Well I finally got the final word back from both Rad Tech schools, and it's a big NO. I didn't get my prereq's done in time, so I didn't get in. The sad part of it is that it will be a full year from now before I could apply again.

I guess it could all turn out for the better. The economy seems like it MIGHT be getting better, and the job market with it. Maybe I'll end up in the tech world longer than I had expected. Or more likely, I'll just do something else here with AOL for the next year, or maybe even take some joe schmo hospital job, and then move onto a school. I am thinking that whatever I do, it will not likely be nursing, however. I just don't see me doing it. You never know what might happen to change my mind, but for now I am not planning on it. I am going to keep looking for tech jobs, and if I end up with a job with a promising company with good chances to move up, then I'd be a fool to leave it, but I am not expecting that to happen either.

I am doing pretty well in my two classes I'm taking. I am sure I have to do well to get into the Rad Tech school, so that's good. I have 2 A's right now. Medical Terminology is pretty easy, but I've done a lot of studying for my Anatomy 1 class. It is interesting stuff, and unlike the teaching classes I took years ago, there is no "fluff" and it's all relevant not only for day-to-day living but for my potential future career. My professor is nothing great, but that makes me read and re-read the book, which I think explains things a lot better, and I feel like I really have a good grasp on what we've covered so far. It also doesn't hurt that there are two really good-looking girls in the class with whom I've sort of become attached. They both seem very pleasant and we get along well in our little "study group". It really makes me look forward to class, as it's a chance to see and flirt with them again. One is 19 and the other 23, so they're a little young for me....but then Kelly and Davy are the same age, and I really like their company. I have thought of asking the 23-year-old out but am hesitant to right now. When the class is almost over, then I very well might, but until then, I want to keep looking forward to seeing them on class nights and the 23-year-old and I might do some more beach studying. This formula has worked to keep me focused on the coursework so far so I don't want to spil it. Being around chicks is one good thing about the medical field---it's the opposite of tech, where it's one big sausage party....

AOL has offered us no clues as to what they plan to do with my group. The only assurances we have is that we can expect to be disappointed and we'll be doing much more dumbed-down, crap member services work. I am not looking forward to it. Hopefully I will hear some better news soon.

I have not written in almost a year....

After my roommate read my site, which I still think was a very shady thing to do, and brought up the things I said about him in one of our many arguments, I just didn't feel much like writing anymore. But today I came across some girl's blog and it reminded me of mine. Thought I'd catch it up and see if I want to keep on going with it.

In the last year I can't say that all that much has changed. I am still a single guy and I still work out almost every day. I would say I am in pretty good shape, especially for my age (I turned 35 in on May 2.) I still work on the help desk for AOL in Jacksonville and still live with a guy who I don't have much respect for, but at least we are getting along better now.

Things are on the verge of change, though. After 3 and a half years of doing this helpdesk thing, the change is inevitable. After months of speculation that it might happen, we were told on Friday of last week that the help desk is going to be outsourced, starting around Sept. 1. I was not surprised by this. My friend Amy, the trainer for our department, confidentially told me this was in the works, and then I used my geeky superuser powers to hack around on the network to find out more. So it finally happened--that is, they told us we were being done away with.

When my trainer told me this was going to happen back in February, I sort of went into a panic. Confronted with losing my job for the first time, I was going crazy wondering what I would do, and as a result I drove my friends kinda crazy too. I thought about it constantly and talked it over with everyone willing to listen. In the process I probably also chased away a chick I'd met online who I had a lot in common with, this chick named Jessica who I went out with a few times. It was a bummer, since we seemed to get along so well.

It was around this time that I applied and was accepted for a position with AOL in Virginia. But I turned it down before they even made me the lowball (probably 19/hr or so) offer I was expecting, deciding that AOL is not where I want to work for the rest of my life, and also that I did not want to move to Virginia and base my life on this loser-company's fortunes. I had little faith that AOL would do me right, and ultimately decided that its future is too weak to change my whole life around for it.

In the end I finally came up with a sort-of solution. I decided that it's time to leave the tech work (or lack of work) behind and do something TOTALLY different, and have been looking into jobs in the medical field. It's surprising to me that I'd even consider this, since I'd never taken a medical course in all of my many college classes, and most of all since I always had a strong reluctance to even walk into a hospital, remembering them as morose places with sick, miserable people and germs everywhere. But I decided to test this reluctance by going in to see my old friend Bill Tidball, a guy I've known since I was 6 years old who's now a Radiological Technician, doing his job at the local hospital Baptist Beaches. I went in and did six 3-hour observations, and even did some x-rays myself. It went pretty well and in the end I decided I needed a job and that this type of work was not as bad as I'd once imagined it. In fact, I thought it was very interesting stuff, and that the people in the medical field seem like my type of people. It's also an interesting way to really expand my horizons.

So that's the plan for now. Thanks to Amy's early warning, I was able to sign up for courses this summer which will take care of prereqs for the school for Rad Tech and have sent the application to FCCJ. We'll see what happens there. I also applied to the St. Vincent's hospital Rad Tech school. I'm even considering going into Nursing, and I can get a BS in Nursing in an accelerated 13-month program at UNF, because I already have a college degree. I have not considered that too seriously, though. If I don't get into either of these schools, then I will look much more heavily into it. There sure are a lot of options and jobs in Nursing....

Other than all of this job-related stuff, let's see. I'm still playing softball. The team has become a .500 C-league team. We have good games and bad games, but I have no intention of not playing. I still love it, both the camaraderie of the guys and the game itself. I still play basketball when I can. I also went back to Olive Garden in March and started doing To Go's again, only on Saturdays and Sundays, and most recently told them I'd only work on Saturdays since I really need a day off. Working 2 jobs and taking 2 summer (meaning accelerated) classes was starting to wear on me a little. The extra money has been helping me to pay down some debt, though, which I'll really need to do if I get into one of these schools. Exactly how I will be able to pay for living expenses and tuition for these schools is something I'm going to have to figure out as it is.

So I look forward to the great unknown ahead of me and the new experiences that are on their way.