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Jan. 19th, 2010 02:11 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
stormdogAfter work yesterday, I had one of the more painful headaches I can remember. It wasn't quite as bad as the one in Minneapolis that left me in a ball on the couch because the lights in the bathroom were too loud, but I felt a hint of synesthesia.
But I went over to my parents' place to help get![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
barton_fender's laptop to talk to his phone and, through it, the internet. It became a perfect example of why I am tired of computers and IT. I went through the same process of mating the phone to the computer and creating a dial up connection over and over. The same way. The results were completely different. Sometimes it required a PIN to be input. Sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it would try to dial and say that the port is already in use, but sometimes it would try to dial normally. Sometimes when I tried to dial, it would pop up a small rectangular window that would instantly go away again before I could read it; other times it would give me a regular dial up window. Sometimes it would dial up successfully and connect to the internet through the phone. Other times it would sit and try to connect for thirty seconds before giving up and refuse to do anything else until a reboot.
I just don't get it. It makes me feel stupid, and I'm not.
When I got home last night, I was really doing poorly. I was hurting and sniffly and Moira was a gift from heaven as she let me lean on her shoulder before putting me to bed and tucking me into the blankets. She turned my lava light and the fan on for me and gave me a plushy to snuggle. It was simply wonderful.
I emailed in sick to work this morning complaining of a headache which, to be fair, was still somewhat present. I then slept until about eleven-thirty. Considering I went to bed at eight o' clock, I must have really needed sleep.
I called Gateway this morning to talk to an advisor about the apprenticeship programs. She said that I need to sign up at the union hall, where I take a test and get an interview. Then, I get put on a list. I knew all that from reading up on the process online. Once a job opens up and they get that far down the list, Gateway gets involved and I start working as an apprentice most of the time (which I'm paid for) and going to class one day a week (which I pay for). I knew that much too.
Apprentice starting wage is about thirteen dollars an hour. That helps to figure out planning for monetary stuff. I asked about whether it's reasonable as a thirty year old career changer to look at doing something like an apprenticeship and she said that they have people of all ages who do. I think I might still feel a little better talking to an actual career counselor there (the person I talked to was the assistant to a woman who manages the apprenticeship programs), so I'm thinking about doing that too. First I'm going to get a copy of my transcript from my high school to look at. Then I can talk to the counselor about the process of changing careers, and at the same time, give her my (admittedly fairly lack-luster) transcript and ask if I need to take another math class (which I suspect I will). I doubt I'll have any trouble with it if I do. School sucked hardcore for me when I was there, and I know that if I could do it all again, I'd do a much, much, much better job of it. I left a message with my high school about a transcript and will proceed further once I get a copy.
While I'm going on about electrician work, here are a couple of discussions started by people who are interested in becoming apprentices after working in IT. That sounds familiar. In both bases, they seem to be getting a lot of encouragement toward doing so.
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=116309
http://www.electriciantalk.com/f3/aspiring-electrician-who-wants-join-ibew-but-cant-afford-apprenticeship-3592/
But I went over to my parents' place to help get
barton_fender's laptop to talk to his phone and, through it, the internet. It became a perfect example of why I am tired of computers and IT. I went through the same process of mating the phone to the computer and creating a dial up connection over and over. The same way. The results were completely different. Sometimes it required a PIN to be input. Sometimes it didn't. Sometimes it would try to dial and say that the port is already in use, but sometimes it would try to dial normally. Sometimes when I tried to dial, it would pop up a small rectangular window that would instantly go away again before I could read it; other times it would give me a regular dial up window. Sometimes it would dial up successfully and connect to the internet through the phone. Other times it would sit and try to connect for thirty seconds before giving up and refuse to do anything else until a reboot.I just don't get it. It makes me feel stupid, and I'm not.
When I got home last night, I was really doing poorly. I was hurting and sniffly and Moira was a gift from heaven as she let me lean on her shoulder before putting me to bed and tucking me into the blankets. She turned my lava light and the fan on for me and gave me a plushy to snuggle. It was simply wonderful.
I emailed in sick to work this morning complaining of a headache which, to be fair, was still somewhat present. I then slept until about eleven-thirty. Considering I went to bed at eight o' clock, I must have really needed sleep.
I called Gateway this morning to talk to an advisor about the apprenticeship programs. She said that I need to sign up at the union hall, where I take a test and get an interview. Then, I get put on a list. I knew all that from reading up on the process online. Once a job opens up and they get that far down the list, Gateway gets involved and I start working as an apprentice most of the time (which I'm paid for) and going to class one day a week (which I pay for). I knew that much too.
Apprentice starting wage is about thirteen dollars an hour. That helps to figure out planning for monetary stuff. I asked about whether it's reasonable as a thirty year old career changer to look at doing something like an apprenticeship and she said that they have people of all ages who do. I think I might still feel a little better talking to an actual career counselor there (the person I talked to was the assistant to a woman who manages the apprenticeship programs), so I'm thinking about doing that too. First I'm going to get a copy of my transcript from my high school to look at. Then I can talk to the counselor about the process of changing careers, and at the same time, give her my (admittedly fairly lack-luster) transcript and ask if I need to take another math class (which I suspect I will). I doubt I'll have any trouble with it if I do. School sucked hardcore for me when I was there, and I know that if I could do it all again, I'd do a much, much, much better job of it. I left a message with my high school about a transcript and will proceed further once I get a copy.
While I'm going on about electrician work, here are a couple of discussions started by people who are interested in becoming apprentices after working in IT. That sounds familiar. In both bases, they seem to be getting a lot of encouragement toward doing so.
http://forums.mikeholt.com/showthread.php?t=116309
http://www.electriciantalk.com/f3/aspiring-electrician-who-wants-join-ibew-but-cant-afford-apprenticeship-3592/
