Dream On

Well, I'm in a full new job search mode now. It's a rough time for that, but I'm going to apply with PPS to be a Special Ed Paraeducator. I'm pretty sure that's what Jesus would do. The next layer of potential I think involves working graveyard at UPS and maybe doing some tutoring at PCC. I've got to be nuts to cut my salary by maybe 3/4 and abandon my benefits. Most everyone I talk to definitely says I'm crazy. I think I make a mistake though when I say that I think I have to quite my job. Yes I understand I have to find another one first. But I am definitely most at peace when thinking about embracing my future in education, just not completely. I would have been real nice to knock those credit cards out of my life. Maybe I can get a bailout :)

The new Word drives me batty. I can see that it will be better at some point, but for now I will curse and pull my hair out. If I could just figure out how to tell it to stop adjusting indents and spacings for me, there might be peace. But I turned off the first wave of auto corrects, and it still thinks I want it to help. No, no I do not want your assistance. This means war, and there will be blood until no more blank lines or font changes are issued without my permission. Cease and desist. And when I close you, don't act surprised like it was some task manager mandated override. I just hit the regular X in the corner; I'm not surprised that the program closed and I don't see why you should be. I will defeat you and make you my servant, and you will like it.

What does money mean anyway? We're in for some re-adjustments. Look at those guys that gave their money to that Madoff character, a lot of good sticking it out at a job they didn't like did them. Meaningless, meaningless said the teacher. I went and played some basketball at Alberta park tonight with some friends and it was a blast. And didnt cost a dime. OK maybe some gas for them, but I bummed a ride. If I don't have anything, I can't be threatened, because I will have nothing to lose.

Cracks in the foundation

Well I think I'm about ready to crack. I don't think that I can continue working full time at my overachiever white collar job and be a "full-time" student. And plan a wedding, and live with my brother, and maintain relationships with friends, and get rid of my credit card debt, and have some down time, and sleep. Yeah yeah I know, everybody's got a list of commitments in their life that is huge, but the fiance is bugging me about if work and school are too much, and I think she's probably got a point.

I'd have to be crazy to give up my good paying job, especially in this economy. But that was the plan from the beginning anyway, and I just may be crazy. I'd also have to be crazy to postpone where I think my future is heading if I'm so discontented in my present. But unlike the government my budget will balance. (Student loans excluded for sanity)

There really is no one individual thing that is overwhelming, but the sum appears to be a bit much. This class isn't all that much work really, but I just cannot devote the time to it that I feel the content deserves. I would really like to get into fiddling with podcasting and wiki's and webpages, but I'm too busy making hay while the sun is shining. Sigh.

I do feel like I have multiple good choices in front of me, I just need to commit more fully to fewer of them. I don't know what kind of job I'd get if I quit mine, UPS? tutor? Are there jobs right now, that might not be a good assumption.

Alternatively I could postpone the school and pay the credit cards off, focus on my upcoming marriage and the missional community that I value being a part of. That makes a lot of sense too, but when would I go back to school?

I'll probably try to slug it out through at least this next term and postpone the decision. But is the week before our wedding the best time to quit my job? I think that would go over like a lead balloon, in fact it already has. Could I finish the more academic courses and pick up with the practicum and the student teaching later?

Is it ethical to continue working at my company where they expect me to stick around for at least a few years if I plan on quitting sometime around may-august? I struggle with that. I guess that is my most preferred option, but knowing that I get even more easily discouraged at my job today. Why not quit tomorrow if I'm going to soon anyway? It is a position where to be effective I need to be more emotionally engaged than that, and I believe that my effectiveness is greatly reduced by my doubts concerning the future. I'm not very good at bluffing.

It's the circle of life, and it moves us all.

Construction Safety Procedure Video

Alright, lets see if I can figure out how to embed a video right here, but for now just a link.

I'm pretty sure I've done something similar to the sheet of plywood once.

Dos

Well I almost feel off the bandwagon here, I took a little break from stuff and it was almost too much. I missed a few assignments but hopefully I'll be OK. My brother finally moved in with me into this bedroom I'm renting, and that's been pretty good. He's quite the help when I have a technology question, and it makes me feel a lot better when he can't figure it out either. Like when my printer wouldn't work for Trish's final project and just had to be re-installed.

I've been trying to volunteer with the Conc Teacher Corps at Hacienda with middle schoolers, but I think I've only successfully been there twice so far since Lynn came into to our first class and presented. It took a long while for the background check to clear, twice I've showed up and they were closed, and I skipped once to work on the final project. It's a fairly chaotic group, more like an after school program than tutoring. The kids don't really want to work on stuff, just talk and do their MySpace. I don't really feel it's my place to crack the whip, especially as I'm an unfamilar white male and they are mostly Latina middle schoolers. Not really sure how to procede, but I'll give it through Christmas at least to see if anything breaks.

Wiggy wiggy One

Hello, my name is Luke Hotchkiss, and I was born at a very young age.

More recently, I hope to teach mathematics, world history, current events, personal finance, communication skills, safety, electrical facilities, building envelope science, structural engineering, sustainability and humility in an integrated high school curriculum.

To begin, before the revolution, I will have passed the Praxis exams in Advanced Mathematics and Technology Education in hopes to teach Geometry and Building Construction.

I'm not really that into animals, I don't hunt but my favorites are the ones that I can eat, like Elk or Salmon. I feel like there is some animal out there that I do like just for it's looks or personality, but I just can't think of it right now. So here's a couple pics of a cow, one as a calf that I'm branding, and one as hamburger that my brother is mixing sausage seasoning into.