Random Thoughts - Part Deux [NO POLITICS]

[krayzie]

The first Miata must have been a godsend. Goto 0:43 the owner can't seem to find anything wrong under the hood and the engine turns over on first try. While his other car is unfortunately French.

[ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ekLA6RV8QbQ"]1990 mazda eunos roadster pv japan - YouTube[/ame]

[Ultramaroon]

Originally Posted by krayzie

This.

That's great.

[humfrz]

Originally Posted by Cole

Yeah, it's a rough job market for sure. I'm fairly set on going back to school to do a pre-apprenticeship program.

Oh, but in more positive news, the military got back to me a few weeks ago about a transfer I put in over 2 years ago to go to university on the army's dime (and make about 60k a year while going), then owe them 1.25 years of service for every year of school (or something like that, think it's generally 4 years of school equals 5 years of service). They told me my transfer had been approved and I needed to book a medical, and start applying to schools and I had 30 days to respond to the email for it to go through. First off, I waited over 2 friggen years for this transfer and I get a month to respond and get my ducks in a row?!?!? Second, how the hell did they not know that I was officially out of the military in November?

So, if you left the military (or did you just go inactive), is the schooling offer still good ... ??

Whatcha gonna do ......??


humfrz

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by krayzie

Most of them look like Katamari.

Originally Posted by Ultramaroon

?

No, no, no, that is calamari


He means this:

[Dadhawk]

Originally Posted by krayzie

Yup and it's driving me nuts after a year. This new contract job I signed up for has no guarantee hours and it's been a month and still no work yet. It's all networking these days with lots of coffee time just to get an interview it seems..

I went through this early in my career. I had 3 jobs in 7 years (two layoffs, one preemptive move to avoid layoff), and each one of them was going to be by "forever" job because they were with "big" companies.

This was in the 80's when all the leveraged buyout crap was going on, and the companies I worked for kept getting bought, and sold for its assets. One of the companies was actually sold once, downsized, and the original owners bought it back because they didn't like what was being done. They bought it back for $0.25 on the $1.00 and then sold it again later for 4x what they did the first time around.

Last time I got laid off this is what happened that week, MomHawk and I closed on our first house on Thursday, found out she was pregnant with our oldest son on Friday, and I got laid off over the phone on Saturday, and the company tried to deny unemployment benefits because I worked 50% of the time from home!

That's what led me down the path of never wanting to have to worry about it again. I paid off all my debts, built an emergency fund of 12 months of expenses and never go into debt. (This was well before I had ever heard of Dave Ramsey). Now, if I lose my job tomorrow, my family would be OK for quite some time, particularly given MomHawk still works.

Its a good place to be once you get there, but a lot of "acting like an adult" in the mean time.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Cole

Yeah, it's a rough job market for sure. I'm fairly set on going back to school to do a pre-apprenticeship program.

Oh, but in more positive news, the military got back to me a few weeks ago about a transfer I put in over 2 years ago to go to university on the army's dime (and make about 60k a year while going), then owe them 1.25 years of service for every year of school (or something like that, think it's generally 4 years of school equals 5 years of service). They told me my transfer had been approved and I needed to book a medical, and start applying to schools and I had 30 days to respond to the email for it to go through. First off, I waited over 2 friggen years for this transfer and I get a month to respond and get my ducks in a row?!?!? Second, how the hell did they not know that I was officially out of the military in November?

Check if still valid. Your offer would have been to transfer from Reserve to Regular and been based upon you still being active reserve. One you accepted the release papers that offer would no longer be valid. The system will catch up to that pretty quickly and you could be left holding the bag.
The system must really have changed if they just say "ya come on in and pick your school and course now". There was always very specific requirements on where you went and what you could major in before. It wasn't just a paid scholarship with a few years of service tacked on at the end.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Check if still valid. Your offer would have been to transfer from Reserve to Regular and been based upon you still being active reserve. One you accepted the release papers that offer would no longer be valid. The system will catch up to that pretty quickly and you could be left holding the bag.
The system must really have changed if they just say "ya come on in and pick your school and course now". There was always very specific requirements on where you went and what you could major in before. It wasn't just a paid scholarship with a few years of service tacked on at the end.

It's not still valid. I'm not taking the offer. Was mentioning it sarcastically. Would have been going for mechanical engineering at Waterloo, so I'm fairly certain the army wouldn't have any issue with that. Surely it's more useful than a liberal arts degree that so many officers have nowadays. And you can take any degree in Arts, Science or Engineering.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Cole

It's not still valid. I'm not taking the offer. Was mentioning it sarcastically. Would have been going for mechanical engineering at Waterloo, so I'm fairly certain the army wouldn't have any issue with that. Surely it's more useful than a liberal arts degree that so many officers have nowadays. And you can take any degree in Arts, Science or Engineering.

Oh you were talking ROTP? You must have had mega grades in high school.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by Tcoat

Oh you were talking ROTP? You must have had mega grades in high school.

As a mature student, the criteria is a bit different. Just needed an unconditional acceptance from a university.

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Cole

As a mature student, the criteria is a bit different. Just needed an unconditional acceptance from a university.

When I did a 6 month call out as a Recruiting Officer in 94 there was a 3 year waiting list for ROTP and not a hope in hell of getting in even as a mature student without top marks. In fact if you even wanted to get a good spot on the list (it was not first come first served) a couple of years of college or university were the best bet.

[krayzie]

Originally Posted by Dadhawk

each one of them was going to be by "forever" job because they were with "big" companies

Worked for two "big" companies in 10 years and each one made it very clear that it would not be "forever" with seemingly non-stop layoffs, so-called "resource actions" where they even hired cops to escort the workers out of the complex. I must have made thru a dozen rounds of layoffs till I finally got nailed. I've even worked with people that went from team to team, and country to country yet still with the same company. Some pretty crazy stories I've heard at a few company retirement parties.

The one eye opener for me the last year was how friends of my age that I've known for decades were unwilling to help and borderline hostile (they must see it as part of the rat race), and the only people that are trying their best to help me find work in which I'm grateful to meet, are older folks that I have not known all my life, worked with them not for long or total strangers from networking.

It's good to be debt free (technically I am and it feels great in a way) but to my generation it's old school thinking. A lot of them are driving fancy sports cars with multiple mortgages (one to live and one to flip/rent out). They are in debt to their eyebrows and don't plan to pay everything back till 65, something like Ireland over a decade ago before the housing bust as I was told.

[Cole]

Originally Posted by krayzie

Worked for two "big" companies in 10 years and each one made it very clear that it would not be "forever" with seemingly non-stop layoffs, so-called "resource actions" where they even hired cops to escort the workers out of the complex. I must have made thru a dozen rounds of layoffs till I finally got nailed. I've even worked with people that went from team to team, and country to country yet still with the same company. Some pretty crazy stories I've heard at a few company retirement parties.

The one eye opener for me the last year was how friends of my age that I've known for decades were unwilling to help and borderline hostile (they must see it as part of the rat race), and the only people that are trying their best to help me find work in which I'm grateful to meet, are older folks that I have not known all my life, worked with them not for long or total strangers from networking.

It's good to be debt free (technically I am and it feels great in a way) but to my generation it's old school thinking. A lot of them are driving fancy sports cars with multiple mortgages (one to live and one to flip/rent out). They are in debt to their eyebrows and don't plan to pay everything back till 65, something like Ireland over a decade ago before the housing bust as I was told.

Can't wait for the housing market to take a shit. The neighbourhood my GF lives in, consistently has homes sell for 10M or more. Unbelievable that there are people who are willing to spend that kind of money to live in a big ass city, where your commute is only going to marginally longer than if you lived a bit outside the city. Not to mention, how you could actually have a yard, and not have to do street parking, etc.

[Tcoat]

Fun with thread titles #49:

[Tcoat]

Originally Posted by Cole

Can't wait for the housing market to take a shit. The neighbourhood my GF lives in, consistently has homes sell for 10M or more. Unbelievable that there are people who are willing to spend that kind of money to live in a big ass city, where your commute is only going to marginally longer than if you lived a bit outside the city. Not to mention, how you could actually have a yard, and not have to do street parking, etc.

Geeeez where the hell does she live? That seems high even for your area.