Update XVII: I Ate The Strawberry (The REAL, AUTHENTIC Update)

[Indy Texas]

Why can't you be Halloween Bushie this month? You're skipping over a very important holiday, Jeff.

[Indy Texas]

I'm going to try to steer this thread back to the crisis at hand.

Jeff, why don't you consider finding a relatively non-demanding non-CADD job (yes, it will probably be hourly and minimum wage or close to it) and doing that for a few months while you work on improving your CADD skills? You're obviously not at a place right now where you can perform at a professional level. If you were, you wouldn't have been fired today.

A different job at a larger firm isn't going to address the root problem. Companies don't want to have to train you on-the-job. That's supposed to be what you went to school for. They can easily hire someone else who got better grades than you did and hasn't been fired from any drafting positions. If you're not ready to hit the ground running from day one, you have no business walking in the door. Take a few months to get yourself more up to speed.

[Indy Texas]

Just got fired. Resumes usual pattern of TV-watching and having family dinners with distant relatives who randomly show up all the time. Way to make those changes to be successful. Give yourself a pat on the back.

[Indy Texas]

I wish Bushie would meet with J-Mann, but I know he won't. He'll be too busy playing on his tablet while his family sits around the TV.

I'll definitely take laziness over;

"Mom, Dad, I'm going to leave a bit early to meet with a friend for dinner in Kansas City"

"Oh you most certainly will be doing no such thing, young man!  Sit down and talk to your grandmother about bridge club!"

"Yes, sir." 

"Jeff, what's this I hear about you talking to strangers on the Interweb? Your father and I are very upset with you. Go sit in the train room and we'll come in to discuss this in a little while!"

[Indy Texas]

Only one serving of dinner + dessert = very little appetite?

Instead of a second serving of dinner?  I wasn't even full when I finished eating.

One serving of dinner is considered everyday life for most people, not being ill.

Who cares about what is normal for most people.  What is normal for me is two servings of dinner plus dessert.  Having only one serving of dinner for me is not normal and thus is guaranteed lack of appetite.

Which is why being severely overweight and riddled with health problems is normal for you.

[Indy Texas]

You know what can cause frequent need to urinate?

Diabeetis.

Think about it.

[Indy Texas]

I fully intend on making the necessary changes wherever I find them.

Someone really ought to start keeping a running list of all the times this statement or iterations of it have shown up in The Update.

[Indy Texas]

It's more than the mail.  I've got to get some more medicine and get my bills so I can pay this week.  Plus, I am getting cabin fever, I need to get out of the house.

1. There are pharmacies and drugstores in OKC.

2. Do you seriously pay your bills by regular mail? For God's sake, Jeff. Pay them online and save your poor father the gas money and the stamps to mail the checks.

[Indy Texas]

It's more than the mail.  I've got to get some more medicine and get my bills so I can pay this week.  Plus, I am getting cabin fever, I need to get out of the house.

1. There are pharmacies and drugstores in OKC.

2. Do you seriously pay your bills by regular mail? For God's sake, Jeff. Pay them online and save your poor father the gas money and the stamps to mail the checks.

Again, do not question me because my plans may be different than what you would do.  Just because mine are different, doesn't mean mine are wrong, so be quiet.

I just don't see why you'd drive all the way there when you don't need to. It's not "wrong" but it's still poor use of time (and money and our planet's finite supply of hydrocarbons.)

[Indy Texas]

Jeff, will the Family Bushie all be voting this November?

I'm sure they'll vote Republican because they hate Obamacare but have no problem getting free Indian healthcare.

[Indy Texas]

My experience with the federal government is that all the brainless federal jobs with absolute job security are being filled by contractors now. The only federal employees that still have those jobs are people who have been working in the same position for 20-25 years and are just making time until they hit retirement. They are, not surprisingly, the laziest bunch of SOBs I've ever had to deal with in my life.

2. Do you seriously pay your bills by regular mail? For God's sake, Jeff. Pay them online and save your poor father the gas money and the stamps to mail the checks.

It's a long-established trait of Bushie that he does things that generally only senior citizens do. (One wonders why the bills don't just go straight to his parents; it would save some time.)

Also, I'm really enjoying this new Bushism of "mom's sister" instead of "aunt". I can't believe nobody's picked up on it.

It is kind of odd. But generally, I only use the terms "aunt" and "uncle" to refer to blood relatives in the third-person. When talking about my mother's sister, I refer to her as my aunt; when talking about my aunt's husband (who is not a blood relative), I simply refer to him as my aunt's husband. For example, I might say, "I am visiting my aunt and her husband this weekend," as opposed to, "I am visiting my aunt and uncle this weekend." I feel like that's less ambiguous, since "aunt and uncle" could refer to a husband-and-wife, or to a brother-and-sister, or to a brother and sister-in-law or a sister and brother-in-law.

[Indy Texas]

FOX News Interpretation:

Obama Economy forces heartland woman to turn to strangers for kindness only to be verbally attacked by a suspicious Hispanic male

[Indy Texas]

This is what I don't get.

When someone tells Jeff he should pursue non-CAD jobs, he gets all indignant and insists he will be a successful CADD-er.

When Jeff actually goes out to look for work, he interviews for call center jobs that he never likes.

[Indy Texas]

I think I found Jeff's true calling...

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XsxVy7vyyk0

[Indy Texas]

But  Bushie YOU are the one applying for a job where a certification that you do not have, and likely will not have in 90 days is required.  And you call us crazy?

I've already got one certification from my time at Dell.  So, I know I can knock this out of the part, too.  Plus, if I get this certification, it will be another feather in my quill that I'll always have with me and will help me tremendously in future job openings.

Most technology certifications either have to be periodically renewed or become obsolete after a few years. I know Microsoft's certs are only valid 4 years and then you have to retake them.

Arrow in your quiver, Jeff. The expression is arrow in your quiver.

[Indy Texas]

What kind of grades did you get at Northwestern Oklahoma State (go Rangers!)? And what kind of classes did you take outside of your major?

He could have graduated summa cum laude and it wouldn't make a difference. No one cares what your grades in college were a decade after the fact.

I'd like to know what classes he took in his major. What does an "e-commerce" class involve?

[Indy Texas]

As is, you're an unemployed, morbidly obese 32-year-old man with the "smart cookiness" of a kindergartner and repeated failures in relationships, in employment, in decision-making and in life. Other than blatant, sinful, shallow and blind pride,, what makes you think doing the opposite of what we tell you is the right thing to do?

This^1,000,000

[Indy Texas]

Here is what I just shared with J-Mann about why I keep going back to customer service.  Any friendly advice would be helpful.

I have had a little success in the call centers, especially technical support call centers.  I was at Dell for an entire year with no problem and was only let go because I couldn't pass the Security+ Certification.  I was also at ONG for 2 years with no problem and that was customer service all the way, though not all call center.  I don't really want call centers, and I want CAD jobs, but those are hard to come by and I need a job.  So, I feel I have to open myself up to jobs that are less than pleasant.  I don't want to stay on my parent's financial ledger, and a lot of times I choose desperation over preferred.  I know there are other jobs out there, but I don't know what to look for.

Please elaborate. Because I don't understand how customer service in a non-retail setting could be anything but a call center. And from what I've gathered, it was your decision to leave ONG that started this whole...whatever this is...whatever the #$%@ we're all here for now.

[Indy Texas]

Jeff, here are my two chief objections/reservations to this:

(1) You have demonstrated an inability and/or unwillingness to simultaneously hold down one full time job and seek a new one. When you worked for fake AT&T, you ended up quitting precisely because you said you didn't have time to look for CAD jobs while working 40 hours a week at the call center.

(2) You have demonstrated an inability and/or unwillingness to simultaneously hold down one full time job and work to improve your CAD skills. Your recent firing indicates you are unprepared to be successful in a CAD position.

You are going to find a new call center job. You are going to put in your 40 hours. The rest of your time is going to be spent (1) watching TV, (2) napping, (3) eating, (4) driving to and from OKC to visit your parents and whoever else is in town this weekend, and (5) going to church.

You will not spend that time doing substantive things like networking (as opposed to throwing your resume at every semi-legitimate website you come across) or practicing your CAD skills. Doing it for an hour a day while you're watching TV isn't good enough, Jeff.

What I've described above is exactly what you have been doing and it's not working. I hope you're willing to admit that now and I hope you're willing to tell us specifically what you're going to do differently this time. A vague insistence that "This time it will be different" is no longer a sufficient excuse from you. You have to earn some credibility before I'm willing to take you seriously anymore.

[Indy Texas]

What is the friggin deal with the call centers!?  Is this really the only thing anybody can do for temporary work in Oklahoma!?  Go work at [Inks]ing Braum's or something!  Hold a sign outside the car dealership!  Anything! 

A Yankee like you just doesn't understand the ways down here. Over a hundred years ago, honest, hardworking people settled the land. They fought famine and harsh weather and Indian raids. They called it Oklahoma. And with their hands - their calloused, strong hands - and a lot of grit and determination, they built call centers. Call centers, far as the eye can see. Glorious call centers from the Ozarks in the east to the plains in the west! This was their life, their pride, their legacy. And today, the next generation takes up the torch and continues the work of their forefathers. Answering phones, putting people on hold, assigning client ID numbers, escalating and resolving disputes, forwarding cases to the corporate office.

They may be humble people. They may not speak with your fancy Yankee accent and have your fancy Yankee ways. But without them, we'd never be able to understand why we got billed twice for our satellite TV this month, or why the direct debit for our gym membership hasn't posted to our bank account. Maybe you just don't understand, Hockey. Maybe you'll never understand.

[Indy Texas]

As I've stated numerous times, I don't at all understand what sort of magic you people seem to think a psychiatrist would do with Bushie. As it happens, I see one every three months. They're not miracle workers, and, for the most part, they're not talk therapists either. Like most doctors, they see patients for 5-10 minutes unless there is an extreme and urgent emergency. Mostly, they dabble in pharmaceuticals, making best guesses with brain chemistry. As the brain is still largely a mystery and everybody's brain is different, drug therapy involves a lot of trial and error, attempting to find drugs and dosages that best suit people's needs.

This is my main qualm about seeing one.  I don't think I need one, but they are mostly a revolving door of medicine.  If there's one thing my body doesn't need it's more medication.  I currently already take 7 pills in the morning including my multivitamin, 1 pill in the early evening, and 3 pills at bed time, plus my "as-needed" meds like my migraine pill and OTC's.  In about 3 weeks, I will be losing one pill in the morning and at bed time, but still I'm already being pumped full of drugs as it is.  My liver doesn't need any more meds.  If I see anybody, it would be a psychologist, not a psychiatrist.  I went to a psychologist in the 5th-7th grades when I was going through a very rough time in school and with my Tourette's.  It really helped.  If I could find a job that provided good benefits, I would see if I can see a psychologist.  I just don't trust psychiatrists.

Would you consider seeing a licensed professional counselor? They generally have a master's in psychology or clinical psychology and a counseling license, in lieu of a PhD. Insurance doesn't cover them but most decent sized cities have counseling practices that use a sliding scale fee schedule based on patients' ability to pay.

[Indy Texas]

I'm not really angry at Bushie for insinuating I and my family are all mentally ill. He was conditioned to think that way and he doesn't dare stray from how he was raised.

And I dod mean more of a psychologist, that's what I saw during my parents divorce. He didn't give me any medicine, but did talk to me about things for at least 30 minutes to an hour a session.

Psychologist = chat.

Psychiatrist = pills.

Psychologists also do a lot of the official testing and diagnosing that psychiatrists will use to treat with pills. It's an odd arrangement where one person diagnoses and another treats, but that's often how it is. When I was in college and trying to get on Adderall the psychiatrists in the mental health office wouldn't see me at all until I had jumped through a million hoops with the psychologists, who were all the way across campus in the student counseling office.

ADHD is a learning disability. It's not really the purview of psychiatrists. My brother has ADHD and to my knowledge never met with a psychiatrist as part of the diagnosis process. His prescription is managed by his GP.

[Indy Texas]

bushie any exercise in the plans this weekend?  any autocad?

Probably no exercise this weekend and I'm still not around my autocad to go over it.  That'll have to wait until Monday.

What's your excuse for not exercising?

[Indy Texas]

Update Season XXVII - Sneak Preview:



...with JJ the Dog as a recurring character:

[Indy Texas]

i think exercising and autocad are officially rip.

do you think bushie has ever used autocad on his computer?

Nope. I still have myself convinced that his parents have forced him to move back home over his recent failure, and he just isn't going to admit that he abandoned ship in Tulsa

Sleeping bag on the floor in the train room?