Saturday, December 20, 2008

We Need More Lights!

      Nothing very interesting occurred today, just went to the store to buy new clothes since I haven’t in years and most of mine are falling apart. More specifically I got exercise outfits which I’ll need to start getting more physically fit. Normal clothes are ok depending on what you’re doing, but light weight shorts and jerseys that breathe in the heat (or don’t cause you to overheat) are always good things to have. I also got a watch since I’ve never really had one before. Actually I’ve never really kept track of time in any way at all before so it’ll be helpful to have as well.

      On the way back I noticed something interesting and stopped to take pictures. Someone set up quite a large display of Christmas lights and decorations. I’ve never really paid attention to this sort of thing before but the display was quite large and right next to the highway. Most of the pictures are here.

      There was everything from Spider-man to Snoopy and even some houses with lights synchronized to Christmas music. Unfortunately not all of the pictures turned out very well so not everything I was hoping for is there. It was fairly late, cold, and it did begin to rain a few minutes after I arrived so I think I did an OK job with the pictures that I feel are worth showing. Regardless it’s a neat sight to see and I hope everyone enjoys the few good images I actually managed to get!

      I guess this post isn’t entirely related to the purpose of this blog but I thought I’d use this time to wish a happy Christmas. I hope everyone enjoys theirs!
12/20/08
      Again, to view the pictures of the Christmas lights click the image directly above or this direct link: http://picasaweb.google.com/casval/122008?authkey=-Ny5xNQKhdI#

Friday, December 19, 2008

Simple? Who Wants That?!

      My old teacher (the head of the now closed school) wanted to meet with us today at the college itself to give to me my transcript. We went there a little bit early just in case; it never hurts to be prepared. The meeting time passed and we continued to wait. Eventually she showed up, around ten minutes late but I was in no hurry. Apparently there was an accident involving multiple cars and that’s why she was delayed.

      So she comes up and hands the transcript to me and starts talking about the status of my education. She states that I’ve finished up to a certain level and that I was actually only a few credits away from graduating. Then she says that she hadn’t placed any of my previously earned credits for the final year on the transcript precisely because it was incomplete and that if I went back to her to finish she would give me all of my credits proper (it can’t be legal to exclude credits on a whim?! I’m not going to stand for this). At that point I wasn’t very pleased and I knew right then and there that it wasn’t right. When it’s someone’s future you’re messing up, especially if you’re supposed to be a teacher, it’s just not right at all. I don’t believe she did it out of any malicious will but still I think it’s unacceptable.

      Her and my father then began talking for a while; I knew it wasn’t going to end quickly. When my father starts there’s pretty much no stopping. Among some of the things my old teacher mentioned was that she said her identity was stolen and she’d lost all her money and so on. She then claimed that she was dealing with the FBI about it and that she had received multiple E-Mails from the same FBI E-Mail address but from two separate people; both of them telling her that she wasn’t supposed to deal with the other. Then she also claimed that she was hearing Christmas music all the time in her head that no one else could hear. She continued saying that once she had gotten a lawyer to deal with the FBI because of the contradictory emails that the music suddenly stopped and she didn’t hear it again.

      She also mentioned other colorful events but I don’t think it’d be appropriate to go into that here. Personally I’d just attribute it to her age since she is quite old. She even once told me that her grandmother was at the last Indian raid on a town in the US; so that should give you a good idea time-wise. I really don’t know how true any of what she said at our meeting was, and I’m certainly not getting involved. I realize how ridiculous it all sounds and I’m not trying to slander anyone here; merely stating events and facts as they happened. So I certainly hope no one gets the wrong impression.

      She then began talking about my educational situation again. She claimed that it was too late in the year for her to register and re-open her school. Then she mentioned that if we registered ourselves as a private school that she would come to our house and help to finish my few credits that I didn’t yet have. She went on to say that it would take two years to finish and that it would be one-hundred dollars an hour or if that was too much seventy-five or if that was too much even cheaper; she seemed fairly desperate for work in my opinion which I can totally understand if she was having such difficult money issues.

      Maybe I missed something here but I don’t quite understand how we would be able to register if she couldn’t; it was beginning to sound like more trouble than it was worth. I also am not willing to go through two years just for a handful of credits (and missing credits that she didn’t put on the transcript) so that I could start college. This really didn’t sound appealing at all considering the fact that classes available at the college to finish my few remaining credits wouldn’t even take half that long if very much time at all.

      Not much later she left and as I got into the truck with my father I quickly learned he felt more or less exactly how I did about the whole situation and what had just occurred. Hopefully I’m not going to lose credits over some arbitrary decision; I’m certainly not going let it go without a fight. I'm going to go through as many people as I need to in order to get this resolved.

      Somewhat unrelated again but my father had bought the wrong size gypsum (sheet rock) and so we had to load back into the truck and return seven of the eight 4’ x 8’ sheets which was not what I wanted to do today. When we got to the store I found out that the size he needed was in fact 4’ x 12’ sheets of gypsum; eight of them. Eight twelve foot sheets of sheet rock. I was not exactly eager to move them all.

From 12/19/08
      After we paid for them and began moving the sheets to load them into the truck I thought they were simply too large for the truck to carry back home without snapping apart. I told my father this and he said it’d be fine so I just said “Ok” since it wasn’t my money and continued to help loading them. Once we had about three or four sheets on the truck bed he decided he didn’t want the sheets we had loaded because they were scratched and would require taping and some other additional work he didn’t want to do. They were kept outside of the store and thus exposed to the weather so I could understand why he didn’t want the top most ones, I guess. We then unloaded those and loaded undamaged sheets. Well after a few new sheets in I again pointed out that I didn’t think it was going to work, especially with them stacked they drooped down over the edge of the tailgate even more. A random passerby drove up to the loading area (to get his own supplies) and commented how it wouldn’t work either.

From 12/19/08
      At this point my father gave in and went in to buy some planks of wood to place on the bottom of the truck bed to support the weight of the protruding portions of the sheet rock. So then we had to unload about five of the twelve foot sheets, place the planks of wood into the bed and reload the sheets all over again. During this one of the workers thought my father had stolen the wood and was trying to steal the gypsum and went to get the manager. The manager came out and didn’t look very happy (though it was obvious why) and asked to see our receipts which we clearly did have. In order to avoid appearing as if he was singling out customers he then very slowly wandered around the area asking other customers to see their receipts. This was nothing short of hilarious to watch due to his embarrassment. We continued loading until we had all eight sheets needed, at which point I had to go into the store and buy something to drink since I was thirsty from all the lifting which wasn’t exactly light in weight.

From 12/19/08
      When we arrived home we again unloaded and moved the sheets into the house. When that was done my hands were killing me, it’s not so much that they were in pain but it felt like my fingers were just going to fall off at each and every joint. Like I’ve said in my previous post, I just consider this my very first step in physical training. It turned out to be kind of funny actually because after we were finished my father said something similar.

      I just hope after I get into exercise a bit that I’ll start to build up a little more endurance. I know it’s only going to get harder, but I’ll do my best to prepare.

Thursday, December 18, 2008

When Paperwork is Not Enough...

We went to pick up my transcript from the Jones County Board of Education today only to find that they did not have the transcript. Apparently the teacher had never turned in the transcripts of any of the students to the board of education despite the fact that the school had been closed for a while now and I hadn’t been there in a couple years. I would think there would be some kind of law or even a regulation requiring you to turn them in but I didn’t care so long as I was able to get mine.

The receptionist said my old teacher had called previously that day to update her phone number and at that time she requested the transcript to which my old teacher told the receptionist that she wanted us to call her personally and arrange a meeting to pick up the transcript. The entire situation was getting overly complicated for my taste but again I didn’t care so long as I was able to get my transcript and get on with my attempt to become a pilot.

I don’t want to say anything bad about anyone but this sort of thing should be resolved internally rather than requiring you to do a lot of the running around to get your own papers that should have been stored with the board of education to begin with. Regardless they refunded my processing fee which was two dollars. I just so happened to pay with a single two dollar bill which was now replaced with two separate one dollar bills. I certainly didn’t mind as the entire point of my spending two dollar bills is to spread their circulation around but I just think it's funny how quickly people jump at the chance to obtain them. You can get them from most banks if you request it.

At any rate we then returned to Havelock High School to pick up my transcript there. Knowing it was already there was comforting since I knew the entire ordeal with obtaining them was halfway resolved. I don’t know how it is at most colleges but the one that I will be at (Craven Community College) requires the transcripts to be sealed; I guess people have tried tampering with them. So as we were leaving I looked at the envelope to make certain it was properly sealed and labeled when I noticed that my name was wrong.

They had placed my middle name as if it were my first and dropped my first name completely. When I went back to get it fixed they claimed that they didn’t know which was my first or middle name. Again I don’t understand what the confusion was because I had written my name on the form cleanly and correctly. I didn’t think ‘oh hey this’ll be a neat trick’ and reverse my names or anything. Despite the error it was resolved in a minute or so and I was on my way again.

Hopefully the other transcript will be obtained without error or difficulty though at this point I don’t know how likely that’ll be.

Wednesday, December 17, 2008

There's a Form for That

      I went to order my transcripts today and I wish I could say it was relatively uneventful but things never are…

      First I went to the board of education for Jones County to order some of my transcripts needed and confusion shortly followed. I went to the front desk and they gave me a form to fill out to request the transcript. After I was finished with that the receptionist then called Jones High School to obtain the transcript. The person on the other end (I have no idea who) couldn’t find my records, so the receptionist asked if they’d be in the archives and the person on the other end of the line went to go look.

      Now here’s the problem, I never went to Jones High School. In fact on the form I had to fill out it asks for your schools name to which I wrote ‘New Bern Country Day’ (a now closed school which also looks nothing like ‘Jones High School’). When asked why she was calling Jones High School the receptionist said it was because they would likely have my transcript. I assumed she was calling there because of the fact that the school which I went to was closed, but when asked why they would have the records of a closed school a look of confusion just consumed her.

      I told her which school I went to and then she asked in reply “So you never went to Jones?” to which I could say nothing other than “No.” She then realized she had sent the other person on a wild goose chase that could likely end up taking a while. After everything was clear (which I don’t see why it wasn’t to begin with) she said it would take a day to process and obtain the transcripts and to come back tomorrow at which point I could pick them up.

      So then I left for the Craven County Board of Education to get the rest of my transcripts. When I arrived I noticed that the board of education building had locked doors that only open electronically (are they afraid people will steal their records?) and once inside they gave me another form to fill out that was similar to the one before. This time however, they told me that they don’t accept the transcript orders and they also don’t have the archived transcripts at the board of education. Instead you have to turn in the form at the actual school you went to.

      I then went to Havelock High School (where I had gone previously as a student) and again the doors were locked and only open from the inside or electronically. One of the people in the office was pushing the button that allows them to open but no matter which door I tried none of them worked. Finally, someone just opened the door and I went to where I needed to go to hand in my form. The person in that office told me that they don’t keep transcripts at the school but in fact they’re kept at the board of education who told us the exact opposite thing. On top of that the form which I had to give to the school directly is then faxed over to the board of education who then faxes back the transcript; bureaucracy at it's finest. Since I got to the school a half hour before they closed I was expecting the transcript to be faxed over the next day; instead by the time I got home they called and said it was faxed over already, much to my surprise. Much too late to go back so it will be tomorrow regardless.

      Somewhat unrelated but we also bought eight sheets of 4’ x 8’ gypsum today because my father has been working on the house for a while and is replacing some walls. I knew sheet rock wasn’t light but I wasn’t prepared for just how heavy it actually was and since no one else was around I had the privilege of helping to load, unload, and move the gypsum. I know it might sound kind of silly but since I’ve never really been physically active before I kind of consider it the beginning of my physical training. My hands were certainly sore enough after we were done moving it.

From 12/17/08From 12/17/08

Tuesday, December 16, 2008

The College

      Not very much happened today. We went to the local college (Craven Community College) because my father had questions about his enrollment in upcoming classes and to find out what was required for me to enroll as well. The very first person we came across was one of the security guards who my father just happened to know since he used to be in the Marines as well. However unlike most encounters of this type they didn’t spend all day talking, I guess because everyone was busy.

      After my father asked the questions he wanted about his classes in the front office, his friend the security guard showed us where the offices were that I needed visit to see about getting my diploma so I could then enroll. The building we went to was being painted on the interior (I don’t remember why) so it was mostly empty save for some desks and cables. Most of the staff was gone as well since they had left for lunch, but there were still a couple people there and we started talking to one of them about what I needed. This was different because I’ve never done anything like this before but I had no idea just how ‘different’ the conversation would get…

      The person we were talking to said that in order to start any kind of classes they needed my transcript from high school and told us we could get it from the board of education which I thought was simple enough. While we were there I signed up for the orientation that starts in January which is where you have to present your transcript. My father tried to sign up for the orientation as well; as the staff member signed him up and started taking down his information she paused to ask if he was already taking classes at the college and he said he was to which she replied saying that you can’t sign up for orientation if you’re already taking classes as she began to erase his name. So then my father said he wasn’t taking any classes right now and she began to write down his name again. She then stops and asks if he’s currently enrolled to start taking classes to which my father says he is causing her to erase his name again when he then says that they haven’t started yet and she begins to write down his name yet again. She then asks when they start and when he said January she erased his name another time and said with a laugh that he couldn’t do both, but if he dropped his enrollment he could sign up for the orientation as she prepared to write his name one more time and my father replied also with a laugh that he didn’t want to do that.

      At this point she asked why he wanted to sign up and he said it was because he didn’t want to leave me alone. He then goes on to say it’s because I don’t have a drivers license and he didn’t want to drop me off and come back but I knew it was because he was trying to be slick. He asks if he can sit in on it with me and the staff member says no and then looks at me and asks me if I’ll be alright at which point I just sort of turned away shaking my head due to the ridiculousness of the entire situation.

      After this we went back to the main office because my father had more questions about his enrollment. One thing he wanted to know was how many credits he currently had from past classes he had taken throughout his years in the military. When the staff member at the main office pulled up his list of past classes and credits he said something along the lines of ‘Oh my god!’ followed by ‘I’ve never seen a transcript this long!’ which was made all the more towering when my father looked at it and said a lot of classes were missing from that list. Apparently when you take classes from a military school you need a special kind of transcript; in his case it was a ‘SMART Transcript’ (which I believe stands for "Sailor / Marine American Council on Education Registry Transcript").

      Finally he talked to his friend the security guard again for a short time before we left to do other unimportant and unrelated things.