The Last Blog

As my last blog, I want to reflect on my semester at Western. I would have done my "I Believe" essay, but I can't copy and paste it to the blog box. Coming to Western, I didn't know what to expect. I wasn't really nervous, but the uncertainty had me uneasy. As a surprise, adapting to western wasn't all that bad. In high school, I took some tough classes because I thought I was going to go to a four year college. During my senior year though, I decided that I wanted to be a cop because being a cop would like a great job, so I decided to go to Western. The tough classes I took in high school paid off big time. College Prep. Writing in high school helped me write essays in this class, Written Comm. Taking sociology in high school obviously helped me in Sociology at western and taking Govt. in high school helped a lot because I pretty much knew everything that intro to govt had to offer at Western. I didn't like Govt. in high school cause my teacher was extremely hard and make us memorize a million things. Anyways, I want say that Written Comm. was great and doing blogs wasn't so bad as well. As I look to the future, I hope everything goes as smoothly as this semester and I wish you all good luck in the future and hopefully you will get your degree and that nice job that you worked hard for.

My Blogging Experience

Before I took written communications, I wasn't that big of a fan of blogging. I knew what it was, but I thought it was pointless. My impressions were that blogs are for people who feel so important that they want the world to conform to their ideas. But now that I took written communication, I think of blogs in a whole new light. Blogs aren't always used to persuade, but to inform as well. I've read a few blogs exaplining events or customs that I never knew about before. I think that the people who actually go through an event should be able to write about what happened, not just a reporter. I also see blogs as being a good way to write about stuff that is on my mind. For example, the world cup is always on my mind so I couldn't resist writing about it. I think that blogging is the more pure way to get news. People who write blogs tell news from their perspective and aren't held to network standards or sensored. For example, we see the middle eastern conflict in a differnt perspective as the people who actually live in Israel, Iran, Iraq, etc. So the most important thing I got from blogging is that everyone has news to share whether he or she knows it or not and blogging is more than just for ranting, it's used in positive ways as well.

The Stage is Set!

I absolutely can't wait for summer! Why, you ask? It could be because I hate cold weather. It could be because I can ride my motorcycle around without freezing my butt off. But the real reason is that from June 11th to July 11th, the 2010 Fifa World Cup will be taking place. Just recently, there was a random draw of goruping all thirty two teams into 8 groups. As it was on, I was praying that the United States wouldn't be put in "the gorup of death". The group of death is where there are two really, really, good countries that will probably make it past the stage while your country needs to pull of a miracle. For example, Group G has Brazil, North Korea, Cote d'Ivore, and Portugal. Portugal and Brazil are two very dominant countries and there is almost no chance of North Korea or Cote d'Ivore making it too the next stage. The United States got lucky. The US is in group C with England, Slovenia and Algeria. I'm glad we get to play England because there is a mini-rivalary between the England fans and the United States fans. The England fans think they are superior and that the MLS in the United States stands for Mickey-Mouse League Soccer. I think that the United States, with enough determination, can get the first spot in the group, but England will probably get first. Since the top two teams in the group advance, I'm more than confident that the US can get at least second. If we do get second and advance to the normal 16-team bracket tournament that is familar to almost all Americans, we would probably have to go against Germany. To be honest, Germany is a tough team and I'll be shocked if the US can survive the onslaught of the German attack. But anyways, if you want more information on the 2010 FIFA World Cup, I recommend going to Wikipedia because all the information that you need to know on the world cup is conviently located in Wikipedia. So from here, I can only wish the Americans good luck and hopefully the United States wil gain more respect around the world when we showcase our talents at the world cup.

Some Quick reminders

For this blog, I am going to give out some quick reminders that you may or may not care about. one reminder that you might already know is that the semester is coming to an end and you should probably start signing up for classes. I have no idea what the deadlines are so if you could tell me during class that would be great. Don't be shy, I won't bite lol. Another reminder is that there will be a draw for the world cup teams on December 4th. That's when you'll know what teams will be grouped for the world cup. I explained the whole world cup process in one of my later blogs in case if you don't know what I am talking about. Next reminder is that the Packers will be playing the Ravens on MONDAY night football so arrange your plans accordingly. For me, that means asking off on monday. For you MMA fans (which may be no one), there are going to be two fights on the next Ultimate Fighter so please dont miss it. Another reminder is that the holiday shopping season began and that it is going to be busy at the mall every weekend until January 1st. I would like to remind everyone to keep up with their blogs but if you are reading my blog then you probably are already keeping up with your blogs. And I would also like to remind people that the recession will most likely becoming to an end in early 2010. I know it seems like the recession will last forever, but considering that the DOW jones has been steadily increasing, the economy should be picking up soon. I don't know when the Unemployment rate will bottom out, but it should be soon.

Upcoming Holiday Season

If there is one thing that I am not looking for is the day after thanksgiving. On black friday, I have to work from 3:45AM-2:15PM! It sucks because I don't really get that many breaks. I get two paid fifteen minute breaks and one half hour lunch. That means I have to stand for nine and a half hours and check people out. I work in the kids department so I am not sure how busy it is going to be. I know electronics and hardware are going to be very busy, but I'm unsure about the clothing department. I actually would rather work in hardware, but I have no choice. But from the day after thanks giving until Janurary, it's going to be quite busy. I always complain about how slow it is, but after the holiday season I'll be thankful for not being in a rush all the time. Angry customers usually are the most angry during this time of year too. People hate having to wait a few minutes to check out. I use to get angry as well, but I now don't worry about it because there really is no reason to get angry. I kinda want to get another job that doesn't involve reatail, but there isn't that many jobs out there. I also don't really want to do fast food cause it seems like a hard job and that they have to deal with more angry, unreasonable people as well. The one thing I can't wait for being a police officer is making the rude people pay for their rudeness via tickets or jail time.

Greenbay Packers... loose

I can't help vent some of my frustrations from time to time and I think venting on a blog is only the normal thing to do. With that being said, I am going to vent about the packers. As of today we are only 4-4. Two of our losses have came to Brett Favre and the Vikings. Favre is a medicore quarterback at best and is disloyal to his fan base. Over in England, a soccer team called Liverpool FC is a fierce rivial to Manchester United. The rivalary is so intense that the two teams haven't traded eachother since 1964. Star striker Fernando Torres has said he wouldn't go to Manchester United cause he knew what it meant to the fans. Did Brett Favre consider the packer fans when he went to the vikings? Probably not. I think Favre went to the Vikings cause they offered him the most money and Favre doesn't know what to do in the retired life so he instead plays football. Another loss came to the Tampabay Buccaneers. They are now 1-7 thanks to that. Our special teams let us down and that's why we loss. A blocked punt for a touch down and Tampa recieved a kick off all the way to the 18 yard line near their endzone which costed the packers 14 points. There was also a dumb interception by Aaron Rodgers which also costed a touchdown. Most of are wins came from other bad teams. Lions, Browns, Bears (not all that bad), and the St. Louis Rams. To be honest, I dont think we will be making the play offs this year due to many things. Main reason, offensive line allows too many sacks. But anyways, the green and gold play the cowboys, a playoff quality team, this week. I think if the Packers come out strong and win, that would be a huge sign that things are turning around and we would be a play off caliber team. But since I think we'll loose, I am going to say, "Better luck next year."

Sears Roebuck and Co

Since you, the reader, probably don't know me, I think I'll tell you what I do for some money. For about two and a half years now (hired since April 2007), I work at the sears in the Valley View mall. Upon contrary belief, I don't go out in the mall at all but when I do, it's only for food. I could go out in the mall on my breaks but I would rather give my feet a rest in the break room instead. Anyways, to be specific, I cashier at either the hardware cash wrap or at the kids cash wrap depending on where my boss schedules me. I would much rather work at the hardware cash wrap because then I can talk to the Hardware and Lawn and Garden salespeople. In kids, I'm isolated with clothes all around me. Just outside of the kids cashwrap though is a computer with a chair. I think it's a big relief after a few hours going on the computer and looking up sales information about the store. If there is no one around, I can browse the internet a little bit. I dont go on facebook and play any games cause if caught, that would be a write up for sure. I usually catch up on my soccer news or go on wikipedia and read about random stuff. Even when I am not on the internet but on the computer, it seems like people (customers) don't want me to be sitting and not pay attention to them. It seems like customers would rather me to stand there and greet them. It just seems werid to me but I guess that is the way it is. Customers are the hardes part of my job job. When I work in hardware, customers ask me some really specific questions that a specialist would probably know but I am not a specialist, I am cashier trained to use the cash register. As they are describing their dilema, I usually interrupt them and get a sales person. Angry customers are the worse. Some customers complain if I don't give them a bag or do give them a bag. For example, an elderly couple bought a lawm mower blade and I put some tape on it so that they could just carry it. The elderly woman then asked me sarcastically if there was a bag shortage. As I was about to put it in a bag, the elderly man said that it didn't need a bag. They bickered for a few seconds then the elderly lady got annoyed and refused to carry it and made the elderly man carry two other bags and the blade. A big annoyance is when people interrupt me. I will be talking to a customer while another customer come up to the counter stares at me while I'm talking to the other person and then randomly interrupts me to ask his question. Day in and day out though, most of the customers are good people and I just forget about the few bad ones. One last thing I want to share is the time where I nearly dodged being fired. One busy day, this guy from Ireland comes in and buys some tools. He gives me a travelers check and I have no idea what to do with it. I ask and they say to do it as cash. I was still a rookie and I was really confused still and I did it as cash but I didn't know what to do with the check. I gave it back to him then a minute later he tells me that I am suppose to keep it. Even though this happened like two years ago, I still am embarassed about how stupid I was and that the store would have lost $500 if that guy wasn't so honest. I am one lucky person.