TUSCON ... The Vacation

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.26.30
Current Song - Jack and Jill (Raydio)

I returned from a 6-day trip to Tucson on Saturday afternoon.

I'm going to put here an account of what I did down there. But first I'm going to tell about the journey there.

I woke up at 2:45 AM on March 16 and left for Quad City Airport at 3:30. The flight was set to take off at 6:20. I wasn't worried about flying as much as I was about my baggage. The screening process wasn't all that bad. I was worrying about it being lost.

As a larger person, I had a difficult time buckling up. It took me up until just before take off to get myself in. I looked out the window the entire flight, and tried to identify the cities below me (I only got Des Moines right - I thought Omaha was Kansas City, and Ottumwa was actually Riverside.) The thought of throwing up didn't come up.

The layover in Denver was interesting. My Uncle Randy was departing to D.C. a couple of hours after I was. We had breakfast at a place called Pour la France. I picked up a Denver Post, read the Woody Paige piece, and completed by NCAA bracket somewhere above New Mexico.

Grandpa and Grandma were so excited to see me, and vice versa. It is so dry there! We got to their place, in a neighborhood called San Carlos Place. They live in a gues house, in the back of a full-sized house. We talked about things back home, gave them our newspaper (and my QC). Our first trip was to downtown Tucson to see the historical sites. Some of the things we saw were the Presidio, the La Placita, the older part of Tucson, the Hotel Congress, the Cup Cafe, and a couple of others. We also walked down Fourth Street, which is a University hangout (I think). We had dinner at a place called Magpies. The place has been voted the best pizza for 20 years running.

We went to a White Sox spring training game on Tuesday. Well, they were the visiting team. The Diamondbacks were the hosts. I packed with me some baseball cards to get signed. I notched two signatures: Ozzie Guillen (on my 1997 Collector's Choice) and Wilson Betemit (on my 2000 Fleer Tradition). I almost got AJ Peryzinski to sign. It was a very good game, going into extras before a wild pitch by Lance Broadway sent in the winning D-Back run.

We also walked around the University of Arizona part of Tuesday. There is also a huge used bookstore called Bookmans. Every book there is used, and priced half-off the cover. I bought 8 books, and 1 of them was a fiction book. I never, never read fiction. I can picture my mother living in this store. There is also a pass through the mountains called Gate's Pass. The sunset is really beautiful there. Dinner was at a place called Tiny's. It used to be a saloon at one time.

Wednesday was spent at Mount Lemmon. Tucson is 3/4 surrounded my mountains. This is the most accessible one going up. We had a picnic up there with Daggwood sandwiches (just like the comic strip). I called back home from the top. Before we went to Lemmon, we went to the transportation museum in downtown.

Thursday was a very good day. We went to the Tucson-Sonora Desert Museum. It is an environmental museum filled with animals, plants, birds, and many walking trails. My skin was about to turn bad as we walked around. Not too far from the desert is Old Tucson. That's where many old westerns were filmed, such as McClintock. The Three Amigos was also filmed there, as well as The High Chaparall. We also went to one of the Indian Casinos, Desert Diamond. I didn't do as good as the past weekend's run in East Peoria. Dinner was at a place called the Depot, which I didn't know had karakoke night - as it pained my ears.

We spent most of Friday at the Pima Air and Space Museum. The place is HUGE! It has Ike's post-WWII to pre-presidency airplane, Kennedy and Johnson's Air Force One, and many military fighting planes. There are over 100 planes outside, and another 100 I think in a few hangars. The hangars also included some Air Force history. There was also the Space part of the museum, which documents the history of space travel. I wrote a paper in seventh grade science class about space travel history, so it interested me a lot. There was better music for our final dinner of the trip. We went to Las Cazulitas, where a live Marachi band was playing.

Saturday I bid goodbye to my grandparents and headed back home though Denver again.

Tucson is a very big city, much bigger that I thought. There were a lot of things I wanted to do, but was unable to. I want to go back one day. But my grandparents, who btw live there for three months, are looking at another place to spend the winter at.

Nevertheless, this will go down as one of the best weeks of my life.

Pictures will come soon, I promise. I got the Internet back at home (WOO-HOO!!!!!!) and need to get caught up on everything.

If you want to know more about my vacation, go ahead and ask.

TUCSON PICTURES - http://viewmorepics.myspace.com/index.cfm?fuseaction=user.viewPicture&friendID=22721799&albumId=2692130

TUSCON

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.21.30
Current Song - Jet Airliner (Steve Miller Band)

I'm going to concentrate on preparing tor Tuscon after I post this.
You won't hear from me for a while.

See ya!

I'll Just Stay Silent For Now

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.91.20
Current Song - Beautiful Stranger (Madonna)

I'm going to take some time away from my blog. That way no one will know what I'm thinking about.

When I Know The Economy is Bad

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.61.20
Current Song - I Was Made to Love Her (Stevie Wonder)

I live a fairly spend-happy life. I find it hard to refrain from spending too much.

The trips to Freeport and eating fast-food made me gain weight. I flew through the Sunday papers at work. The usual manufacturer coupons were not there. Only Walgreen's had coupons, and there was hardly anything worth buying. A can of Campbells Soup costs 69 cents.

At Sauk, I can heat up the can of soup in a microwave and walk 20 feet to a computer. At Highland, I have to walk to another building and back to use a microwave. I wonder if I should try this.

At least I'm worked a lot of hours last week. I'm expecting at least a $250 check on Wednesday. More than half of that will be toward car insurance, plus a QC Times renewal. I'm also expecting $50 from Johnson Oil for passing a sting op. That's three weeks of fillups (including a $25 Mystery Shop pass). The remainder will be divyed between savings and carry money.

Next week I'm down to three days: Friday, Saturday and Sunday. I'm now starting work one hour later due to a payroll cut. Less than 20 hours next week. That's after I asked for Saturday off! I don't like this double whammy. When springtime comes, I'm going to have to sell some of my things. Taxes are coming up, as well as the summer semester in May.

Work seems to be going okay. I left tonight at 12:17 - one of my quickest times thus far. No tensions have popped up lately. Although I want to get as many hours as possible before I leave for Tucson. I don't expect more than four days next week. I don't expect to work Saturday, because I want to go to Penguin's with Mema and Jess. BTW - I'm not getting paid for this vacation. I have to work a full year before I get vacation pay.


Update to previous Entry

I accidentally deleted everything I edited. Fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck, fuck!!!!!!

Copy Editing is a BITCH!

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.51.20
Current Song - You Haven't Done Nothing (Stevie Wonder)

Converting English papers to journalism style is difficult. Quote structure is horrible. Run-on sentences run wild.

I'm going to format my edits onto Word 2007 today. I'm either doing this at Sauk or Highland, depending on the observance of Presidents Day (AP book says no apostrophe). If Sauk is closed because of the holiday, I'm calling Highland and asking if they have it. If not, I'm going up there do to edits. While I'm there, I may as well talk to Sam about this plan.

I stayed up last night, oh, about five hours overnight just trying to find errors. They were THAT BAD! I even had to go back to Shell and get a pop to stay awake.

I only hope everyone will understand where I'm coming from. I plan on actually lecturing the class on Tuesday. I just hope I can make it through the night. There's a Highland basketball double-header Tuesday night I have to go to.

They're NOT ENGLISH PAPERS!!!!!

Don't Try it On Me

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.31.20
Current Song - Love Is (Herb Alpert)

Sometime this week I was stung by a compliance check. I stung back by not giving smokes to the bastard. There is a prize for this depending on what it was for: if it was a Johnson Oil compliance check, it is a $25 bonus, and if it is a state or city check it is a $50 bonus. That's on top of passing the store's monthly customer compliance last month. It will sure pay for gasoline the next two-three weeks!

I'm being given four days off after Sunday. I'm working three straight from Friday to Sunday. I think I'll go to the River Ridge 1A girls Sectional on Thursday.

I'm also trying to get the 28th of February off - friends want me to go to the comedy club with them.

Horoscopes

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.21.20
Current Song - Pray (M.C. Hammer)

Once in a while I'll try the lottery out. That's what happens when you work at a gas station I guess. The elderly couple that plays every night use something called a Lottery Bible, and once in a while they'll use a certain horoscope they get at Kmart. [AP Stylebook says no hyphen on the store.] It comes in a thin, five-inch tall tube and costs $2.50.

This particular horoscope (I'm a Taurus) has the month's lucky numbers, a "super number", Pick 3 and 4 numbers for the month, lucky playing cards and lucky color. For each day, there are three symbols that describe the major accents for the day.

Today is February 12th (in case you don't understand how the log date works).

"New colleagues or tasks make a job wish come true. You solve a difficult puzzle by asking for a friend's advice. Reaching out actually draws you closer to a compatible person or group. Banish self-doubts now!"

Major accents: "Friends, goals, hopes and wishes, socializing, groups" - "Work, co-workers, service to others, health, fitness" - "behind-the-scenes, secrets, solitude, ESP" (this one's icon is reversed, which means less favorable).

I was actually planning on doing sentence two today! The past couple days have nearly been accurate too! I can't say the same about the 3 and 4 numbers.

Today is Abraham Lincoln's 200th Birthday. I celebrated today by buying five of his scratch-off tickets.

The Maturity Gap

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.11.20
Current Song - Don't Walk Away (Jade)

I act like I'm in my 50s, but I'm only 22. Everyone I know that's in the 20's acts like they are in their 20s.

When Ging asked about why the boards were slow, I couldn't help but think of my actions as moderator. The board attracts people over 30, and those under 30 are heistant to post. Maybe it's because the practices I preach are not liked by the 20s, but are okay with the 30+'s.

It's simple - the board will collapse if the 20somethings run amok on it. The NISB boards have a certain amount of respect and class - which is something the younger generation just doesn't seem to understand. There actually are quite a bit of young people who get it.

I do not think respect and class are hard things to abide by or understand. If people have a problem with it, chances are they want to say something that's untrue and possibly demeaning. Some people don't want to abide by these standards because they want their belief to be the truth, but they don't know reality. Some people want to make degrading comments for their own personal satisfaction and fun. They don't know that high school sports is a serious business.

Haven't Quit Yet, But I'm Looking

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.90.20
Current Song - Hey Nineteen (Steely Dan)

Things get worse and worse for me at work. My day was going extremely well until I lifted up the rug in front of the register area.

It's a fact that the rugs are a piece of crap, but this is one step further. Our rugs are red with a type of black rough rubber to keep from sliding. The rubber had turned into black dust. So there was a rectangle of black dust that I had to sweep up.

I get the mop. There's nothing where the black rectangle used to be. Sure enough, the mop head turns pitch black. I tried to sweep all of it, and of course there's always some left on the floor that can't be seen.

The rest of the store has to be mopped yet. I'm out of mop heads. The black one can't be bleached out. If I don't mop the store Mary's going to kill me.

I place a call to the North End store, and they too are out. First Avenue is also out. I had to drive all the way to Route 30 to get one. That means I had to lock the store up, drive 3 miles to get a mop head and drive back to mop the store. The security tape is running, and it may seem like "what the hell is Cody locking up and unlocking for?"

My days are numbered.

Pretty soon I'll be one of those statistics on the unemployment lists.

I'm trying to figure out if this is a specific horrible experience. I never had these down moments when I worked for Janyce and Manjit. I never had a problem with Jayantial. I did have some issues with Ghanshyam, but they were mostly with consenquence. Mary, for some reason, I can't work out with. Maybe it's because people like Kathy and Mr. Johnson keep a huge watch on their stores. So, yeah, I guess I said it - I liked Jay more than Mary.

But I'm not going back to BP because the way I left still resonates.

Maybe I can settle for a transfer to North End, First Avenue (I'd be the only man I think) or Route 30. Heck, I may even consider working the overnight shift at the Oregon station; and I once worked at a job with a long commute (Crest). I still think Johnson Oil is a good place to work for, but this East End thing gets nuts after a while.


Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.11.20

A couple days ago one of my regular customers stayed to visit for two-and-a-half hours. Sometimes I think Joe is crazy. He said Blago owned the steel mill and was born in Rock Falls. Ailens came down and told the Mayans about the world ending in 2012.

I should ask him if he's heard of Art Bell or George Noory of Coast 2 Coast radio.

He stayed until 11:45 and nearly all my chores were not done.

I didn't feel as bad that night as I did on Monday.

Good Morning

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.50.20
Current Song - Stoned Soul Picnic (The 5th Dimension)

Tuesday's guest in class was the Freeport Journal-Standard managing editor.

Petermann came to class to talk about journalism and all that. We asked him questions about the newspaper biz and such. I asked him a question about the future of local newspaper column writing, because it seems to be a lost art. He told me that there were likely to be no more "Mike Royko's" out there anymore because they are getting too boring to read.

But I was going to do this in sports, which is a different animal from news division. Petermann asked if I could send him a few of my columns to look over. I spent the entire time after class preparing my columns and e-mailing them to him. I was supposed to go to Forreston for a game, but did this instead.

While I was doing this I realized I was behind in my Chronicle work. Thus I had to also axe my plans to see the Rockford Christian-Indian Creek girls game tonight. But I'm still planning on going to the Little Ten finals on Friday in Somonauk.

I'm writing my "Bits and Pieces" article today. It's one of four you'll see in the Chronicle. The other three are a men's basketball bio, and men's and women's Region IV previews. The really stinky thing about this issue is that it comes out on the day before the R-IV championship. So there's a possibility that a team's season may be over with before the issue gets released. And it's all because we decided not to do a February issue.

My deadline is February 11 and I haven't written anything yet.

I can't remember, but I think I mentioned in an earlier entry that I was going to be Copy Editor instead of Associate Editor. I am planning on using the Associated Press (AP) Stylebook for copy edits. Sam thought this was a good idea, but Marques frowned upon it. He says since we are a student newspaper, we should write our own way. The fact is, we are not supposed to be writing blog entries, research papers or persuasive essays. We are writing news stories. That is why there is a seperate class for news writing.


Days Off

I have a habit of putting days off well in advance. I put off the next three Saturdays a couple months ago. I had to change my plans for next Saturday since we'll be short - so there goes the girls bowling tournament. The next two Saturdays are Individual Wrestling @ Champaign and Team Wrestling @ Bloomington.

I put off class on Tuesday to go to the Boylan girls basketball regional.

At least my vacation is still intact from March 13-22.

The other days I put off were April 28 (duh), Sterling-Rock Falls night, Columbus Day and Veterans Day. There is a new rule where we can't ask for holiday's off. So I asked for the holidays not marked with "nobody ask off."

However, I think I'll be working on my birthday.

Throughout high school I always took time out of my schedule to watch the Rock Falls softball team play - in particular Emily, Korby, Jen, Joi, April, Marilyn, and a few others (none of them read this blog so I won't worry about not mentioning more names). I came to some of their summer league games before they were in high school, and covered them when they went to state in 2004. Emily and Korby went to Quincy University, Marilyn went to Illinois State and Jen went to Sauk.

I saw Jen a couple times. I wasn't able to see Marilyn however. I haven't seen Emily and Korby, yet. They have a two-game Chicagoland stretch on April 25-26 (Wisconsin-Parkside @ Kenosha and Lewis U. @ Romeoville - both 12:00 starts). I decided to take that weekend off in place of my birthday. I feel like I owe them.

Some Site Work

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.30.20
Current Song - Do It Again (Steely Dan)

I'm listening to a new Steely Dan CD I bought - "The Definitive Collection" - which is the only career-spanning Dan CD from 1972s Do It Again to 2003s Things I Miss The Most.

I was bored at work one day and I came up with possible story ideas ranging from columns to in-depth stuff. I'm even getting back on the Q&A wagon once again. Possible one tonight with a South Beloit kid. One story suggestion I've had on the shelf since July, and I just don't know how to write it.

There are a couple things on the whole prayer issue as well as conference chatter (seems to be a biggie of mine) and other historical and IHSA-related things. There's also some internet things on this list. One of them in particular I've had on the table since mid-December.

Call it the momentum from the Scott Williams piece I did last month. I changed the way I released my columns: instead of the new column going up on the homepage, I am putting new columns on the Cody's Corner page where they all are. I did it this way in order to seem as if the site's focus isn't on columns I write. I had to direct people to the new columns - and the Williams piece was the first one I did that with. Turns out it was good - not as good as Kevin's Do What's Wrong piece - but I'm hoping I can keep this up.

I want to write things one does not normally see in a newspaper. They are businesses, and I am me.

Speaking of economics, it's kind of hitting me a bit. I used to say three nights a week was okay, but not now. However, since Julie is gone I'm probably going back to four-to-five nights a week, which looks good on the paycheck. But that doesn't look good with the site plans. I've already had to de-commit to some state tournament series events such as girls bowling and maybe both wrestling events (unfortunately).

Today I'm going to Forreston vs. South Beloit (boys)
Thursday it's Rockford Christian vs. Indian Creek (girls)
Saturday it's the Newman wrestling Regional until time for work.

Only four months until NISB's fifth birthday - whoa!

The three nights thing isn't giving me a whole lot of money, and my paycheck is spent on gas fillups and the occasional expensive thing: monthly insurance payments take a huge chunk of my weekly check. Oil changes and cell phone cards and QC Times bills. I have an oil change and haircut put on hold until next week - and my hair is kind of long at the moment. I've got the Grizzly Adams look underway.


Stupid Debit Tricks

Plus I have been having dificulty keeping track of my debits. It's not because I don't keep a ledger, but rather different places taking money out at different times! I'd like to go back to writing checks because the ledger is right in front of me. But I misplaced my checkbook somewhere in my bedroom. Don't worry - no one has been using it. So it just means I hid it and now I can't find it.

Even with checks, you never know when they are going to actually clear.

Because of the un-immediate charges, I found myself with another negative balance. Another good thing about checks is that fast food places don't accept them. Wink, wink.

Turk's Withdrawl Syndrome

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.30.10
Current Song - Turn Your Love Around (George Benson)

Kind of an odd realization when it comes to a message board I post on.

I haven't posted on Turk's Place in over four months. Whoa! Then again, I haven't had a whole lot of free time on the Internet in quite some time.

They call it Turk's Withdrawl Syndrome when someone doesn't post in a long time. However, people do get over it and post again. It happened to me once before. But it kind of puts me in a rut when I plan on making that comeback post. After all, what am I going to say? Ususally I would give an update on me. I'm starting to realize now that I talk about myself way too much. It used to be I always talked TO myself a lot. If I start talking about myself alot, no one is going to want to care. Really.

Plus, it's not like anyone's worried that I'm not there like it is some sort of tragedy or anything.

But seriously I have met a lot of people from Turk's Place.

Another Work Shortfall

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.92.10
Current Song - Yesterday (Paul McCartney)

Julie quit.

I guess I can kiss my weekends good-bye for now. I was notified of a schedule change and I'm now working Saturday night instead of the afternoon. That kind of hurts my column plan a bit.

I mentioned before that I was hoping to be associate editor for the Chronicle. Marques is going to be the editor, and I was slated to be AE but I had no idea someone else wanted to be it too. Instead of telling him "Sucks to be you, I was here first," we worked out a plan that we're going to bring to Sam today. I'm going to give Keith the AE duties, but I'm going to keep the copy and proofreading part. Keith runs a website of his own, which is an Internet newspaper, that's free. With him as AE he can assign stories, and he has brought a lot of story ideas to us. Even though I wanted the AE spot, I wanted to do what is best for the paper.

After all, copy and proofreading was what I was going to bring to the AE spot anyway: turn blog entries into stories, break out the old AP Stylebook, etc.

I can now start saving money. Once I reach a certain amount, I'm going to try to get my lights fixed on my car, which will be in the hundreds. Other than $150 monthly insurance payments, I really don't have anything special to save up for. I got my stickers renewed yesterday, so that's out of the way.

Soujourn into Chicago

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.82.10
Current Song - A song that has a chorus sounding like "chestnut on the hill" - some 80's song?

I made a trip to Chicago yesterday.

Actually, I was going to the library in River Forest to find an old high school located in the community. It was one of those cases where the librarian in the reference department told me there was no such thing, and I indeed found it. This has happened twice, and both times it happened in the suburbs.

I left early so that I could get there by the time the library opened at 9AM. It didn't take me too long to find the school. I'll tell you, this solved a two-year mystery for me, back to when I was looking at OPRF's history (that's Oak Park and River Forest High School, the 'and' is necessary) one day and making notes.

So it's 10:00 in the morning and I need to be on the road to Freeport by 2:00. I had four hours to kill and I was in Chicago pretty much. In my Glory Days notepad, which I bring to every research adventure, I had a list called: "Chicago Schools That Have No Photo On Their Pages - Addresses and Directions."

You guessed it.

I found fates of the following schools:

Angel Guardian - Church is still there, school may have been behind it, or on empty lot behind it.
Creiger - now Best Practice
Flower - now Al Raby
Jefferson - now a community center
Unity - now a CPS bilingual school
St. Stanislaus Kostka - still a K-8 school
St. Michaels Central - private residences?

Two schools I'm going to look deeper into:

St. Mel - Comment on that page said school was on One North Kildare (Kildare and Madison), but that is a church. There are two buildings on each side of it. The one on Madison is now ACT Charter, and the one on Kildare looks like a school building. But then again, there is a building that looks like a school building every two blocks I traveled!

Sacred Heart (on Huron and Oakley) - There are two buildings I snapped for this one on each side on Oakley. One looks like a rectangular apartment building, while the other looks like a church with what looks like Ukrainian scripture on it. I think this school is only mentioned on Kev's Archdioscese page.

I'm going to wait on posting the private school pics.

I only made it through the north side before leaving.

Airport Trip

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.72.10
Current Song - Cantaloupe Island (Herbie Hancock)

A couple of weeks ago my grandparents and I went to the Quad City Airport to show me around. When I go to Tucson it will be my first time flying. I got to know how to check in, where to get my bags checked, as well as all of those new rules in the wake of 9-11. Fluid ounces? It doesn't seem like a hard task, but only half of the Airport is open to the public. The other half one needs a boarding pass to get inside, so I didn't get to see that part, and I won't until I leave.

I got to know a whole lot about the airport process. I'm taking Quad City to Denver, which is a whole other animal to tame. I think I can do it.

The Column Proposal

Cutter's Log – Stardate 9002.62.10
Current Song – Walk Right In (The Rooftop Singers)

One weekly column. Put it in whatever day you want. Stringer rate is fine. I can write more than 15 column inches.

As a person who had traveled northern Illinois high school sports events (and parts of western, central and Chicago and its 'burbs) extensively over the past seven years, I have a well-rounded idea of what high school sports is like. I am well informed of high school sports news in Illinois.

I feel there's more to high school sports than just games and meets. There's also more to the resurrection of newspaper journalism than countless feature stories on people. An area that gets overlooked is the science of how high school sports work. There are stories to be told, processes to be taught and positives to be found.

Why should people know about these things? When we say, “I don't care,” one never knows who indeed does care. I don't write for editors, I write for everyone. There will be people who will not care for what I write, but that should not disappoint me. What I write can make people think in the way Andrew Carnegie helped people get rich.

There is so much to high school sports than what we already know. This is my purpose.

-------

But first I have to get a timing thing down.

My REAL Reaction to the mess

Cutter's Log - Stardate 8002.42.10
Current Song - Hound Dog (Elvis Presley)

Yesterday I really felt like an idiot. Those were the times I get down on myself.

I'm still not expecting good things from work. However, next week's schedule is kind of favorable. Although I am working Friday night, I am working Saturday from 9:00 to 4:30 p.m. - which is good enough for me to go somewhere for Saturday night.

Maybe if she feels I'm not cut out for nights, I may fall into midshift. During midshift, I can get out at 5:30 p.m. every night. It's just another 1:15 to try to get somewhere without getting a speeding ticket. I can even do an adjusted midshift on Tuesdays and Thursdays so that I can be on the road by 3:30. One of my co-workers is pregnant, and after she is due I would like to fill in. That would leave the nights to someone else who is more qualified for closing than I am (in the view of my boss).

I'm taking two classes at Sauk this summer, followed by two classes in the fall, and two classes in the spring. If successful in each class, I can graduate. I even know what I'm taking, too. Summer: Psychology 103 (Intro to PSY - which I failed once before) and Humanities 210 (Intro to Humanities - a popular and fast-filling Internet class). Fall: Math 115 (Principles of modern math - usually a liberal arts math requirement) and Humanities 112 (Film Appreciation - a class that directly transfers to NIU well, but also a Monday and Wednesday night class). Spring: Speech 131 (The dreaded evil!) and Phys. Ed. 214 (Intro to PE - just to get reads on coaches).

So that's "Operation Get The Hell Out of College." If I take one class a year from that point on, I'm on pace to get my bachelors in 2021.

As I was writing this, I thought about the future a little too in depth.

I'd like to get a weekly column going on NISB. I've got columns going, but I want to try to get a timing mechanism down. I felt that if I could get this going successfully on NISB, I could move it to a weekly paper - and evolve from there.

I'm glad I felt more positive today.

As I doubted my future ... Again

Cutter's Log - Stardate 8002.32.10
Current Song - She Blinded Me With Science (Thomas Dolby)

Call me an idiot for doing so. I've done foolish things before, but I was caught doing one recently at work.

I have to get my chores done by 12:30 PM when I close. On days when I can't get them done, I'll clock out at 12:30, or fifteen till, and work off the clock to get caught up. There are nights I won't leave the building until 1:15. You see, I started doing this after I was told I had to be out the door at 12:30.

I knew all along I couldn't do that, and so I tried to curve the rule by doing this. Well, I can't do that anymore. So now my work time has really been scrunched down. The first time I did this I felt like I wasn't able to do it. I kept telling myself I give up. Now every time I walk into work I expect an earful from anyone. Therefore, I don't even get anything from there (I'll go to the other three Shells in Sterling/Rock Falls).

You see, I think they're just trying to get me back on track - back to doing everything correctly. But each job I've ever had I've been a sinking ship from day one. What makes me believe that the next job I'll have will be different?

As you can tell, I have a problem with ground rules. If I don't like the rules, I'll either make up my own, or curve them so I can survive. If I feel like I'm being used as a pawn for someone else's gain, I'll be very critical. Should I just sit there and take this abuse?

So now I can't curve the rules. I guess I can't survive.

It made me think of my proposed column idea to SVN, similar to what Andy did when I was there. I've had that thing in the file cabinet since Salem was sports editor. However, the only reason I'm staying away from there is because I KNOW that I'm going to have conflicts.

Back to School

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.12.10
Current Song - Jive Talkin' (The Bee Gees)

I've been back at school twice now, but I never got settled in until yesterday. I'm still thinking about what to do for basketball, but I have baseball and softball previews planned, as well as men's basketball bios, and an intro column. What's holding be back on basketball is the Region IV pairings. They won't be known until February 1 - which isn't a whole lot of time for me. That's not all, the release date for the paper is March 6 - the day BEFORE the Region IV championships. What a wrench!!!

Jean, our editor, is leaving us. Now we are without an editor, and without an associate editor (Hilary isn't with us this semester). I guess that leaves me in command?

There's not a whole lot of interest this year for sports within the staff. It looks like I'll have to do it all myself. That really eliminates the position of Sports Editor, in which I'm going to apply for Associate Editor. I don't want to be Editor In Chief because I feel that a true Highland student should be running the Highland publication.

View of my office

As I Doubted my Future ...

Cutter's Log - Stardate 8002.21.10
Current Song - Sweet Lullaby (Deep Forest)

I had a lot of doubts with my future at Shell. I was written up for a "drawer under 20.00" violation. This policy, which has always been in effect since I've been there, was never given to anyone else before when they were short over 20.00. I was the first once since I been there. I felt that I was being picked on and singled out.

It felt as if I wasn't going to be working there one day, and my days were numbered. I wrote a note to Mary with every "writing skill" power I had in order to persuade her that I shouldn't be given this write-up and how I was picked on for some reason. So it was basically a column.

The next day I was preparing for the worst. I took a little over $100 and went to Jumers. I walked out losing all of what I brought. I was hoping I could win cash to keep me afloat after termination. I drove home dejected and nearly crashed the car twice. No more casinos for me for a long time.

I go to work on Sunday only to have Mary arrive a couple hours into my shift.

She hadn't read the note, but I guess Bre or Billy told her about it. Mary told me that I wasn't being singled out and just asked for an explanation as to why I was that much short. I told her I didn't know why. It could have been a sticky 20. I guess what I wrote made her tear up the write-up. As she walked out the door telling me nicely that I should just do my job, it sort of vindicated me. I was almost in tears.

I know I have a future at Shell for the time being. If I ever do leave, it will be on good terms.

Work got the best of me yet again!

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.90.10
Current Song - Shattered Dreams (Johnny Hates Jazz)

The day I found out I was working at my real job the exact time both Coach Goers and Coach Pingatore would surpass Coach Van Scyoc's boys basketball wins record devastated me. I devoted about a year to this record and kept a win tracker on both coaches. I had wanted to cover the record breaking moment no matter who broke it first, although Goers and Boylan is an area team.

This became one of the many moments I would see slip past me because of my job as a cashier at a Shell station in Sterling. We had no flexibility whatsoever when it came to scheduling. I was always afraid to call in sick even when I was sick. This one girl I used to work with there worked when sick a lot, and she was let go after one too many call offs. Playing hooky from work would be devastating, too.

So I am stuck at this gas station gig that has no flexibility and is a house made of playing cards. It's the only non-journalism place that is still willing (I think) to accept me and the different ways I think and do things. Without Shell, I'm without money and without any non-journalism job. I think I possess one of the worst work ethics known to mankind.
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I have a real bad feeling that I have screwed up this "job" thing.

The journalism industry somehow took off without me right after I graduated high school. So I had to stick to common jobs and work my way up that way. Now it appears I can't even work out at these jobs anymore.

Just after the second Indian regime took over at BP, they promoted someone younger than me and hadn't been there as long as me to assistant manager. That didn't make me feel all too bad, no. This stuff happens and I realize that. What set me off was her power trip. Now at Shell there is this lady who somehow leap-frogged over me and is getting more management responsibilities. That's okay too, she is older than I am.

However, I'm getting the feeling that this "forward progress" is normal, and I am actually going backwards. In fact, I feel like I'm being pushed out very, very slowly like Chinese torture. There's nothing I can really do about it. There's nothing I can really learn from this to take somewhere else. I've got nothing else left other than NISB, which I can't make any money out of (and when I try it just makes it look worse). I've got nothing else left to take somewhere else. If Shell drains me, that's it. But I just can't adapt.

Rest In Peace Grandma Holland

Cutter's Log - Supplemental

Yesterday I learned that my Great Grandma Helen Holland passed away in Prophetstown. She was 93 years old. She was the last of my great grandparents to pass away.

Her parents immigrated from Sweden in 1890 through Ellis Island. She was born in Pontiac in 1915 and graduated from Geneseo High School in 1932. Grandma Holland was my mothers maternal grandmother. She had lived around the Prophetstown area her entire life.

I remember many times when Mema would take me down to Prophetstown as a kid to visit Grandma Holland. She always had a Hershey's bar to give me every time I came to visit. By the time I grew up her memory had gotten bad and sometimes she would call me someone else. I enjoyed visiting with her whenever I got the chance.

I'll miss you Grandma, along with a lot of Tighes, Rosliebs and Hollands. Rest in Peace.

Steps and Steps Toward Internet Connection

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.70.10
Current Song - How Could I Let You Get Away (The Spinners)

For a while I couldn't get my Internet connection to work. I had a modem installed a couple of days ago, but I could not get it to work. My dad tested the phone line, and sure enough the phone line was working. It had to be the modem. I took it back to Unique and had them test it out. Sure enough the modem that was installed for me was bad. So they installed a new modem (at no cost via warranty) and it worked.

My parents are in charge of the Internet connection, and they have been past due in their bill. After a while without Internet, you'll forget after a while. Once they either get that paid, or switched to broadband I'll finally have that Internet connection I have been dying for.

Meanwhile, I've been cleaning my desk area out. I made more desk space and put in the lamp I got for Christmas. I found my old MP3 player that I rarely used. I could rarely get it to work after I had accidentally left it under a lamp for a long time. Now I swear it is possessed. While charging on the computer it will turn on and off over and over again.

I'm going to work out of Sauk hopefully today. I think there are events going on there this week, which means the computers are open! Yay! Plenty of things to do under a long duration of time. Might be a down day with the pedometer.

I will be in Evanston on Saturday night to see Coach Pingatore break the all-time coaching wins record. If victorious, he will have 827 wins surpassing Coach Van Scyoc. I have been following his, and Coach Goers', progress toward this record. However, Pingatore will only make 827 with a win at LaGrange Nazareth on Friday.

Happy New Year!

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.04.10
Current Song - I'll be Around (The Spinners)

It's been quite a while since I last typed an entry. That's that happens with the absence of the Internet. It looks as if I'll be getting it sometime this week or next. I have to go back to Unique to get that other gig of RAM. Also, I need to ask them how to install a modem. I've got the phone line next to my computer, I just need to make that connection actually happen. Then I'll be set. I still get to the library once in a while for computer use. I haven't been there in a week, and thus I haven't checked the boards in a week! I've got plenty of time this week as I am off Tuesday thru Thursday plus Saturday. Other than the Internet thing, all is going well with the computer. I'm playing a lot of Pinball and Hoyle Casino when I'm not typing columns. I'm typing this entry on my home computer and saving it.

I can't even remember when I last typed an entry here. Christmas and New Years have both passed.

I didn't receive a whole lot for Christmas this year, because I'm getting older. I even wrote out my largest Christmas list in years. Only one thing on my list was actually given to me: high school sports shirts. My grandparents gave me one from Dakota and one from Milledgeville. You see, I'm trying to be the Bill Cosby of high school sports, wearing the shirts and sweaters of schools. Other than that, not a whole lot of noteworthy things:

*My mom's mother (MeMa) gave us a pictorial history book of Sterling and Rock Falls (I didn't know this was published, so this was a good gift).
*Mom and dad gave me a desk lamp, which I have yet to install or fit on my desk.
*They also gave me one of those $50 Visa gift cards from Wal-Mart.
*I can't even remember the other one.
*Also got socks from grandma and grandpa??
*$50 check from them too.
*$25 gas card from my Uncle Mat.

Another unique gift was from my Aunt Judy. Her gifts are usually a donation in our names to a charity. We had a get together a couple weeks ago where we got to choose our charity. Chris picked the Red Cross. Judy gave us each an envelope with $50 and another envelope in it. We would choose on our own how much we would keep and give. I put the whole $50 in it. I look at the gift as the opportunity to do such a thing. I recently got a nice card from her about how generous I was. She knew I had car trouble (lights) and was about to give me back some of it. She said she then decided it was best to respect my wishes.

I did buy a few things with the spending money. Two things were an MP3/CD cassette adapter for my car, and a pedometer.

Yes, I am going to try what I have tried the last ten or so New Years. I really need to lose some weight. I think I said this last year. I've crept over 300 and then some. I think I was at 327 at one point in December. Today I am down to 305 with yet to put on the pedometer. I get to lose weight and save money because I won't eat out a whole lot.

One of the problems of being a journalist like me is that you get to travel all over creation and spend a good amount of time sitting on your butt in front of a table and a sports event, and in a car. I could probably tell you the best places to eat in northern Illinois, as well as the best teams and athletes. The post game is so concentrated on putting together the story, structuring it, and getting it out. Then when you get done, there is this free fall of relief which will absolutely drain me. For refueling, I'll get something high-octane. By the time the games are over only the 24-hour food places are open. I've got places to go yet this year including one trek deep into the Chicago suburbs this week. I can't really pack a lunch because it will spoil.

I think part of the problem was going to Freeport back and forth. Whenever I would get my stuff done there I would go to the McDonalds or Burger King and eat that on the drive home. One day at work I was browsing through a bunch of tossed out Sunday papers, and I put together dinner items that don't normally sound like dinner: cans of soup, hot pockets, etc. I cut out the coupons of these things. The cafeteria at Highland has a microwave and I'm sure various gas stations have them as well. I'm going to try this more often.

As far as work is concerned, I had to work a couple hours on Christmas Eve, and for the third year in a row I was at a gas station "celebrating" the new year. At times I was unhappy with working there and wanted to leave. I've mentioned it on here time after time. I'm not the best worker. I'm probably not a good worker at all. I struggle a lot with learning how to do things a certain way that I have to resort to shortcuts to get it done. I need to pace myself a lot because I'll go crazy if I'm doing things non-stop. This I do not think my co-workers will understand. At times I truly feel as if they are trying to make things miserable for me - all I can do is attack it by looking at the positives of these things.

I'm also planning on making some minor changes to the NISB homepage as well this week.

That's all for now. Hopefully I won't have another drought.