Manual Competency

My manual transmission truck is out of commission. I think the clutch is history. I do not plan to get it fixed. Might call someone up and tell them to take it away. Too bad too. Little Kat was making good progress learning how to drive manual transmission in it.

Luckily I have another vehicle with manual transmission. But Little Kat has been struggling driving my Versa. Previously he was shifting into first and second gears on the real road. Now he was struggling getting the thing into first in the parking lot.

The car would sputter or stall or slam into gear. Something was not right. I could not figure it out looking at Little Kat's feet. So I took the wheel. Then I motioned with my hand how much I was letting up on the clutch and when. After a few demonstrations, Little Kat identified the problem. He is just letting up on the clutch way too soon.

Now it seems like Little Kat can get it into first gear every time very smoothly. I will test him again next week. If this success continues, it is time to move to second gear, and then maybe move out onto the streets in our quiet neighborhood.

Tire Pressure Trouble

My Nissan Versa has been warning me to check my tire pressure. Unfortunately I had given my tire pressure monitor to Kit Kat, who has since lost the thing. Oh well. I purchased another one for myself. I am not giving it to anyone. I measured the Versa tires. They are supposed to be inflated to 33 PSI. They were at 25 PSI. Oops.

I headed over to the local gas station. Positioned the air hose so that it could reach all the tires. I had all the tire stem caps off. Deposited a couple quarters in the air machine. I filled up two tires to above 33 PSI. The third tire did not seem to want to inflate. Then the air machine turned off.

I stuck some more quarters in. Filled the fourth tire up. When I got to the third tire, the pressure monitor said it was up to 41 PSI already. Must have made a mistake reading it earlier. I went back to all the tires, letting air out of them slowly until they hit 33 PSI.

I do not recall filling the air in the tires of my other cars. Maybe that's because they did not have the automatic tire pressure gauge in the car. Perhaps I was just riding low on air all the time. I do notice that I feel the bumps a little more in my car now. I hope the optimal pressure will be good for something like making the tires last longer.

Job Lifeline

A while back I got an email that my work on my current project was ending at the end of the month. I called my boss. He asked me to find another position in the company before the end of the month. It took a while to get my resume in order. Then I started applying for internal jobs.

The results were lacking. I heard back from a couple folks. Only one group wanted to interview me. So far no job offers. I therefore took my job search to other companies. The recruiters were very efficient. That saves me time. But usually I find out upfront that my salary expectations are higher than the range they are offering.

I need a job. So if my company no longer has one for me, I might have been willing to take a pay cut. Luckily I met back with my boss this week. He said he found me some work to do for the next half a year or so. Unfortunately it will not be computer programming. It will be "consulting". I don't particularly care for work outside of programming. Buy hey. A job is a job. And they pay well and have great benefits at my company.

So this is the wake up call. Time to study. Time to obtain certifications. And time to network. I continue to apply to internal and external jobs. Got to find that right opportunity where I am the perfect fit and the company has some $$$ to pay me. Until then, I will be consulting.

Hitting the Books

I heard it from the grapevine that my position may be eliminated at work at the end of the month. So I have been searching around for a new job. I am looking both inside and outside the company. There are a lot of people interested on the outside. But they don't want to pay the right salary. For now I am not ready for a cut in pay.

If I am going to ask for a good pay, I need to be worth it. I do have a lot of experience. But I have been on my project for a long time. We use a specific set of skills. I am realizing that there are other projects that use other technologies that people want. I am researching those other technologies so I at least know about them.

My dream job is a database developer. That type of work is fun. I have one database certification from a big database company. I think I might need more certifications. I am working my way through a certification exam study guide book. By the end of the month, I think I will be ready to sit for the eaxm. I like that the title of the certification includes the work "expert".

A backup job will be another type of programmer. I rarely do this type of programming any more. But I might have to fall back on it. Luckily I got the textbooks at home. I have finished studying the concise text that is really old. Now I am starting to go through the second one.

All this studying is difficult as I have to work each day as well. But there might be a good payoff if I can quickly relearn the stuff required to convince someone to give me a good job. I will have to remember to be more diligent with the studying even after I get my job. This industry requires constant learning.

Maybe the best job will be one where I learn a lot on the job. I want to learn new technologies. I also want to get some more certifications. Finally it would be best if I could get a high level government security clearance. That might pave the way for even more lucrative jobs in my future.

Shoe Shopping and Tax Preparation

I had a tough Friday at work. Could not go out to eat for lunch. Luckily I had some old Popeye's chicken I could munch on. After work, I had arranged to go shoe shopping with Little Kat. I told him I was ready to go once work was over. He said we should wait until the exact time we had arranged. So I grabbed a hot dog and waited.

I was getting tired of waiting. So Little Kat agreed to leave a bit early. The traffic was bad. We went to Payless. Little Kat could not find any shoes with non-slip soles. The attendant overheard him and showed him how to tell which ones were non-slip. We also picked up some shiny fancy square front dress shoes.

On the way home, Little Kat complained that he had to drive everywhere. I told him if he started paying for some items, somebody else could pick up the driving task. We stopped by Little Caesars because Momoko wanted some bacon wrapped pizza. There was a new employee working there. She told us they no longer had that pizza. At least we got the pizza with the pretzel crust plus some bread sticks.

After dinner, Little Kat tried to fill out his tax forms for work. He asked Momoko for help. Momoko asked me to help him. I explained the ideas behind the tax code so that Little Kat could comprehend the answers he needed to put down. Afterwards, I told him I would charge him for the tax advice. He said he was broke. So instead, I told him he could drive me to Steak and Shake and buy me dinner.

Little Kat invoked the principle that you got to prearrange your compensation if you want to get paid. Seeing how I did not prearrange, he was not going to pay me back for the tax prep help. Since it was true we all try to live by the prearrange principle, I did not collect any fee for my tax advice. But I did prearrange him to pay me rent for the rest of the month.

Little Kat said he could have filled out the tax forms with the help of the Internet, Google, and YouTube. I thought that was a joke since he did not understand much of the verbiage such as the word "domiciled". But I said he might be right. I asked him to fill out a state and federal tax return assuming he would make $2k this year. If he could do that, then I would agree that all he needs is the Internet.

If Little Kat cannot fill out the form, then that shows that even with Internet assistance, there are some tasks that are beyond his ability. In that case, I am going to have him shop around and find out who can professionally provide tax advice, and have him find out how much it costs him. I got a feeling it is going to be a lot more than the cost of a cheeseburger and shake. A lot more.

Little Kat has learned the lesson of prearrangement. But it seems he also has lost sight of the free ride he has been getting in the house. He has a car to use. And he has auto insurance provided. He has a gas card he does not have to pay. Plus all the clothes he ever needs. I could go on.

Getting a Job

Today Little Kat had scheduled two interviews for employment. One was early in the morning at Chipoltle. The other was in the afternoon at a retirement community. We needed Little Kat to get a job for his work study program at school. The job is required for Little Kat to graduate. he was supposed to get the job in the summer. Unfortunately he was traveling the USA for an extended vacation in the summer.

Little Kat thought he would be selective in the job he accepted. Momoko and I informed him that he would most likely need to accept the first job he was offered. He is already behind schedule in the work study program. He is weeks away from getting kicked out of the program. Time to get to work already.

Momoko and I have been encouraging Little Kat to step up his game in the job search department. Both of Little Kat's interviews seemed to go fine. He got a job offer at the retirement community. Luckily he accepted the offer. We need to get him part of the uniform required. We are hoping his first day is early next week. Time to get cracking at work study and making some money.

Truck Trouble

 

Little Kat planned to visit Kit Kat at her dorm. Before that, we needed to practice his manual transmission driving skills. This time I had him take my truck out on the road. We only stayed in our subdivision. Still, it was a bit of a challenge.

We have some stop signs which leave your car on an include. Little Kat kept stalling on them. Luckily nobody was behind us. Then at one stop sign, I heard a bad noise from the truck. Little Kat had the truck in second gear. Then he depressed the clutch and put the shifter into second.

The truck sounded like the clutch did not disengage correctly. Not good. After that, I took the wheel and showed Little Kat how to get going on an incline when stopped at a stop sign. I drove back home to switch positions with Little Kat. As I was backing the truck into our driveway, the thing stopped moving. What?

Seems the clutch no longer works on the truck. We got Momoko out to help steer the truck. Little Kat and I tried to push the truck up into our driveway. We could not push it all the way to the back. The include in too sharp. So I got Little Kat's car and pushed the truck up. Tomorrow I might try to get it towed to my mechanic to see if it can be repaired.

The Money Chop

The last tine I saw my college buddy, we went to PF Chang's for dinner. He spotted the Chop House across the street. I told him we could go eat at the Chop House another time. Well I saw him again tonight for dinner. We went straight to the Chop House.

I parked at a garage around the corner. Then we went in. Had to climb a set of stairs to get to the dining room. We inquired about a booth for two. Unfortunately their entire dining room had been reserved already. We went over and found a seat in the lounge.

There were some appetizers in the menu. There were also some drinks. But no good meals. I asked if there was a full menu. There was. They brought up some tablet (like mini-iPads) that showed the full menu. My buddy commented that the steaks would clean him out of all his cash. They were expensive.

I inquired whether the steaks came with any sides. Nope.They were a la cart and very expensive. I figured it was the Chop House. So I had to try the steaks. I also ordered some sides (which were also pricey). These guys even charge extra for bread. The steak was a quality cut of meat. But the seasoning was nothing special.

We might return some day when we have more cash in our pockets. But I plan to call ahead to reserve some seating. I would rather pay half the price for more decent food at something like the Outback Steak House. I joked with my friend that we should really go to Steak and Shake next time to save money.

Back To School Night

Tonight once again was Little Kat's back to school night. They did not do a good job promoting it. I had to look up the time online. But I did know about it beforehand. So I scheduled to leave early from work. Little Kat and I went to Arbys with some coupons in tow. I got my standard chicken strips. Little Kat tried the new Loaded Italian sub.

Dinner went by quickly. We had some time to spare. Therefore we went to the pet store to pick up gerbil supplies. Then we drove to school. Little Kat and I talked for a while in the student parking lot. Discussed things like college.

We headed to the Media Room. Parents of seniors were supposed to report there. Someone I did not know waved to Little Kat. I think she might have been a counselor. We found out the senior class trip is a cruise to the Bahamas. Unfortunately the cost is very high. We also found out that Little Kat was supposed to have a job already by the start of school for work study. Oops. Maybe sending him on vacation this summer was the wrong choice.

Little Kat does not have school every day during fourth period. He is supposed to go work for work study. During this break in back to school, Little Kat and I went searching for his friends. He saw some girl he know from a prior year's International Cuisine class. She was at a Bible study group table signing up new students. She seemed very happy to see Little Kat. I made a note.

Then I dragged Little Kat away to the cafeteria. I was so thirsty. Dinner was salty. Little Kat was dehydrated too. He did not order a drink for dinner. I bought us two 20-ounce Powerades from the vending machine. They were expensive, but oh so good. After we saw all of Little Kat's teachers, we go to leave early since Little Kat does not have class on his "B" days fourth period. Good thing too. The parking lots were crazy crowded.

All right Little Kat. Time to find a job or get kicked out of the work study program.