in traffic was worth the disrespect shown, and she was smart enough to say no.

We took our time walking back to the parking lot, looked at the cool art exhibit they had, and took the long way around the conference center to look at the trees lining the building exterior. When we got to the car and waiting for 5 stories of parking lot structure to start moving beneath us, she told me that she was glad she came. I'm glad she did too.

If you've never attended a session of conference before, it's a good idea to try to make it at least once, if anything just to listen to the choir in person. If you go when it's raining outside, there aren't many antis outside showing you posters and yelling at you that you're going to hell. I guess our souls aren't worth saving if it's wet out.

Baseball discussions with kids

Jennifer made me post this so she would have something to read at work tonight.

The Dodgers are playing the Rockies tonight, hopefully to clinch the NL West. Living in Utah, I don't get to watch a whole lot of Dodger games, usually only when they play the Rockies, because that's what comes in over FSN Rocky Mountains. It was nice to be able to catch a game that actually means something, and I was hoping that they wouldn't choke away another game tonight.

Anyways, since Jennifer is working tonight, I had all 4 kids watching the game with me. Whenever I'm watching any sports at all, the kids (mostly Cam) ask me who I want to win, and then decide to root for whatever team I want. Sometimes, when I'm watching a college football game between teams I don't care about, I'll try to see how they pick, the girls usually pick based on uniforms or mascots, and Cam picks whoever is winning (I hope that doesn't mean I'm raising a Yankee fan) I filled them in about the history of my sports fandom, and that the Dodgers are the only team I still like from my childhood. I haven't been able to stand the Lakers since Kobe came to town, and I hate the idea of liking anything that the retards who run Hollywood are into, but I digress.

Cam asked me who I wanted to win, the white team or the black team, and I said the white team. He asked who they were called, and I said they were the Dodgers, and to look at their hats and don't they look just like mine. He asked who the black team was, and I told them they were the Rockies. What a silly name. During a commercial break, they showed a promo that had one of the Rockies having a staredown with their mascot, who is a triceratops. Cam asked why the black team master (mascot) was a dinosaur and not a rock. I can only assume that if there is a connection that there have been dinosaur bones discovered somewhere in Colorado. He reminded me about going to the Bees games in Salt Lake, and I told him that I had been to the stadium that was on the TV, and that it is a nice place to watch a game. He then told me that he had never been to a baseball game, and that I needed to take him to one for a Daddy/Cam day, I reminded him that he had just told me that he remembered going to Bees games. Back to the game on the TV, one of the Dodger coaches got tossed for arguing balls and strikes. I told the kids what an umpire was for, and Cam asked why the Rockies' master umpire wasn't a rock. He then forgot who was playing and asked me for the team names again, and who was winning (still tied) Every time they threw a new pitch, he'd ask if someone was winning. I'll work on his baseball knowledge next year I guess, or maybe during the playoffs.

We bought a tee and some soft cover baseballs when we lived in Lehi. Cam is pretty coordinated hitting them with the bat off the tee. He's also pretty good at anticipating where balls that I throw are going to end up. I'm hoping that by the time he's 8, we can afford to let him play some baseball.

At the risk of offending the Negative Thought Police..

...who has been paying very close attention to my family lately, I thought I'd relate a little disappointment from the morning session of general conference.

I was excited to go be in the same building as our prophet today. It was overall a pretty decent experience. What really floored me though were the numerous hosts of people who got up and left during the closing hymn. I mean, I'm not one to leave meetings early anyways unless my kids are really misbehaving, but to ditch general conference in order to avoid traffic while President Monson is looking out over the audience, wow. Some people had an easy escape, they were sitting on the edge of their rows, but there were others sitting near the middle that had to plow over everyone sitting between them and the exit just so they could get a head start out the door. Maybe there were that many incontinent people there that could only hold on til the end of the talks, but I seriously doubt it. Really, if it's that important that you avoid traffic, watch it from home or at your stake center.

Bailey and I are going to the afternoon session tomorrow. I hope there aren't as many inconsiderate jerks there tomorrow, but if there are, at least I'll be able to teach Bailey how not to act.

If you want to call me out for what I have written here, make sure you're someone who's opinion I actually respect first.

Post Office

I finally have a start date with the Post Office. I start training on October 19.

The day before going in to fill out my paperwork, I got a call from HR, saying that there was a problem with my application. There was some sort of mixup between them and the agency that did my drug test. It was noted on my application that I had either not shown up, or that I had refused to give all the samples required of me.

I called the agency up and asked what the problem was. They didn't know, and they told me they'd call me back. They didn't.

Then next morning, I had to leave early to get to Salt Lake to fill out the paperwork. I was already on the road at 8 am when I called up the Post Office HR to ask if my problem had been cleared up. It hadn't been, and they told me not to come in, that I could take another drug test later, and start at a later date. I told them I was already on my way, since I lived far away, and that I'd like to come in and hope that things get resolved. By the time I got there 45 minutes later, everything had been worked out.

In other news, we went on a hike/drive on Monday afternoon up Payson Canyon. I posted some pictures on my facebook account. The leaves were really pretty.

Jenn and I are going to conference tomorrow morning. It may be the last time that we live close enough to be able to attend.

Letter Carrier

I just received notice that I am going to be delivering mail in Payson. I'm the Saturday substitute for one of the rural routes there. Eventually I'll be able to sub for 2 more routes as I memorize them. It will be part time for quite some time, but there is potential for it to grow into a very nice job someday.

I'm hoping that with this part time job, that it will be easier for me to find other part time work.

When I get more information about it, I'll share it.

Dilemma

I've got a little dilemma. I applied for and was offered a temporary job doing data entry for the next 14 days non stop. The pay isn't great, but it is work, and it will stretch out my unemployment for a few additional weeks since I won't need to make a claim.

I felt about as good as I could about the offer (I had just sat in a computer lab for 3 hours, suffering while the Hep B shot I got yesterday took control of immune system. I was looking forward to a few weeks of work, and then I checked my phone.

Oklahoma City had called while I was in trying to get a job, and left me a message that I needed to be there in September 8 for a CPAT orientation. One of the requirements for the first job was a need to attend work 14 days straight.

Anyways, I'll be calling the fire department tomorrow morning and getting as much information as I can to make a good decision. Oklahoma City is one of the 2 firefighting jobs that I really wanted, the pay is good, the cost of living is very low, and there is a housing development a few blocks away from the Temple that is very very affordable.

Please keep me in your prayers.

Grrrrrrrr Pennsylvania Turnpike, Grrrrrr McDonald's

I've spent the greater part of the last 3 days confined to very cramped quarters. Monica and I drove from Utah to Rhode Island so she could start her studies at URI. We left on Tuesday night and drove through Utah, Wyoming, Nebraska, Iowa and into Illinois. We stayed at a KOA cabin for the night, and then drove through Indiana, Ohio, Pennsylvania, New Jersey, New York, Connecticut and Rhode Island. It was a lot of time crammed into a car. It was made much easier by splitting the driving duties and watching The Simpsons and House while I wasn't driving.

There was one thing that I didn't want to do on the road trip. We tried to eat at the same time as we got gas. On some of the toll roads, they had gas stations/eateries that you didn't have to exit the toll road to go to. We were getting desperate for gas, and the restaurants at the travel center were McDonald's and Dairy Queen. I loathe McDonald's. We figured it was safe to eat at Dairy Queen, and we really needed the gas, so we stopped. It turned out that the Dairy Queen was pretty much desserts only. I had to buy a McDonald's burger, which ended up making me feel sick. I didn't think I could hate McDonald's any more than I already did, but they failed me when they were my only option. If I never eat another McDonald's burger it will be too soon.

There was one thing I absolutely wanted to do on this trip, get a cheesesteak in Philadelphia. The fastest route to Rhode Island didn't go through Philadelphia, but it only added an hour to our driving time, and we had plenty of time to get to Providence, so we decided to alter the route a bit so I could go to Philly and get a cheesesteak. I even called Geno's up and made sure they wouldn't be closed when we got there (guy on the phone sounded irritated that I would even ask, he was like "We're NEVER closed"). We started veering a bit south towards Philly as we got to eastern Ohio. The Indiana and Ohio toll roads cost us about 9 or 10 bucks a piece. We got to Pennsylvania on the 76, which takes you through Pittsburgh and Philly, and when we got our toll ticket, we saw that it was going to cost us 30 bucks to get there. Adding 30 bucks to the cost of the trip didn't seem like something we wanted to do. We checked the GPS for how long it would take to get there avoiding the toll road and it would have added 4 or 5 hours to the trip. So we got off the toll road, and drove through backwoods Pennsylvania on one lane roads to get back to the 80. By the time we got back to the normal route, the only restaurant open that we could eat at was Denny's. The drop off from an authentic philly cheesesteak to moons over my hammy makes me want to cry.

I don't want to drive anywhere for a very long time.

What is wrong with this picture?

I had to run to 3 college campuses today to get transcripts for all the college courses that I have taken over the years. We took the whole family along, and ended up going on a scenic drive through Provo Canyon. After leaving the canyon, we went to a pretty cool park in Pleasant Grove. I took some pictures and videos.

After posting this, I noticed that the pictures will look much better if you click on them.

Grrrrrr

I had planned to take the Federal Air Marshal exam on August 6 in Anaheim, since I was going to be in California anyways for CHP testing. There were no exam sites in Utah, and the closest site to Spanish Fork was in Las Vegas. I was notified through email that I needed to take the exam as soon as possible, so I called up their HR line and gave them my reason for scheduling my exam 3 weeks out. I was told that it would be ok for me to wait. About a week later I received a call that all applicants who wished to be considered for open positions under this announcement needed to be done testing by the end of July.

I considered dropping out of the process, but ended up scheduling my test for Monday at 11:30 am in Las Vegas. Monday morning I woke up at 5:30, took a shower and got out on the road at 6am. The drive down was long and uneventful, and I got to the test site at about 11:00 am Vegas time. I started the test, and finished it with time to spare. I drove back home, and got back around 6:30 pm.

This test was accessible by internet. I could have taken the test in the basement here if I had a proctor. It was a little frustrating to have to spend that much time and money to take a test 6 hours away that should have been accessible much closer. It's not like a whole lot of training went in to making sure the proctor knew how to administer the test.

I think I did pretty well. I'm glad I made the trip at least, it's nice to keep as many options available as possible.

I also got my results for the Houston Fire Department exam. I scored 100. There were 770 people who took the test, and my 100 ranked me 73rd. There were 72 ex military guys who scored at least a 96 and got bumped ahead of me with their 5 points of veteran preference points. I was lucky that the raffle number I picked was near the top of the order, because I was the top non-military rank in the entire exam. It appears that I will be back in Houston to go to Orientation and run my PAT in October, which is great because it shouldn't be too hot and muggy while I'm out killing myself on their course. I'll also have an extra month of training in before I have to run it. I am fairly certain that with my rank, there will be enough people ahead of me that drop out of the running that I will have a spot in the January academy as long as I don't flunk out of the rest of the process. Some of those poor suckers are going to have to run their test in the middle of the September heat. There are supposed to be 60 spots in the academy.

I've bumped my running up to 3 miles at a time now. Yesterday I finished in 26:45, which still isn't great but it's getting easier. I'm doing my runs in the mid to late afternoons when it's super hot outside, hoping to at least train in worse conditions than I will be testing in. I'm hoping to push my runs to 4 miles at a time soon.

Too Much on My Plate

It's been a while since I've posted. Jenn has taken over posting the more kid centric stuff because apparently I wasn't doing a good enough job. There really hasn't been any groundbreaking news on the job front either. The next month or 2 should be fairly busy for me.

I will be in California for most of August. I test with the Federal Air Marshals on August 6, and then with the CHP on August 8. I fly to San Antonio to test for their fire department on August 14, which also happens to be our 10th anniversary. I had been planning on saving money over the last year for a fun trip to celebrate it, and now we're going to be spending it apart :(. I've got fitness testing with the CHP on the 22nd, provided I do well enough on the written test, and then fitness testing in Houston on the 27th or 28th. September 12 and 13 I will be in Oregon testing for their State Troopers. I should be receiving word from Oklahoma City about that time if I will be allowed to continue in their hiring process after scoring a 93 on their written test.

I've continued running and working out. Today I ran 3 miles in near 100 degree heat. I ran my best 2 mile time last week at 16:08, which is good enough to qualify for even the toughest of the fitness tests. Its very nice to be training at high altitude, considering anywhere I'll be testing will be probably 4000 feet closer to sea level than I am now. The only thing that working out hasn't done for me yet is weight loss. I hope I can shed a few pounds soon, it would be so nice to not have to lug around 240 pounds on long runs. I haven't been measuring my food or anything, but I have made a conscious effort to not eat large (for me anyways) helpings at meals, and I've cut out most junk foods. Maybe when I work up to running an hour at a time the weight will start dripping off.

Mesquite

We needed to pick up Bailey from California this week. Ceri and Mark were kind enough to drive her up halfway, and Jenn's parent's were kind enough to get us a few nights at a "resort" in Mesquite for a mini vacation. We had a pretty fun time.

The day before we left, I went out and ran a mile in a thunderstorm in 7:37, which is my best time so far by about 30 seconds. I felt really good for about a half mile, and then hung on for the second half. I could probably go out today and run about 2 minutes slower because I ate a lot of things that I shouldn't have and I didn't exercise at all. I had planned on utilizing the fitness room at the resort, but it belonged to the Oasis casino, which has been closed. There was no fitness room available for us, and I really didn't feel like running around the parking lot in 100 degree weather. It was even hot at night.

On Monday, Mark and I went golfing at the Palmer Course at the Oasis Golf Club. I don't think it was affiliated with the casino that shared the same name, because it was super nice. It was named the Palmer course because it was designed by Arnold Palmer (much easier to type his name than to say it, if I'm not deliberate saying his name, it comes out Alnerd Parmler). Note to self: Courses designed by major tournament champions are probably not suitable for your skill range. We were awed by the beauty of the course for the first few holes, and then amazed at how stupid hard it was. We spent most of the afternoon losing balls.

We went swimming at the little pool that the Oasis "resort" kept open for us, and Bailey and Addie both took great strides in becoming competent swimmers, even dog paddling alone through the deepend. Jenn, Mark, Ceri and I stayed up late each night playing games, which was a lot of fun. It was nice to play some games with some grownups. We hope they had a good time with us.

I'm pretty sure Jenn is going to be posting the swimming pictures on her blog, so I'll just post a few golf ones.



This course had some very narrow fairways. We spent some time hitting into the dirt mounds on both sides.



Just in case you can't tell, right after the tee box, it drops into a ravine for the next 100 yard or so and then there is the green, and then more bushes and desert.



Another of those elevated tees with the narrow fairways below. I think I'd like to come back and play here again after I'm rich and I've had a few years of practice to get better.



Just stupid hard.



This looks nice enough. The tee for this hole was on the other side of that hill. The approach to this green is blind. There were several blind approaches on this course. I hit a few nice shots that I couldn't find because they landed where I couldn't see them. It was pretty frustrating. We had a good time anyways.

Working Out

One of the requirements to graduate from the Border Patrol academy is to be able to run a mile and a half in 13:00. Directly following the run, you need to be able to run through an obstacle course in a certain amount of time, so you can't be completely dead after the run. Back in the old days, a mile and a half would be a drop in the bucket. I got my 3 mile time under 18 minutes in high school, and I ran a mile in less than 5 minutes in college.

I started running again 3 weeks ago. My first run was a mile and a half, just to see how fast I could run it. I did 13:07 and I was pooped. I was also pretty sore the next day. I've been running either a mile or 2 almost everyday now for 3 weeks. I've made hardly any improvement on my time. I have noticed though that I am not getting sore anymore, so I am seeing some minuscule results. I ran 2 miles this afternoon, clocked the first at 8:15, and finished mile 2 at 17:30. My goal was 18 minutes, so I'm happy about that, but it's pretty sad for someone of my athletic background to have to be setting such crappy goals. I'm kind of ticked off that I let myself go for 11 years.

I've also been doing push ups every day, in sets of 15 or 20. I just do them whenever I feel like it, or remember to. I've done anywhere from 20-90 push ups a day.

The Houston Fire Dept. also requires a 13 minute 1.5 mile run. The Oregon State Trooper test requires a 2 mile run, time is dependent upon age and height. I'll be bumping up my daily mileage soon, now that my body is becoming more accustomed to running. My goal is to someday catch up to Brie. :)

Border Patrol

I went to my Border Patrol Oral Board today. It was out past the Salt Lake airport at a hotel. I had to be there at 7:45 am.

There were 6 of us that were needing an interview. They went in alphabetical order so I went third. Each interview took about an hour. So after sitting in the lobby for 2 hours, talking to the other applicants, I got called up into the room.

I answered their questions as thoroughly as I could without any real law enforcement knowledge, and left the room feeling really stupid. I totally blew it. They finally called me back in and told me that I had done really well, and that they liked my thought processes, and that I had passed. I thanked them for their time and for the job that they did, and went on my way.

The three agents that were on my board were all normal agents from the Tuscon sector. I have to say that I was very impressed with them, and I'm excited that I'll have a good career with the Border Patrol if most agents are half as decent as they were.

Bees game

We all went to the Bees game tonight with our free radio won tickets. We got to see a lot of scoring, the game ended up 15-7 Bees. Lots of home runs, lots of hits.

Jenn and I didn't get to see much of the game, as Emery lost interest in sitting still after the 2nd inning or so. We stayed till the 7th inning stretch though, and the Bee came up into our section. Emery was really excited at first, but really freaked out when we tried to get a picture with him. We finally got a picture with all the kids and Jenn. I think a few of the kids were more excited about giving him a high five than the actual watching of the game.

The promotion tonight was free kids meals, so at least the kids got to eat something. In the 6th inning Jenn and I got really hungry, so we split a cheesesteak sandwich that was really good.

Anyways, we had a fun time, and we regret that we can't do stuff like that more often due to the financial situation we're in.

Good Times

I sent off my border patrol paperwork on Tuesday. I received it about a week late because it had to be rerouted to the Beebe's house due to our change of address. The paperwork was time sensitive, and needed to be in Minneapolis by May 11. I rushed through it and got it sent out as quickly as I could. I took it to the Post Office, paid the postage on the return envelope that they had sent me, and paid the bit extra for delivery confirmation. It was supposed to be there today. I tracked it, and it says it was missent. I called the border patrol people who serve applicants with last names that start with F, and asked for an extension. I now have until the 15th. I hope that they actually know where my paperwork is, and that it's not just lost.

Today, I was listening to the sports talk radio station that I usually listen to, and they had a contest on called "Are they or aren't they" which they do everyday at 2:30. There is always a topic, usually one that has to do with whatever happened during the day, like "Teams the Jazz have lost to in a round 1 series" They give you an answer, and you say yes or know. I usually get out to my car after class as it's going on, but today they were a little late getting started. I called, and got in immediately. Today's topic was Major or Minor leaguers who got suspended for drug use while on a roster. I was second in line to get a crack at it, they keep going til they get a winner. It takes 3 right answers to win. The first guy bombed right away, so I got my turn. I ended up winning. I got Miguel Tejada (I believe he is a user, but he never got suspended) said no. Then Darren Daulton, who played quite some time ago, before drug testing got serious, I said no again. Finally, they named some no-name guy I don't recall the name right now, but I remembered hearing that he had a suspension. I won 4 free Salt Lake Bees tickets. We'll go out and have a fun night at the ballpark next week. It's nice to have the kids excited about something again. The past few months have been really rough.

Border Patrol Exam Results

I just got back the results from the Border Patrol Exam that I took 3 weeks ago. I scored a 98, which I guess is a pretty decent score. It looks like I might have the option to be able to work soon, which I will be very grateful for.

I only wish that I hadn't delayed testing for the Corvallis and Oregon City police tests. I might have already been through the interviews. But, if my interview had already happened, I'd be needing to take my fitness test about now, and I am in absolutely no shape for that right now with what feels like a pulled muscle in my right lower back. Maybe things will turn out right by accident.

I changed my preference from the southern border to the northern border near Washington. I've looked up a few forums so far and it looks like there is about a months wait between results coming out and oral board interview. I'll update everyone when I can.

Payson Canyon

We tried to take an afternoon trip up Payson Canyon for FHE yesterday. We got up there and the roads were closed off. We walked around and took a few pictures. Addie was overly dramatic after getting a few stickers stuck in her shoe (which I removed thoroughly). She was limping and not putting any weight on her foot at all, and crying a river of tears. We had brought soda, and I told her she wasn't getting any if she didn't put a sock in it. She made a miraculous recovery.

House finally recorded

So, it took forever, but our house finally sold. Since it took them an extra week or so, we had to go in and throw more money away, but at least it's over.

Lehi city decided to dig up our front yard last week, and it's still kind of a mess, but I guess it's not our problem anymore.

I'm still waiting to hear from Idaho Falls FD. I finished #1 after the written test, I passed the agility test with plenty of time to spare, and I thought I did just fine in the interview. My concern is that I will not have my EMT cert until June, and they made it clear in the application that current EMTs would have a significant advantage.

I just applied to take the test in Houston, and I'm going to be applying for Oklahoma City as well.

Moving on

We just about got everything out of our house today. Tomorrow we will be picking up a few computer chairs and a desk.

We're all sad to have to leave. The house is looking its age, but it's super clean for probably the first time in 10 years (the people who lived in it before us were slobs {takes one to know one, and believe me, they were slobs} and we didn't have a chance to clean it up very good before moving in.) The swamp cooler is operational, which would have made this summer fairly bearable, and the front room is looking pretty snazzy with the addition of the new blinds I put up in the windows. We did get out of a summer's worth of weeds I guess.

I've been sick for the past week and a half which hasn't made moving an entire house very fun. All the kids had something over the past 3 weeks or so, and Emery was sick the entire time. She's still really fussy because she's not used to being well, but things are slowly getting better.

I took the border patrol test today, I'm sure I did just fine. I realized that I have forgotten more spanish than I retained, but I'm pretty sure that I scored high enough on it to prove that I had been fluent at one time. I heard that the EMTs on the border patrol make quite a bit of money from one of the guys who was at the test, so there's a nice possibility I guess. Supposedly, it takes about 9 months to go from the initial test until graduation from their academy. Some of the things they talked about that will be job responsibilities sounded like they'd be pretty fun.

I was also called today by the city of Roseburg, and they want me to interview for one of 3 open positions. They are interviewing 19 people. Those aren't particularly good odds, especially for someone who flunked out of an interview already, and didn't even get invited back for another after acing the written test, but we'll give it a go anyways. My interview is on the 30th of this month, and I'm hoping that I took some valuable lessons from failing my first interview.

Tomorrow I'm driving up to Idaho Falls to test for their fire department. I'm hoping to do well there, it's probably the best situation for our family, nice smaller community, temple very close by, and BYU Idaho within driving distance so Jennifer can finish school. We'd really like to find somewhere that we can settle down, and Idaho Falls seems to have everything we need.

I'm going to be calling up the electricians union here in Salt Lake and see if I can get an apprentice position. It would take a while, but making it to journeyman would probably be pretty lucrative.

Home selling blues

Today on our way back from Jennifer's birthday dinner, we got a call from our agent telling us that the people who are buying our home don't have enough of a down payment to qualify for a mortgage, and that they are applying for a 3000 dollar grant so that they can still go through with it.

They've asked us for a 2 week extension, and it's not like we have much of a choice. We started emptying the house out on Saturday into a storage unit that we are renting. We've already gotten rid of Bailey and Addie's bunkbeds (sold on craigslist) and I just loaded the queen bed they were sharing into storage.

I guess we're putting the house back up, which means we're going to be spending lots of time keeping it clean, and who knows where we're going to hide all the boxes.

On the bright side, this gives me at least 2 more weeks to find a job that will be good enough that we can at least get by here and not have to move. The house is in much better condition now than it was the past 2 years, and it might be a pleasant summer with a working swamp cooler.

...

I got back from Oregon last week where I passed the ORPAT (standardized fitness/obstacle course for Oregon police recruits). I then proceeded to bomb my interview. The interview experience was valuable I'm sure, but I wish I didn't have to have my first oral board in the town that I preferred to move to.

I passed the Oregon City written test, and I'm waiting to hear if I'm going to be invited for an interview. I asked the Corvallis PD to send my information to Roseburg, so I am waiting for an interview there as well.

Jenn and I got to talking about Idaho Falls for some reason, and I checked their website, and their fire department is hiring, or at least they're testing. I'm filling out an application for them.

Our house is pretty much sold. We're going to be moving out during the first week of April. We're kind of sad to leave, it's been a really nice place to live ever since the weirdo neighbors left. Also, with the few improvements we've made to the house, it's starting to look a lot nicer. All that's left to do is pack up and move our stuff into storage. I also need to go up and clean up the swamp cooler, and make sure it's in working order. That would be a lot easier if it would stop snowing already.

My Birthday

OK, so it's not that big of a deal. I turned 32 today. I was just going to let it pass.

But Jenn just told me a story that she says I have to put on my blog. Here it is, from her mouth...

"So Addie says 'Mom, I'm worried about Dad'. 'What do you mean?' 'He only had 3 things today.' 'What are you talking about?' 'He had 1 present, a pie, and dinner with you. I got more for my birthday and I'm only 7.' Bailey chimes in 'Addie, don't worry, when you get older you don't do as much'" Jenn then proceeded to assure Addie that I did in fact have a good day. Addie was almost in tears during this exchange, I guess she really was worried that I had a crappy birthday.

We went to Tucanos for dinner. We used my free birthday dinner to help out with the cost. It wasn't bad, but I think I'm getting too old for all you can eat meat. Either that or I'm not old enough. I can't eat like I used to, but I'm too anxious to get my money's worth that I try to anyways. I've been burping up garlic sirloin all night.

In other news, supposedly we have an offer on the house. It's for quite a bit less than we were hoping for, but we've come to the realization that we probably aren't going to do much better. We're going to go to the temple on Saturday to mull it over, and we're all fasting as a family Saturday night to sunday at lunch so that I can find a good job, specifically one of the jobs in Oregon that I've applied for. I'm driving up next weekend to take a few tests.

We would appreciate any prayers flung our way, we could sure use them.

Happy Birthday Addison!

Addie turned 7 today.

Mommy made her pancakes for breakfast. Daddy took her bowling, and then to Applebees for lunch and Hogi Yogi for dessert (we had coupons).

Mommy made a caterpillar cake made out of fresh bugs. It was a great day.

Enough of the depressing crap...

Hasn't been much to report lately other than what I'd rather not be writing about.

So.....



Emery's been pretty funny lately.






In other news, I passed both tests I took for employment with UTA and with Proctor and Gamble. I'll update the blog when I find out exactly what that means.

More fallout from crappy last job

This morning I received a call from the unemployment insurance people about some discrepancies between my application and what my employer said about me. I put that I was laid off, because I was told that all staffing service people lost their jobs at the same time as I have. Plus, I hadn't been given any unsatisfactory job evaluations before that jerk manager decided to let me go for not understanding that I was doing work that he was too stupid to recognize.

Apparently, they've told the unemployment people that I was fired for cause and that I shouldn't be able to collect unemployment. The agent who called me said that supposedly, I spent hours and hours on my cell phone at work, and that I spent way too long in the break room reading the newspaper. I'm still pretty mad now, but I was furious this morning. I rarely went to the breakroom except to eat lunch, and whenever I went I never spent my full allotted time there. I worked through my first scheduled break time almost every evening that I worked there, and usually didn't get around to resting until after lunch when things slowed down. The last few weeks I was there and there weren't a lot of maintenance calls coming in, I still didn't see much of the breakroom, I chose to sit in the maintenance shop so that I would be closer to the action should something break down. And as far as talking on my cellphone, I hardly ever used it. I didn't like to touch it with my dirty greasy hands.

They really don't have much of a case against me, since I was never disciplined while I was there they can't really have records of having ever warned me about job performance. It makes me mad that these people are all so dishonest. I guess I should be used to it by now. One of the guys in my EMT class today says that his employer is trying to do the same to him, and that he has a phone conference with his employer so that the unemployment people can decide. I don't really think my case will go that far, but I look forward to talking to some of those people.

I'm looking right now into going through the Utah Fire and Rescue Academy. My EMT will be done in May, I think I might be able to take a prerequisite class online this summer, which would leave me with 12 credits in the Fall Semester. Utah just passed a law that you don't have to have a year of EMT experience before going for a paramedic certification. So after I get done with the fire academy, I'll try getting my paramedic. I've been looking at some of the larger fire departments around here. The pay isn't great, but it's a livable wage.

They also offer an EMT Intermediate cert here, which I might take this summer along with the online class. With it I can probably get a job at one of the hospitals doing IVs and stuff in the ER. The job doesn't pay quite as much as I was making as a technician, but it's a decent wage, and it would probably look good on a fire application someday.

So staying in Utah is now at least one of the options we are seriously considering. I still think I'd rather move to Oregon and get lucky rather than stay in Utah and get lucky, but it might be in our best interests to stay. I just wish I knew.

The Fella Who Just Couldn't Wait...

This was really funny. Good quality video too.



I've got an invitation to take a test for Proctor and Gamble, I won't be able to get to it til the 16th due to class.

Stuff and Things

I interviewed at Sun Products yesterday, the people who make Sun laundry detergent, and lots of other store brands. I gave someone at their booth my resume at a job fair I went to right after I lost my job. I received a call from them on Tuesday, which I missed because I was asleep after trying but failing to take the kids to Denny's that morning for free grand slams (the line was out the door at 6 am, I made it up to them by cooking a huge breakfast of eggs, potatos, bacon and smoothies) I had class after I woke up, and didn't realize that I had a message until it was too late to call back. I called first thing in the morning yesterday, and told them that I would like the interview. They said they needed me right away, and that I was scheduled for an interview at 1:30.

I arrived 15 minutes early to fill out the application, and then I sat in the HR lady's office chatting with her about the job requirements, and making small talk until the maintenance manager arrived to take me to my interview. He was quite late, and the lady I was with called him up and asked if he was coming to get me. He replied that he was on lunch, and if I could wait. I said I could, so I continued to chat with her just about life in general. 25 minutes passed, and no one came to get me. She called again, and I was finally allowed to go into the manager's building for a test of my abilities and a more technical interview. I got there, I was taken into a back room, told that while I had some decent experience, they had interviewed someone earlier that morning that they wanted to place in the open position. He said I don't want to lead you on, but we're not going to hire you, so thank you for your time.

I don't see why he made me sit through his lunch just so he could humiliate me in person. It's not like I didn't have better things to do. Apparently, they are having a labor dispute there, and I didn't feel great about crossing a picket line to work there, so maybe it's all for the best, but I really didn't appreciate the lack of respect I was shown.

I've got a test tomorrow for a position as a Coach Technician for UTA Trax. I've got some applicable experience for this, since the light rail runs on similar technology as the material transport vehicles I worked on at IMFT. I think I would like the job, the pay is good, but I don't really have a great shot at getting the position. I know a lot of guys that check the UTA website looking for openings all the time, and there should be some good competition for this job.

I interviewed for a part time job with UPS today, and I am hoping for a callback tomorrow for a 2nd interview. It will make a good part time job to supplement whatever other income I'll have.

This next little thing is something I found on YouTube today. I really wish I could find more of it.

Back to High School

I remember what it was like looking for a job in Apple Valley when I was in high school. There were a lot of kids looking for work, and not a lot of employment opportunities. I had to know someone to get the job at Little Caesars.

I feel like that's the job market I'm in now, except for that if I don't find something soon, I'll get kicked out of my house or something. Oh, I also have 5 other people depending on me. Boy is it ever fun.

I'm about 99% sure I don't want to do factory maintenance anymore. I've applied for jobs delivering pizza at Dominos, and for overnight stocking positions at Smith's and Albertsons. I've also applied for part time work with UPS. None of these jobs pay very well, and we're probably going to be looking to sell the house sooner rather than later, which is kind of scary in this real estate market. Any of these opportunities I am trying to take advantage of should work out well should I find work in fire or medicine. I realize that I'll probably have to take a job with lower pay than I was used to (the Portland job would be like winning the lottery) and I'm ok with that. We've cut out a lot of our unnecessary spending lately, and we're making more cuts out of necessity. I believe that even unemployed and stressing out of how I'm going to pay off some significant credit card debts, I'm still a happier person than I was a month or 2 ago. I've got some clarity now that at least my life isn't going to involve a job that I don't want to do anymore.

So, for anyone that reads this that is still deciding what they want to be when they grow up, use me as a cautionary tale. Don't study anything that you have no interest in, even if it represents a significant increase to your current pay. I felt trapped by a crappy job and career path when I made up my mind to start studying electronics, but I never really found any interest in it. Having a job just to pay the bills and from which I derived no enjoyment for the past 4 years has sucked, I can't imagine doing it for 40 or 50 years without enjoying anything that I do.

Job Interview

I've got an interview on Thursday in South Jordan, which is luckily only about a 10 minute drive up north from home. It looks like a pretty promising employer, making dental hygiene products. I took a look at company benefits, and they look to be above average.

I'm probably also going to try to get a part time job with UPS as a package handler. It should be a good job, not so much for money, but it will get me in good shape, which I kind of need motivation to do.

Wish me luck. It really sucks to not have a job.

New Blog Title II

So, I've changed my blog title again. Why would I change my blog title from the coolest name ever to some bland name you might ask?

I lost my job with US Synthetic today. At work on Friday, I was trying to partition a hard drive that I was given so I could back up some computers. The computer that I chose to do my task did not give me the permission to partition or format hard drives, so I needed to get to another one. Unfortunately, the other computers were being used. So I sat and waited for one of them to vacate.

Then, the manager who spent all day in crappy cost cutting meetings came by, and saw 3 of his electricians just sitting there (mind you, nothing was broken, there were no maintenance calls at the time) I was just in the wrong place at the wrong time, he called my staffing service that night to let me go, and told them that I was screwing around.

I had kind of expected to be let go anyways, but I'm a little bit upset that it was for what was perceived as a disciplinary problem. I'm hoping to be set up with another position soon within my employment agency.

Aggravation

So, my last post dealt with one of the not so fun games that Mark and Ceri (or MarkCeri as Cam used to say) introduced to us.

Aggravation is one of the cool games they brought with them. We played it quite a bit, it's fast paced, so good for people with really short attention spans like us.

When they left, they took their gameboard with them. Jenn and I looked online for one, I guess Milton Bradley makes a really lame commercial version of it that we didn't want to buy. The homemade wood versions were going anywhere from 60-120 dollars... just for a board with holes drilled in it.

So I took it upon myself to make one. I bought some nice looking plywood, a 7/16" boring drillbit and a protractor. Ours is a 6 player board. It turned out OK, I've got to fill in some of the splinter marks with some putty.

I cut it by hand with a miter saw while it was clamped to one of our kitchen stools. Sure, it wasn't a big or even a difficult project, but I learned a few things. I liked making it, I like the smell of sawdust, and I need some power tools :)