Geek Wannabe – Page 55

Another Way Your Government Is Making You Safe

Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Aug 202008

An agent from the Transportation Safety Administration, conducting “security checks” without the supervision of qualified aircraft personnel, damaged nine regional jets by using the aircraft’s sensor probes as handholds to climb the fuselage.

Fortunately the maintenance crew noticed the probes were all giving the same error, and grounded the planes for repair. About forty American Airlines flights were affected by the grounding of the aircraft. At least this time they caught the problem before it involved a crash instead of a delay.

I’m with the ANN—the genius responsible needs to face criminal charges, and so should his bosses. Someone who doesn’t know how to work safely around aircraft has no business near them without the oversight of a person who can tell him “Don’t touch that.” If the government wants to put on a show of security, it must do so without compromising actual safety.

Back to School

Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Aug 182008

The kids don’t actually go back till next week, but my classes started up again this morning. I’ve got a fairly light load this semester, two seated classes and one online. The classes are quite small (less than 20 students), the classroom instructors are teachers I’ve had before, and many of the students were in prior classes with me as well. As a result the whole situation is quite cozy and familiar; I already know the names of half my classmates and I’ve spent a lot of time in the room itself.

One of my favorite things about my classes is their multinational student base. Half the students in my classes are from other countries. We’ve got people from Canada, Korea, Taiwan, India, and Nigeria. Last semester there were also students from China and Vietnam. I love having a multi-cultural student base, especially in classes like Ethics that involve a lot of discussion. Our students from other countries bring a different perspective to our debates, and point out things that we probably wouldn’t think of if we were just a class full of Americans. I love that; I hope when I get into a workplace I’m lucky enough to find one that’s equally diverse in its people and perspectives.

Still Unemployed

Geek Wannabe, General Comments Off

Aug 152008

Last month I went to talk to a prospective boss. When I hadn’t heard from him by August I gave him a call, left a voicemail to the effect of “Hey, just calling to see if you’re still interested in having me work for you.”

Haven’t heard back. I guess I didn’t get the job.

So I’ve started putting my resume out at various temp agencies, like Accountemps and Kelly. Classes start next week, and I can scope out the college job placement office and the accounting instructors to see if they’ve got any leads. I realize I’m stuck in the old Catch-22: can’t get a job without experience, can’t get experience without a job. But if I’m persistent I should be able to get a foot in the door.

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