Wednesday, October 09, 2013

Unexpected Pep Talk

It is amazing how sometimes you will be going through the motions of your day and things will happen to you that will get your attention that you didn't expect.
Lately I have been feeling down about my education process and  why am I putting myself through this stuff as it seems futile to keep going knowing nothing will come of this.  I go to class each day and sit at the computer and push through the homework assignments and for what?  A good grade?  Making the teacher happy that they are teaching someone new things?  Do I really believe I will end up using this in a job when this process is done?  Some of these feelings have started a few weeks back since my funding is going away in a couple of weeks.  In fact since the government shutdown there are no more funds for me to continue.  I will have to come up with the money myself to keep on my path.  At my age is it possible someone will hire me?  So many questions and I continue on hoping at least I can finish what I started almost a year ago.
I was sitting in the computer lab working on my assignment on ,"the computer", that was due the next day when the door to the classroom opened up and a student walked into the computer lab.  He walked over to the row in front of me and he sat down at the computer directly in front of me. He sat there while the computer was going through the start up mode before setting up and working on the assignment he needed to work with.  As he was sitting there the instructor, for that time frame, walked into the lab.  The student noticed her walking in and he immediatey motioned for her to come over and talk with him.  What happened next not only surprisd me but I am sure the instructor has heard these before.  He started giving her excuses about the class he was working on.  She eventually stopped him and asked him if he wanted to drop the class. He then stopped giving the excuses and said "yes." I am sitting at my computer trying not to pay any attention to this as I am working on my own assignments.  I noticed the instructor looking at me and she said "Steve", I looked up at her and she continued speaking to me.  She asked me if I would talk with him about what he is about to do.
I looked at the student and he looked just younger than myself.  He explained to me that he was in the worker retraining program and he didn't feel like he could grasp the material in front of him.  I then explained to him that I am also in the same program having lost my job as well.  The reason the instructor wanted me to talk with him was because I had taken the class two quarters ago and would understand what it would take to finish the assignments.  I started talking with him about the class and the amount of time it would take to finish on time and I told him not to give up. I explained to him he was only in the second week and he hadn't given it enough time to make that decision. I restated to him that he should keep going and not to give up on the class.
  
When I was done talking and I sat back in my chair, it hit me like a ton of bricks, it sounded like I was giving myself a pep talk.

Have a good day.......

Tuesday, October 08, 2013

The BFT Nazi

You know about the Soup Nazi from that famous show?  Today, I met the BFT Nazi.
 
 A lady about my age got on the bus on the Pasco side of the bridge and when she got on the bus she was asking the bus driver a question. She got some type of response and then made her way down the aisle to sit in one of the seats and sat down in one across from me.
 
We then made it to the Richland side, of the bridge, and as we were approaching the turn to Columbia Point the bus driver announced, or should I say yelled, " Columbia Point Winco". We made the turn and as we approached the turn into Winco the bus driver started yelling "Pull the cord if you want to stop at Winco." She must have repeated this three times, and I looked over at the lady across from me and she said "What do I do? This is my first time ever riding a bus." I immediately showed her the cord and went ahead and pulled it for her.
 
As I looked ahead at the driver and at the next stop, "Winco", there were three people waiting for the bus so the bus had to stop anyway. I know the bus driver must have seen that as we were getting close. The driver stopped and the lady got off thanking me for the help.
 
Wow, BFT driver get a grip!!! Maybe she was having a bad day but that was not called for. If I was an extrovert I would have pulled the cord when we arrived at the last stop, Richland Knight station, to let her know I wanted off. Since I don't like conflict I did not pull the cord. I will say though that don't dare me next time. I might do it.
 
Have a fun day.....

Friday, October 04, 2013

My Blog Post

When I started this blog back in 2009 is was something I wanted to use to keep track of what I was doing with the stock market and then it moved to my poker playing.  It has pretty much stayed there since then.  I have tried to add a few other things in this blog just for the interestet sake and see If I could write about other things that go on in my life.

I am more than just a poker player and a stock playing person.  I have written about golf, family, disc golf, work and assorted other things.  Having not played poker in a while and unable to play online poker specifically I am finding it harder to write about just those items.  Today I was thinking about opening it up a little bit and write about my thoughts on subjects unknown.  I should inteject here that not all things I write about are the believes my me.  I may write just to get a reaction about an item.

At this time I am back in school going to college for this quarter.  As you know I lost a job in poker and was declared a "Dislocated Worker" since my job is not in demand I am eligible for worker retraining into anther field.  This is were it gets sticky.  The Poker Dealers in this area are in demand but there are no jobs.  So the state looked at this and decided to change their designation and put Poker Dealers not in demand in this area and that moved us to being able to get the "Dislocated Worker" trainging.  During this time we are able to draw unemployment and am now into Tier 2 and will lose that in about three weeks.  On my own after a year and still trying to get through the education part.  I am taking Computer Science classes that will hopefully land a job as a Customer Support at a Help Desk.

Now that the government is shut down I will continue to receive my unemployment but the cost of school has been put on hold.  I have to pay for this education on my own now ad If I don't pay for the cost then that means I will have to pay all of the back money I received from the state for not finishing.  Who's fault is that one?  I guess it is mine according to them.  Tough Luck Charlie comes to mind.

My question now is Do I have a right to College, Do I have a right to Health Care or Do I have a right to Housing?  We will see what happens.

My plan is to not only write about my poker play but to write about whatever is on my mind at the time.  I really don't want to start another blog unless it is necessary but my goal is get to back to all things poker.

Have a good day......