Life in Smallville

Well, this was an interesting week.

I guess it all started Monday when I got a flat tire picking up a friend from the airport. Now, normally a flat tire would be a bummer and ruin a day. I can't say I wasn't bummed, but my excitement about my new jobs was clearly more powerful than the flat tire. I would even go far as to say that the flat tire was a GOOD thing. Now, that might surprise some of you, but let me explain. I needed new tires, especially with winter not too far off. So, getting a flat tire on my day off before I started two new jobs was actually a blessing. Its better that it happened then, when I had free time to get them replaced, than the next morning on my way to my first day of work. That would have left a bad impression on my boss if I wasn't there on day one.

Then the week just got busy. I leave my house at 715 and don't normally get home until at least 9 every night. Tuesday it was straight to the college after work, Wednesday straight the college then church, and Thursday it was the college again. My mom called Thursday morning telling me that my friends brother Mark died in a rock climbing accident on Wednesday in Garden of the Gods (The Garden). That was pretty tragic to hear. I got through the day, made some phone calls to friends and the made plans for the weekend with the Wake and Memorial Service. So, Friday I worked til 5, went home, changed, and went to the Wake to be there for my friend Matt. I thought I would be able to handle myself; if anything I thought it would be easier than the Memorial Service on Saturday. It wasn't. It was so hard to believe that this could happen to a friend, and I tried to realize that what I was feeling was magnified 100 times over with the family. The memorial service today was "great." I say that because it is bitter-sweet. Any death is hard and when you know them its harder. However, since Mark was a Christian, we are assured he is in heaven. This verses from Isaiah 57 help:

The righteous pass away; the godly often die before their time. And no one seems to care or wonder why. No one seems to understand that God is protecting them from the evil to come. For the godly who die will rest in peace.

That is the sweet part about Mark's passing; we know he is safe from evil, in a better place than this world. While it hurts to have him gone, we can continue knowing he is home.

That news and those services capped off a busy and full week. I haven't been able to sleep a lot this week, but that is a minimal concern when I know that every day is a gift. Mark's death brings a realization that we don't know when our time is up. We must be thankful for the days we have as gifts, and use them wisely because they ARE truly blessings.

Thankful,
Ryan

Posted by supermn at 8:21 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, this is the end of the first day of a couple big things. The first day at my new job at HP, and the first day of teaching at PPCC. Overall it was a great day; it was educational, challenging, fun, and interesting. I'll elaborate below.

The day started at 8 am at HP with me meeting my trainer and other classmates. Technically the training start Monday, but I missed that day so I was a little behind. I felt like I caught up pretty quickly though, so I should be able to hang with them. After a lot of learning, we took a short quiz. I turned it in when I finished, but no one else finished for another 20 minutes or so. This always worried me in college. Did I miss something? Were there trick questions? Why did I finish quickly? I started to question my answers, but I felt very confident in them. After everyone else turned theirs in and he graded them and handed them back, I got my answer. There it was, two questions highlighted and "2/9 " circled at the top. I freaked out! I want to do good at this job and impress the people above me. Once I got up the courage to asked if the highlighted ones were right or wrong, I stopped worrying. It turns out he highlighted the WRONG ones and wrote that number at the top. This was not how I was used to things working, but a great relief. And as it would turn out, one that was marked wrong was actually right... Yippee! Made my day cause I think I impressed him with finishing it quickly and correctly.

After work at 5, I had to head up to PPCC for my class at 7. Before class though I needed a few more "school supplies" so I swung by Wal-Mart. Nothing exciting there, but it didn't give me too much time to prepare for my class. When I got to the college I had to use the faculty area to make copies of the syllabus, instructions, homework and all that good stuff. Teachers sure have a lot of work; I might even say they have more than the students! I know that might be shocking to those students out there reading this, but it is time consuming. At least it is for me, I want to be prepared for class and have all the ample material for actually teaching my students.

The class itself was great. I thought so at least. One of by biggest concerns was being able to "talk" in front of a room for 75 minutes. I had never done anything like that for more than 15. Turns out I went longer than the class time, so I guess I don't have to worry about that anymore. The other issue was that since it is a night class, there is a more diverse group. Most of us work during the day, and so some of the students have "careers." There is a high school teacher, two cops, some military people, mothers, students, and restaurant workers. It'll make for an interesting semester.

My biggest concern is being able to have them actually learn something. However, when they sit there and don't respond, it worries me. But I look back to when I was a student and our classes didn't respond too much either. Plus it was the first day, they were just getting comfortable. I'll be sure to fill you in on more down the road. Only 4 people didn't show up the first day, and maybe they dropped it, I wont know until I get an updated roster list.

Thanks for listening.
Ciao

Posted by supermn at 10:58 PM | Permalink | Comments

Well, after the good news I received this morning about teaching at the college, the blessings keep flowing. Jesse and I left the RRC to head back to his house when I get a phone call. This phone call is from Ebru in California. She and I have been in contact the last couple weeks about a couple jobs at Hewlett Packard (HP) here in the SPGS. She has been really helpful and working hard for me which has been great. She called and told me that I got one of the positions! I HAVE A JOB! Yippee. I really can't remember the last time I was this happy.

The job will be doing product support for HP. Basically, from what I understand, I will be on the phone with people who can't get their printer to print, the mouse to move, or their laptop to turn on, stuff like that. They said I could start as early as Monday; that would be awesome. I filled out and faxed a lot of the paperwork already tonight. They (Ebru) FedExed my a package to do the drug test; I should have that by tomorrow morning. Then hopefully I will start Monday. The plan is to go through about 4 weeks of training. The training will got from 9-5 M-F; after that I will get moved to "my shift." How I understand it at the moment is that it will be a night shift, mainly on the weekends. I should have the option of working 4 10-hour shifts, or 5 8-hour shifts; the 4 10s sound more appealing. If I were to guess the hours, it would be 12 -10 AM Fri, Sat, Sun, Mon. Most people wouldn't like the graveyard shift, but as a single, healthy, strong guy, I think I can put in my dues. Maybe something will change by the time I actually am done with training; after all, look what happened with my teaching stuff.

Thank you all for your prayers and support while I have not been working, it means a lot. I am looking forward to this fall: new job, teaching college, and mentoring high school kids. I don't know how else it could get better, but God does!

Thanks again!

Ciao

Posted by supermn at 8:00 PM | Permalink | Comments

What a day! I originally got up this morning planning to post about how the teacher orientation at the college went last night. Things have changed, but I will run down last night just to cover it.

I got to the orientation a little early last night to get some food, meet some people, and socialize. I got there in time for some pizza, soda, and oreos. I sat next to the only other young person there. This guy was 24 and I think we were the only ones under 40 in the whole room. It was full of both math teachers and technology/computer teachers. Two-thirds was the former and only one third of us were technology people (geeks). It was overwhelming, yet very exciting at the same time. The first half of the meeting was all of us getting told not to cancel class, how to access our email (ryan.schierholz@ppcc.edu, how cool is that!), and how to post grades and no-shows. It was really interesting learning all the politics and ins and outs of the education world. Fun times.
We then split off; math stayed there and geeks to the computer room. Everything for the college is super streamlined for the 21st century. All our resources, homeworks, quizzes, tests, etc are all online. (They are headed more in that direction because they said half of the college's budget last year went to printing expenses. HALF!) They use a program called Blackboard (makes sense), and it is quite amazing, I can fill in more on that later. They just gave us an overview on that a bit and then let us go. We have a training session all day Saturday to learn the program better... I will probably go. Anyway, so everyone else is teaching throughout the 15 week semester and teaching Office 2003; I found out I would be teaching Office XP and still doing the 4 weekends in October. No big deal, still be fun.

All that changed this morning when I got a call from the head of the department. She left a message saying she needed someone to teach a class Tuesdays and Thursdays at night at the Rampart Range Campus (RRC) and she wanted me to do it since she didn't think the class I was originally lined up to teach would fill up enough. This was super exciting news because just last night I told my mom I hoped to (next semester), teach a class more spread out and on the RRC! What an answer to prayer! Instead of having 6 weeks to prepare, now I only have 6 days!

Jesse and I went up to the RRC today to check out my classroom (I have my own key to it and the office), and get a feel for the layout and such. That was quite the experience. I pretended like I had a full class room and wrote my name on the board. The minute I did that, there was some weird throw back to all the times I was watching the professor write THEIR name on the board. These are fun and exciting and scary times.

I pick up my book and syllabus tomorrow to start preparing for classes on TUESDAY! I can still use your prayers to do well. Thanks

Ciao

Posted by supermn at 11:00 AM | Permalink | Comments

Today I just turned in all my paperwork for my teaching position at PPCC. Before today I never really worried about how it would go, or felt nervous about it. All that rushed in today.

I felt the rush of not knowing ANYTHING. Everything I ever learned in college, high school, junior high, elementary, preschool, all that... gone. Thankfully that only lasted a couple minutes, but I am sure I haven't seen the end of it.

Every once in awhile between now and October, I will feel a bit of jitters as they call them. And I assume they will increase as the first class gets closer and closer.

Next Wednesday night is the orientation for us teachers. I will get my books and coursework then. After I do, I will publish all the new info from it.

Ciao

Posted by supermn at 10:31 PM | Permalink | Comments

Over the last 24 hours I have had two thoughts. Okay, more than two, but two worth mentioning.

1. The first of which I had while laying in bed last night. With this new blog craze that Josh and I have joined got me thinking. Why are weblogs so popular?
I think it goes back to our human need for contact. I know it sounds counter intuitive, but here me out. We (as humans) long for contact, acceptance, etc from other humans. It is one of our basic needs. Since we have become a very closed off society and technology driven, the blog has become an outlet for this. If I may be a little open and frank with you, I think it is more prevalent among men. It gives us a way to open up like we would like to, without feeling too vulnerable. So, opening up to the WORLD seems more acceptable than opening up to the people that are closest to us ... Interesting. Just something to think about.

2. People should be required to get an internet/computer license like a drivers license. Too many people use the internet, email, and technology without proper knowledge of it. I think that might be the reason viruses are spread so easily. People are not educated to know what is, or possibly is, a virus/hoax so they get click happy. Or the opposite: they are afraid to close anything thinking it will never come back. Sorry, just had to get that off my chest.
While I am talking about drivers licenses, they should make those tests harder. There are too many people out on the roads that should not be. They are oblivious to everything going on around them ... their blinker that is still on, the fact they are in the passing lane without passing, and stopping when there is a green arrow telling you to go, Go, GO!

If you would like to learn more about email, internet, computers, or driving, feel free to email me... if you can figure out how to do that. :)

Posted by supermn at 12:28 AM | Permalink | Comments

Because of the recent free time on my hands, and the fact that I did not post anything relevant for the past ... well ever, I am going to do some catching up.

The posts that follow will contain experiences and happens from the past year or so that are important to me, or entertaining to you (hopefully).

I will try to keep them separated by topic so it doesn't get too confusing, and if you don't want to hear about a particular topic you can skip it.

Ciao

Posted by supermn at 11:59 AM | Permalink | Comments