Digital Camera on last leg

Current Song - Stardate 9002.90.01
Current Song - Grease (Frankie Valli)

I was covering the AFC-Orangeville volleyball meet tonight, and had my digital camera with me. Earlier in the year I thought it would be good to take a couple of pictures of the events I cover.

The camera is a Canon Powershot A95. I got it from my grandparents on my high school graduation. I graduated in May of 2005, so it's probably five years old. In fact, I know it's old because the flashcard that came with it is one that is not sold in stores anymore.

It worked real well when I was taking pictures for the site early on. It still works well for still images. It just can't muster any action shots anymore. The pictures keep getting blurry and the zoom sucks. It's like I need to be a few feet away in order to have a chance at a good shot. I can't really do that while I'm covering a game.

Maybe it was this double-duty thing that made the pics look bad. I'll try the camera one more time, when I head for the Dixon VB Invitational on Saturday afternoon. If it doesn't work out, then who knows what I'll be doing.

It's not a piece of junk just yet. Like I said, it does well for stand-alone shots and works well for Glory Days trips and vacations.

Found a few?

Cutter's Log - Supplemental

I made a search for weekly newspapers from around the SV area. I found the Fulton Journal, the Carroll County Mirror-Democrat, the Carroll County Reporter and the Savanna Times-Journal. I also got a Polo paper today. I have read the Amboy and Ashton papers online.

Fulton has two high schools: Fulton and Unity. Carroll County has three: Eastland, Milledgeville and West Carroll. Polo just has Polo. Amboy just has Amboy and Ashton just has AFC.

Each will hear from me.

Payday

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.70.01
Current Song - Smiling Faces (The Undisputed Truth)

Today is payday - so I'm getting my meager $120ish. I have my final college payment coming in 10 days, and hopefully I won't have to w/d anything from my savings to cover for it.

I was digging through my desk a couple of days ago and found an uncashed birthday check from April. It's still good, and it's more money that came from nowhere. If only life could work like that ... lol.

I drove to Erie to buy an Erie Review. It seems as if Riverdale sports are well-covered because an athlete from each team is writing the stories. Didn't see anything on Riverdale football, or any of Erie sports (save EP football). It's a great concept, really. However, if I were to fill in the missing blanks, it may bring a writing style/philos conflict that I don't want to occur. If anything, I would like to encourage Erie students to do the same thing as Riverdale does.

So call my aspirations for the Erie Review dead in the water, too. I'm going to try Fulton, Amboy and Ashton. I think there's also a Polo and/or Mt. Carroll paper?

Work Update

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.60.01
Current Song - I Can Dream About You (Dan Hartman)

I can pretty much call the Rt. 30 thing stuck in the water. They rehired someone, a former night worker, who is known for her flexability. She even helped out at my station a few times. This is coupled with the if-the-new-girl-doesn't-work-out backup plan.

I have thought about getting a Monday-thru-Friday (or Thursday) first-shift job somewhere. That would make Shell the part-time gig. But where could I get that first-shift thing?

Actually, the biggest question is 'am i up to it?' It would involve getting up at 6:00 a.m. and getting off sometime around 5:00. I would still have time for high school sports on Wednesday-Friday nights, that is if I'm not falling flat when I come home. Well, pizza delivery? Erie Review?

Silver

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.40.01
Current Song - Jack and Jill (Raydio)

I've recently become interested in finding silver coins.

So I guess that's another one minute of time wasted at the gas station. The price of silver as of this entry is $16.65/ounce. I've got $1.25 face value, which translates to a minimum asking price of $14.87. I'm going to keep the Peace Dollar I have, so the $0.25 I've actually garnered translates into $2.92.

At the tip of the tongue - crap I can't talk!

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.30.01
Current Song - The Best Is Yet To Come (Frank Sinatra)

I had a career-changing, if not life-changing, experience at the Sterling-Morris football game on Friday night.

In 5 of my 7 years of high school sportswriting I had been writing articles that had some sort of quoted matter in them. Only for 1/4 of these five years had I actually found the courage to strike up a conversation to get quotes. That 1/4 was when I was working at the newspaper. The rest of the time while running NISB I have just sat back and let the newspaper reporters do their thing. After all, they are on a deadline and I don't want to distrupt their train of thought.

They think I just stand there with a recorder just to get some free information. I just don't want to distrupt the writer.

However, there are a lot of times when my social ineffectiveness kicks in. It really did at this football game. I WANTED to talk, but I COULDN'T.

If I want to keep going in this career goal to be a high school sportswriter, conducting an interview is one of the things I have to excel at. I can't just sit back and tune in anymore, but at the same time I don't want to interfere with the other writers' mindset.

I need to find good games/meets that are less likely to be covered by a newspaper reporter, and cover them myself. The problem is, where? And how will this effect the following on NISB?

I've got one football game in mind for next week. Hopefully all will go well there. Hopefully laying off the real big games will help bring a more diverse audience to NISB.

Even More Thoughts About NISB

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.92.90
Current Song - Whispers (unknown artist)

I've always had another writer in mind for NISB. If I were to ever afford to these freelance writers, this is something I wouldn't mind doing.

I have plans in mind, so if you want to know what I'm thinking, let me know.

Thoughts about NISB

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.72.90
Current Song - Steppin Out (Joe Jackson)

There was only one time in NISB's history when I had my full concentration on it. That was from when I graduated high school in June 2005 until starting work at the BP station in August 2006; the entire 2005-06 school year.

Sauk was on the schedule too, but it didn't turn out to be as bad as I thought it would.

When I look at on the 2005-06 school year (and you can too by viewing the NISB story archive), I saw some real good teams, some real good games (Erie 80-West Carroll 78 in 2 OTs) documented the rise of some programs (Polo and Lemont football come to mind), and did Q&As on several good athletes. The next year, having squeezed work time in the mix, the stuff I wrote didn't turn out that well.

I then wrote a column, sometime after the 2007 RF Shootout, about being through with game articles. I accomplished what I could with game articles, but decided to stick to columns and feature pieces. These kind of pieces involve less travel and more time communicating via e-mail or phone.

That was January 2007. Since then I've written a bunch of non-gamer stories: Kewanee's Conference drama, "The Trial of Steve Sandholm," the IPA situation, NCIC expansion, PA prayer, and the basketball coaching wins record all come to mind. I did stick a few gamers in there when I could.

"When I can." That's the story of how I'm running NISB right now. I run it when I can. The amount of things released on the site has decreased considerably since getting a job. I left that BP station in April of 2008 and three months later found myself at the Shell station I currently work at. I was able to write the Five-part NCIC series and expand the MLB draft coverage in that small amount of time.

When I started at Shell I was named the main clerk for nights. That meant working the busy Friday and Saturday evening shifts. There went most of everything, except for writing columns on statistics on nights off. At the same time, it did help my column-writing. I feel I can crank out a column whenever I feel like it.

However, just writing columns isn't going to get me anywhere. I had a serious hours reduction at work that allowed me to fit in a few things for the site. I started writing football game articles once more. I actually got the new version of the site off the ground. The extra time was devoted toward finding out things for the Friday 5, and other bits and pieces.

One day, just this past week, I wanted to go down to Princeton to do research for a story I had in mind. The end result was the history of the Kewanee-Princeton football rivalry. I've received more kind words about that particular piece than any other one I've written for NISB. I covered the particular football game - which is kind of odd because I usually cover the top-notch games - and covering it was an interesting experience. I got to witness something historic ending, met some people that liked the site, and drove back in a thick fog.

The football game this past Friday was a tough one to cover. But it is games like these that have to be taken seriously in order to write a good gamer. I cried many tears after seeing Boylan-Guilford in last year's opener. I cried after Friday's game. I kept on thinking, this is what I want to do. This is what I want to do.

I have thought about doing this for The Review, a weekly newspaper covering SW Whiteside and Northern RI counties. I e-mailed a former editor for their parent company, and he mentioned that it won't stuff the wallet very much. I'd have to write 6-7 stories in order to make as much money as I do, on average, at Shell. That's easy, right? E-P Football, Riverdale Football, Erie VB, Riverdale VB, Erie Golf, Riverdale Golf, E-P XC, Riverdale XC, and Riverdale soccer - nothing real top notch. That's nine. However, it will take up too much space in the tiny paper, which would probably have to raise its newsstand price in order to accomodate me. I don't want that to happen.

It's going to be a backup plan, just in case something bad happens.

All of that, and the Kewanee experience, is making me lean toward coming back to writing gamers. The column well seems to have run dry. Now if I can make time for something. A non-football event would have to be on Wednesday or Thursday.

Enter in that MASH episode where everyone is dreaming. This is where the excitement ends.

Things at work have not been going so smoothly. Being down to two nights a week bites. I'm going to ask Route 30 if there's something for Wednesday and Thursday night.

When it comes to research ...

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.42.90
Current Song - Reminiscing (Little River Band)

I know what I'm doing.

This may sound strange, but I never liked doing research. It took the love of high school sports to get me to like research. I enjoyed doing research stories for the Gazette (Newman's 1985 Wrestling season, the brief history of Sauk Valley high school football, the 50th anniversary of Sterling Youth Baseball). When I left there I carried this over to NISB. Then it got me interested in Illinois High School Glory Days.

NISB began to take shape during my first years of college, where I was taking a Western Civilizations class at the time. After doing the college research papers, I began to get a feel for credible research and used it for certain NISB historical articles. My history instructor, Rich Eichman, spoke these words about research that I will never forget:

"Consider your source."

I've done quite a bit of high school sports/history research in the past few years. There are plenty of sources out there when trying to uncover when doing high school research.

Let's go into the making of my article "The History of the NCIC" -
http://www.northernillinoissportsbeat.com/2009spring/news/ncichistory.html

I wrote this piece because different newspapers were writing different histories of the conference. For example, one paper had the conference forming in 1942 (it was really 1929), another had Geneseo joining in 1947 (1942), another had Rock Falls as a charter member (1942). My article aimed to correct this information.

Most of what was written in the papers came as a result of looking at a past issue of recent timing, before the popularity of microfilm. The problem with referring to recent information is that the possibility of it being skewed exists. Some newspaper writers are absolutely certain that what was in their paper at one point of time is really true.

Say something happened in 1958. Which is the best source? A) A 30th Anniversary Article of the event from 1998? B) An account of the event from 1958? The answer is B. You try to find information dating back to the most recent account. It is freshest this way, and is not filled with after-the-fact information. Historical accounts often have this after-the-fact information to define it's legacy. However, in newspaper writing, one is limited to the amount of space they are alotted. Therefore, namy details about the event are left out in order to give readers a recent link (interviews). In most instances of historical accounts written before the 1980s, the research isn't as easy.

Since I'm from Sterling, I started looking through Sterling-based accounts. There's the newspaper's microfilm. There's also the high school yearbooks.

Yearbooks are the most underrated source of information. They are extremely valuable. That's because the books are made for the SPECIFIC purpose of preserving the memories, events, and life in the high school. We turn to newspapers because of trust, but the purpose of newspapers and yearbooks do not match. Which has more information about the school? The yearbook does. This is why libraries attempt to keep a collection of high school yearbooks, and safeguard them extensively. The collection at Sterling and Rock Falls libraries are behind the front desk. Sterling's first yearbooks require gloves in order to touch - I'm not kidding.

When trying to find Sterling's first year in the NCIC, I sifted through yearbooks in a quick fashion. Yearbooks are quicker to go through, and I went 1970, 1960, 1950 and so on until I hit 1920. I didn't find the NCIC in the 1920 edition, so I went 1921, 1922, 1923 and so on, knowing I'd hit it sometime before 1930. I eventually found it in 1929.

After finding Sterling's first year in the NCIC I didn't say that was the first year of the NCIC. The 1928 yearbook still mentioned the Rock River Valley. From there I did fact checking through the newspaper, but noticed that a small paragraph in the 1928 book mentioned the formation of a new conference. That had to be verified, so I did the same motions at the Dixon Library.

From there, after knowing that both Sterling and Dixon were charter members of the NCIC, every yearbook was looked at up until LP joined. I was able to get information on what conference opponents were, and when the football divisions were created. After going through other school's yearbooks, I had a good idea what the history was.
--

So it's all about which source is better. When going on a research adventure for Illinois High School Glory Days, I'm always looking through the County Histories of the late 1800s. Subsequent county histories are always sourcing the previous one.

I look at all of the published county histories to see if the dates match. There could have been a recent discovery. There was an instance where two histories of the same county had different dates for a school's establishment. Which one is it? If the most recent county history cannot prove a contradiction to the earlier one, I go with the earlier history. If a contradiction is proved, then I go with the later history. Memory is fresher in the earlier histories.
--

I did a piece on the founder of the University of Illinois football, which happened to be the founder of Sterling High School football. In the process, I was able to relook at a piece of Sterling football history that I think only I knew about.

http://www.geocities.com/northernillinoissportsbeat/aa_winter08_columns_scottwilliams

First off, the name Scott Williams, to me, was known as the founder of SHS football - and there was a Scott Williams who was the founder of U of I football. Little did I know about his connections to the Fighting Illini until stumbling upon an article while doing GD research at SVCC. This particular piece linked the U of I's Williams with a newspaper position at the Gazette. It had me thinking if the two Scott Williams's were one.

The little "unknown piece of history" I had looked at was Sterling's 1898 football season consisting of just one game. It's not documented in the official SHS athletics research. But looking at the 1924 Blue and Gold, it had an article on the first and second teams. It mentioned the first team as an afterthought because the 1899 season fared much better.

So it does take a little going back-and-forth to get something right.
--

I have nothing new to share at this time. In my Kewanee-Princeton research, I was able to find evidence of a Princeton Football game taking place in 1895 against Geneseo. This was from the 1896 Princetonia yearbook. I know someone who is doing research on the history of Geneseo Football, beginning in 1912.

Let's Move Forward, Shall We?

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.22.90
Current Song - Mammagamma (Alan Parsons Project)

The last entry was kind of overreacting a bit. Thankfully I have five days off to try to relax. This relaxation comes in the form of going to class, seeing Friday night football, and trying to write two articles for NISB. Usually I do one: The Friday 5. I'm also trying to get a Guest Picker in line for this week's football pick'em.

I will be going to the Kewanee-Princeton game on Friday night. It'll be the last time these two get together due to the Boilermakers' departure to the Big Rivers next year. I want to try to write a historical article on the rivalry.

Class seems to be going okay at the moment. I get my first Math test back tonight.

The bike will see some much-needed riding this week, too.

The Search Begins

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.91.90
Current Song - Early Autumn (Stan Getz)

This is what happens after you faint when you get the kicked the crap out of.

It's hard for me to write this.

I love my customers at the gas station. Aside from my classmates from school, these are the friends I talk to these days. I come to work each night to service them. I want to be here for them. My customers are the reason why I work at the Shell station. I come in early because of them. I stay there late because of them. I skip some of my chores because of them. They bring in the dough, but I don't think of it as that. My concentration should be on them, because they take the time to come in the store to get their things. For most customers it has become THE go-to place for things.

These particular customers, for whom East End Shell is a go-to place for, I know by name. They're the ones who stay a minute or two to chat. For someone who has deep trouble communicating with people, this is something I cherish.

Working at a gas station is not what I want to do. That honor goes to sportswriting.

There have been many times where I thought about quitting. But there are a few people who somehow manage to make me stay behind the counter. Indeed, the relations I have with the customers is what makes me want to stay at Shell.

That can only go so far, however.

While customers make me happy, it is the inner workings of the workplace that fusturate me. I hate it when I get pushed around by my co-workers. They out-perform me, and now I am slow. These are the same people that work there for a paycheck. It's nothing more than a job to them. For me, being at work is the only time I can put forth a Social life. A social life is something I always wanted to regain from childhood.

When work, and co-workers, take away my mission to obtain something I always wanted, I feel even more depressed. I keep getting kicked around, and any form of retailiation just can't work because it goes too over the edge.

It's come to that point when the inner workings have become just too much for me, having overshadowed my customer relations.

I want to quit.

I don't know if I'll be able to right away, but I do know time is going to run out. I put in everything I can, but it's still not enough. I have a talent and I want that to be the thing that makes me successful.

I want to write again.

I'm eyeing a weekly newspaper out of Erie that covers Erie and Riverdale high schools. I bought their paper a couple of days ago and noticed they didn't have a sports section. I wonder if they would like one? I can most certainly do that - I did it for two college newspapers and won awards for it.

The Review would give me a chance to cover just two schools; two schools that don't necessairly stand out in anything. It's more community-based, aside from my power-based NISB.

I talked to a friend of mine who is working at a weekly in the Washington panhandle. He says he's making good money there, and is nearly double of what I make in a month. I want to take a guess and say working there would be just like getting paid at Shell, and just like commuting to and from Highland.

I took a look at a few other weeklies from around here, and they all have good sports coverage. I don't think I'm fit for a daily just yet. Working at a daily requires full attention, which is something I can't obtain until at least June 2010.

I want to give them a call and discuss my plans with them. I don't even know if it will be sucessful. But I want to give it a try.

I want to be able to do what I like doing.

Chore adjustments

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.31.90
Current Song - I saw the light (Todd Rundgren)

For some reason I felt tired all day today, until I got home from work. I did site work when I got home, so maybe that made me awake.

While I'm getting more hours at work, my mind is killing me. I don't know how many times I had to repeat totals to customers. Or how many times I had to ask Dorothy to repeat herself. It was yet another horrible night at work. Customers were in-and-out for most of the early session, and Stan stayed for a while. Then when it died down, Bill and Dorothy showed up. Then Joe and Kay. They're pretty much taking my time until 11:00. I can get around these four, but I have to be absolutely perfect in the beginning of my shift in order to have a good night. I didn't have it.

About three months ago I made adjustments to my chorework. I had always made a list of things to do. This time I had made personal deadlines for each chore. That started out well, but began to falter.

I think I'm going to make some adjustments in chorework. I start the day making a list of cigs to stock. Since this is mostly a front job, I think I'll move it to during chit-chat time.

Clock in by 4:45. Inside trash right away. It'll push cappuchino rinsing to be done by 5:30. Fountain ice by 6:00. 5 bags of ice by 6:30. Lot or another five bags by 7:00. Rugs done by 7:30. Cigs done by 8:00.

Cooler count from 8:00 until the gang begins to arrive.

Lotto numbers entirely printed out by 9:30 (I would only do three for the gang, but didn't really print the ten for the customers). Papers stripped AND restrooms by 10:00.

Cooler, sweep and mop from 10 to 12. Lotto will be moved from 11 to 12, but still stop selling at 11.

Hopefully this will work out. There are a lot of things in the first half that may have already been done during mid.

WSN - It's been a while

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.11.90
Current Song - Gimme Shelter (The Rolling Stones)

I'm not laying around the house anymore, really.

WORK - Our assistant manager got transfered to Route 30, where she was promoted to manager. I really want the one I mentioned "in-waiting" in the previous entry to be the new second-in-command. I don't want to do it. So now we're down to a staff of five, which means I will be getting more hours at work.

I am available for work Wednesday mid or night, Thursday mid or night, Friday mid, Saturday night and Sunday night.

The Friday mids are going to be a bit painful. I wonder how far I can drive when I walk out the door at 5:30 p.m.?

I work today from 11:00 to 5:00. I'm headed for Amboy afterward. I also work Saturday and Sunday close. Next week I'm working Wednesday close, Friday mid and weekend close.

We are remodeling our countertops in the store. There was a lot of glue throughout the place, and I worked throughout the night like I was high. I think I said a cuss word to a customer. I had a real bad run at work in January. This was due to experiencing a broken jug of nail polish in a building at Highland. My mind was full of crap, and things didn't taste right.


SCHOOL - I totally dropped the ball on a math group project. I'm real shy when it comes to groups. I was the last one to sign up for a presentation. The one I chose was Paradoxes. It was a group created by someone a couple of seats next to me as the signup sheet was being passed toward me on Tuesday. We had another girl get moved to it later.

Anyway, I had set up a meeting time for Thursday morning in the library. I was feeling very ill after work on Wednesday that i had to rest for the day. It wasn't until later in the day, when I finally felt better, that I realized I had missed the meeting.

I only know one person in the group, and I didn't have a means of contact for him. I wound up using the SVCC Student E-mail system. I needed a middle inital for it to work. The address is something like "cody.c.cutter" so I ended up typing the person's first and last name like "cody.a.cutter" "cody.b.cutter" "cody.f.cutter" and so on. Hopefully he gets it.

I got a sneak peek at the Spring schedules for 2010. I need a speech class and I will also be taking an Intro to PE class (a gen ed). The PE class will be from 9:30 to 10:45 a.m. on Tuesday and Thursday morning. I would like the 2:00-3:15 speech class these same days. This makes me unavailable for Tuesday/Thursday mid and available for everything else. This may also give me some likeable days/times off.


NISB - I finally felt good enough to travel to Sycamore to take pics of a soccer match. It was on the way there I realized I had missed the Math group meeting. The Sycamore-Dixon pics are up on the website. I also found time to write the Friday 5 in quick enough time (it was posted at 12:05 a.m.).

I will be covering BV-Amboy (as mentioned) on Friday night. I will also try to test out my camera at the Newman-St. Bede game on Saturday afternoon. Hopefully the glue won't bother me.

The Guest Picker idea for the pick'em seems to be working, but it worrys me a bit.

Hey, Wait a minute!

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.70.90
Current Song - Too Close (Next)

I get a note as I walk into work.

It starts out by saying "Day before Labor Day Cleaning!"

The girl who worked before my shift started got the same note. She did an aisle. I do an aisle. There are a few aisles, the storefront, the restrooms, the cooler, and behind the counter left to do. Apparently only these two aisles were a part of "Day before Labor Day Cleaning."

Then I get another note.

An important part of the store was not locked (there are several of these, including the store itself). I went and locked it the night before, basically because it is supposed to be locked. This note tells me to leave it as it is, unlocked.

Believe me, this thing is better off locked than unlocked. The extra time it takes to monkey around with it is worth it.

All told, never take orders from an heir-apparent to the management.

Focus Will Still be the Same Next Year

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.13.80
Current Song - Deacon Blues (Steely Dan)


I feel compelled to address the fact that there will be a big change next year in the northern Illinois sports scene. The NCIC Reagan and some Western Sun schools will form the Northern Illinois Big 12.

The NIB-12 is a conference that brings together similar schools: Eight schools are Class 5A in football and eleven schools are Class 3A in the four-class system.

It also brings together all of the NISB area's heavyweights that are not in the NIC-10 or Western Big 6.

The coming together of these schools brought excitement all throughout these schools. I was dreaming of a conference that would have a football team play in Champaign every year, and a team that can play in Peoria. It's a conference that brings together many of the message board junkies from this part of the state. It's big, and it's wonderful.

But as the months after the first press conference passed, I found myself thinking of being in Anakin Skywalker's shoes. He is witnessing the light saber battle between Palpatine and Windu (Episode III). I found myself being forced to choose a side: Be a person that is a face of the greater, or be a person that is a face of a few.

“POOOOOOWWWWWWEEEEEEERRRRRRR!!!!!!!!!!!!”



“No. That's not me.”

Now, the new conference is NOT going to be some evil empire. I was trying to get the point across that I can't turn my back on 90% of my coverage area to service the remaining 10%.
I've probably lost some popularity among the NIB-12 crowd because I chose not to stress that particular conference amongst the rest.

It sounds like my loyalty experience in high school. I went to a high school that stressed school pride. I looked into that differently than others. As much as I should have pride in my own school, I should also respect other's pride to their schools. I should respect the pride one has to the Catholic school (Newman). I should respect the pride one has to the neighboring school (Rock Falls). I should respect the pride one has to the arch-rival school (Dixon or Geneseo).

My soft side for Dixon, Geneseo and Rock Falls got me into a lot of dissatisfaction within the Sterling High School brethren. At one point, it got too far and I wished some evil upon my own school. That didn't work out too well.

Having been raised in the NCIC and it's large school division, some say I should have a (“real-time” note: I was just called into work for Friday night and can't cover the Sterling-Lemont game) bias toward the NCIC Reagan and the NIB-12. But throughout my journalism career, I have respected a lot more conferences.

I won't make the same mistake again. I wish the NIB-12 well.

So with that being said, I'm still going to cover the same teams I always have been covering. The NIB-12 will just be one of the many conferences that I cover. This group may be the most popular, but all in all it is one of many. Kind of like high school students in a school.

Planning the week

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.03.80
Current Song - Let 'Em In (Paul McCartney and Wings)

I got a couple of fill-ins last week!

I filled in on the morning shift on Thursday and Friday. It's a whole different world from what I'm used to. Everyone is starting their day. I'm trying to end mine. It's like customer service magnets repeling. Anyway, Mary was feeling tired both days and couldn't function. So here I am trying to explain to every single customer where Mary is. I don't know these people, and they probably know Mary very well. A couple asked for her phone #. I gave it to them. I get chided tonight.

Cripes almighty, these people probably know her so well they know her husband's name. It's in the phone book. Two, I never heard of such a rule. Three, she should be thankful that there are people who are concerned.

Anywho, on to the schedule:

MONDAY: Release the Week 1 Observations piece. Study for the Early Films quiz for class today (thank God for YouTube). Go to class.

TUESDAY: Complete the math assignment I have yet to start on. Go to class.

WEDNESDAY: Payday (+12 unexpected hours)!! Pretty much just budgeting my week. Maybe a sports event that night.

THURSDAY: Really not much to do. If I feel like it, I'll try to get that photo thing accomplished. Friday 5 to be written.

FRIDAY: Possible mid-shift. Sterling-Lemont tonight. Article writing and all that.

SATURDAY: Work. Begin Week 2 obs piece.

SUNDAY: Work. Finish Week 2 obs piece.

MONDAY: No class due to Labor Day. Possible work. If not, try to find a sports event.

And that's pretty much it.

Back to "Vacation"

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.42.80
Current Song - Holding Back The Years (Simply Red)

Another weekend done. Another five days off to begin.

Back to class tonight. I still do not have my book, which the Bookstore is ordering ANY DAY NOW! I don't know if I'll have Chapter 1 read by class. I still haven't touched my Math assignment. I think I'll arrive to the classroom real early to concentrate on the problems.

The work situation keeps going from grim to promising, back and forth. It's all a matter of "I hope I'm on the schedule next week." I'm not the only one not happy about the situation. I'm joined by the two other men. Is this coinsidence? I hate mentioning these facts when I'm sweeping up two days worth of crap on the floor.

To give you an idea of what the two days are like at work:

Saturday is spent trying to figure out what WAS done and what WASN'T done. I've found that the recent Saturdays are more difficult than previous Saturdays.

Sundays are A LOT easier than Saturdays, because there is not as much to clean :)

I put in a little more time this week (mess to clean up on Saturday, and marquee sign on Sunday): 16.25 hours. That should translate into a couple of more dollars. I just have a car insurance payment left for this month.



Now, as to the rest of the week:

MONDAY: I will be writing up the NIC-10 Conference Call for Edgy, and hopefully getting that done before class. Then I'm planning on going to the Rt. 30 station to inquire about October. Probably wrapping up the CC late night.

TUESDAY: I'll be starting on the NCIC Lincoln Conference Call, and hopefully wrapping that up late night. As mentioned, I'm going to class a bit early to concentrate on my math homework. After class, I'm going to spend some time with some friends at Shell.

WEDNESDAY: Hopefully Conference Calls are complete by now. I'm going to my grandmother's to talk about her Will. She wants me to be the executor, and I plan on doing that. Also calling people about Thursday and Friday.

THURSDAY and FRIDAY: Payday! Hopefully I can catch up with a summer feature I've put off for so long. Friday night will be spent at Polo to see the Marcos take on East Dubuque. Friday night I'll try to get myself back in article writing form.

SATURDAY: Figuring out the pick'em, scoreboard, and other NISB things. Working. More to come.

Looks to be a very busy week, and hopefully I can follow this to a T.

Back to WSN

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.12.80
Current Song - What you won't do for love (Bobby Caldwell)

Just an entry because I feel like it at the moment:

Work: I have contacted a couple of stations regarding Wednesdays and Thursdays: Morrison, Grand Detour, and Dixon East. I also kind of inquired at my own station. It turns out that the girl who makes the schedules was so confused as to which days to schedule me. Hopefully this misunderstanding will be clear and I can get a day. But I'm still waiting for calls anyway.

I made a meager $118.41.

School: The weekly classes seem to be alright. I'm still waiting on my Film Appreciation textbook. Stupid bookstore! My math class is okay, but involves group work at times, which I'm really NOT good at.

NISB: Just released this week's version of the Friday 5. Started the pick'em, and finished the Western Big 6 Conference Call - most of the info I got from the banquet on Wednesday. There were also a few audio clips to save for eternity.

I'm tired.

Let the Crusade Begin

Cutter's Log - Stardate 90.02.80
Current Song - Stone Cold Theme

"Hello. My name is Cody Cutter, I am a cashier at the East End Shell (No. 18) in Sterling.

I recently had my hours cut to two nights a week because of a new hire there. I'm a college student still in the process of paying my tuition. Therefore, I'm attempting to seek out more hours.

My family has worked with, or for, Johnson Oil for four generations in some capacity (clerk or electrical work), and I really like working for Mr. Johnson.

I currently work from 5:00 PM to closing time (12:00) on Saturday and Sunday nights. I attend class at Sauk Valley Community College on Monday and Tuesday nights. I am usually at a high school football game every Friday night. This leaves Wednesday and Thursday nights open.

What I would like to do is NOT to cut someone else's hours. Therefore, here's what I would like to propose:

If the person you have scheduled to work on Wednesday night or Thursday night calls off, I would like to be included as an emergency backup. Obviously, you can call your store's workers first before me.

If you are a 24-hour store, I am available "Monday into Tuesday", Tuesday into Wednesday", "Wednesday into Thursday", and "Thursday into Friday."

I have worked the night shift at East End for over a year, and rarely ever do the morning and afternoon (mid) shifts. So I'm used to the night shift. Before working at East End, I spent 19 months as overnight lead at a BP. In my time at East End (btw - we work with RUBY registers), I have passed the Mystery Shopper four times and passed sting operations. A couple of negatives (what is mentioning positives without negatives?) would be that I have not worked with a scratch-off lotto machine, and rarely make food.

I have only missed work once in my time at East End, and have an ability to make the customer feel welcome at the store - in other words, they are not treated as customers who bring in money, but rather people who choose us as their "go-to" place in which we should appreciate.

Thanks for your time in reading this, and if you have any questions please let me know.

Cody Cutter
East End No. 18

Phone: 1-815-626-7181
E-mail: shs42886@yahoo.com"

I'm determined to go to as many JO's as possible. Any attempt to stop this will be looked at as an attempt to destroy me.

Almost TOO much to do

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.81.90
Current Song - It Ain't Over Till It's Over (Lenny Kravitz)

I've been so worried about work that I sort of put everything else on the backburner. I'll bet work will be on the backburner when this everything else is accomplished.

My car is a mess. I bought a bicycle last week (yes, I finally got one), and had to move all of the things out of my trunk to fit it in. They're still in my backseat. I may as well get my car cleaned while I'm at that.

I'm starting to make the transition from debit card purchases to writing checks. Of course, I'll have to prewrite them before I enter the store. If I know how much something will cost, I'll write down the price before I walk in. This kind of saves "line time." Coming in with a pre-written check is slightly shorter than using a card (trust me I know). But there's an actual reason for me writing checks. Fast food joints do not take checks. If I get into the habit of writing checks, I will not be likely to drive up to one.

Otherwise, finances are going to be a bit slim. My paycheck will be weak for obvious reasons. Also, since I will be using checks more, it will seem as if I'm getting paid on Thursday instead of Wednesday. Here's why, the direct deposits are entered at 6:00 a.m. Wednesday, but I won't know exactly how much until the stubs come in on Thursday.

I will be going to the Western Big 6 Football Coaches Banquet tomorrow night. I'll try to use that to write my Western Big 6 Conference Call for Edgy Tim. I also have the rest of this week and next to organize these. Plus a Friday 5 for Friday. I also have to set up the pick'ems on Saturday. Other than that, no more NISB stuff until Week 1 of the football season.

I was offered to be my grandmother's executor of her Will. I checked a book out from the library and will start reading about all of this soon.

Classes began yesterday. The Film Appreciation one seems to be going real well, and I will experience the math one tonight. It's my first math class in four years.

I'm going on the bike.

Another work update

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.41.80
Current Song - Talking in My Sleep (The Romantics)

I'm going to pitch in to Chris's book fund on Monday. He doesn't know it.

An update on the work situation:

Looks like nothing's really open throughout the JO circuit, although Kathy pointed to Route 30 as a possibility. Sounds familar. So really nothing outlandish is going to occur. Personally, I'm kind of waiting for the man who works one day of the week to up and leave (the younger one). That'll add at least one night.

The way I look at it:

5+ is excellent (which won't happen due to football and school)
4 is great
3 is fine
2 is not feasible
1 is an insult

Plus, I don't have the Saturday's where I'm coming in an hour early. So it's a 15-hour week.
15 x 8.25 = 123.75 - ~10% taxes = 111.37

Whoop-de-do!

I'm pretty much down to emergency fill-in on Wednesday and Thursday nights until October. I may have to back down from October Friday night games in order to ensure a 3-4 night schedule at Rt. 30. Thus, I have made a backup plan for Weeks 7-9: Kaneland at DeKalb, Fulton at St. Bede, and Mt. Vernon at Geneseo in that order. Only one week is certain, and that is Week 5 when Kewanee hosts Princeton.

Proposals, proposals

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.31.80
Current Song - One Night in Bangkok (Murray Head)

Since it looks as if I'm unable to pry more hours at the station I work out, I came up with a plan to try to get more hours elsewhere.

The plan does not involve taking someone else's hours away. Rather, it's an emergency call-off plan.

I'm available to work Wednesday nights and Thursday nights. I am also available to work Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at the JO overnight stations (remember, I did 15 months of overnights).

If someone calls off of their shift, and backup plans get cold, I am available as a last resort, and willing to travel all the way to Galesburg, Woodstock, Ottawa, etc.

All I have to do is put this in the right words for a note.

I just can't do 2 nights a week.

What to do, what to do?

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.9002.11.80
Current Song - Undun (The Guess Who)

May take Dan out driving today. Not much else to do, other than phone in my tickets to an event.

May pick up ticket on Wednesday, as well as buy a bicycle - all of this taking Dan driving with me. I also have some books to pick up from the bookstore.

Thursday, I'm going bowling with the family and possibly heading to Ottawa for the rest of the day.

Friday I'm going to be in Dixon.

Will probably be visiting football practices in Ottawa (Thursday) and Dixon (Friday). 21 more practices follow.

Let's find a schedule

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.60.80
Current Song - We Built This City (Starship)

I do not have a schedule in place thus far. Hopefully by the end of the entry I will have one.

The work schedule is going to be nuts. We hired someone who had been working there before, and she was placed above me in the priority list. That means the manager, assistant manager, and two people I have seniority over are literally running the store. I feel degraded a bit. It's not that I need Mondays and Tuesdays off, but apparently Wednesday and Thursday is a problem? That's what I thought at first, but I have to come to the fact that I need to accept my role there. I MAY be picking up a night in the next couple of weeks, but it's still one less that what I really want.

I also may end up getting Friday's completely off. I had asked for just midshift (no night) on Friday, but other priorities made that not happen. So I'm hoping for Wednesday, Thursday, Saturday and Sunday nights when the Fall semester starts.

Plus, in October, I think I'm still designated as a replacement for someone who's pregnant at Route 30. If so, I want to try to get three nights there, and one night at my place. Me just having one night at my place may still make the schedule there worry-free.

I hope this all works out well.

Anyway, today I'm getting new brake pads installed. I had pads installed in October, and they are squealing already. So I'm getting a refund from Auto Zone. I may also take Dan driving, and cleaning my room. I already filled up my tank this morning.

Michael is gone. His stuff that was left in my room from a long time ago, is now gone. I have a bunch of clothes there I need to get rid of. So I may make a trip to Goodwill today.

I work for Justin on Friday, and I work Saturday and Sunday night. I had a brief morning appearance on Wednesday - yes, a MORNING appearance. So my paycheck next Wednesday is going to be slightly bigger. What to do with that paycheck, which will be roughly $220.00? There's a bike I want that's just less than $100.00 at Walmart. There's also the Film Appreciation textbook that's about the same price. That nearly wipes me out for that week.

The date of my next paycheck also happens to be the start of the 2009-10 high school sports season. As with last season, I will not be doing any kind of preseason previews for the teams (I don't have this time yet), but still able to do a few Conference Calls for Edgy, if he asks me to do these once again. I have to get the pick'em up by the 22nd, and put out a call for cybercasts from radio stations. As well as update the list of MLB Draftees.

I think what I'm going to do again for the football season is continuing the Weekly Observation piece (due Sunday), the Friday 5 (due Friday) and do an NISB Game of the Week or something, since I'm planning on getting Friday nights off. The GOTW is usually the "tiebreaker" game in the Pick'em. Hopefully I have a successful season this year, and nothing like last year.

So the schedule is set, for now.

Humanities thing done ... now what?

Cutter's Log - Stardate 9002.10.80
Current Song - Moonlight Feels Right (Starbuck)

I completed my Humanities project at 7:30 PM Thursday night. A huge weight just got off of my shoulders. Apparently, I wasn't the only one who felt this way. There were many people on the class's discussion board that said this was the most difficult thing they had done. I'm just hoping I pass it. If I pass this project, I pass the class. If I fail the project, I fail the class.

There's only four more classes to take at SVCC before graduating (assuming I pass this HUM final). I will be taking another Humanities class: Film appreciation. According to the SVCC Catalog, "An introduction to film as an art form, emphasizing a study of the aesthetic and production elements of the medium, including narrative genres, directorial style, cinematography, acting and editing." The other one is Principles of Modern Mathematics. According to the Catalog, "An investigation of the key ideas in contemporary mathematics. The following topics will be studied in-depth: mathematics of finance, basic geometry and measurement, coordinate geometry, and introductory probability and statistics. These topics are taught with an emphasis on problem-solving. This course serves as a general mathematics elective for liberal arts majors."

My Film books are going to cost $88.75, and it is a collection I have to get via the bookstore. My math book is going to cost $123.50 in the bookstore, but less than $35 on Amazon. I'm going to get the Amazon book on Wednesday, when I get paid.

I'm doing okay financially. I just made my first college payment yesterday of $193. All I have left this month are the textbooks. Hopefully I won't have to dig in my savings any further than what I just did yesterday.

I mentioned this a few posts back. I want to get a bicycle. There's a bike shop in town that I haven't made my way to yet. There's another bike at Wal-Mart that I like. So money is going to be a bit tight this month.

Which brings me to work. I'm still doing Saturday-Sunday-Monday, and may pick up an extra day next week.

Then there's NISB. I was planning on doing a photo feature, but only got halfway done with it before Humanities crunch time. Hopefully I can get a writeup of it done soon, and at least one more place. I'm also thinking about bringing back the Friday 5 in time for the fall season. I'll know more about the work/NISB arrangement after this string of days.

Finally, I'd like to end tonight by thinking about what Mike told me today. He wants to move out of the house in a week, and apparently he's already found a place to stay. All six of us have been together for 16 years. Kinda sad, but good for him and I hope he survives.