At the time, I remember my mom asking us, "what do you think about moving to Idaho?". As a kid, I guess you don't really process future events or friendships not coming with you cause I was like "lets do it!". We asked my daughter the same thing and she also said yes. She had been to Brookings and Coos Bay just a couple years prior as we did a family trip to the coast when I was still painting. We originally loved the bay area and wanted to move then but painting in Oregon did not seem to be steady work so we threw it in the pile of dreams and went about life.
On a whim, I happened to be looking for jobs in the Coos Bay area after trading professions. I needed benefits badly due to the wife being a type 1 diabetic and I desperately needed to get out of the construction business. Painting in a fast pace, booming city was not fun in the slightest and after 14 years I needed a change. So I turned in my whites for blues and became a cable guy. That's right... Larry the Cable Guy.
At first I just dug the trenches for cable to be place in. I excelled at shoveling and ended up becoming a tech after a month. Within 2 months I was tech of the quarter and they were wanting me to become a lead. I really loved the cable biz and I seemed to have a knack with the customers. Especially when I would fix their computer issues at the same time and go above and beyond what I probably should of done, but I was always wanting to help the customer. And going from painting where everyone hates you for stinking the place up and getting paint everywhere to "sweet the cable dude is here!" it was pretty awesome. I loved Cableone as well. They were a great company and it was hard to leave such a great job and especially since I was moving up the ranks so quickly.... But I had a dream to tend to.
in Coos Bay, Charter was hiring (shocker) and were willing to pay $2.00 more an hour than I was already making with the chance to bump up again after taking a couple more tests. It seemed like a no brainer. The wife and I talked about it, then we talked to Mayleigh. We all seemed in agreeance that this was something we wanted to do and before we knew it we were flying out to look for places. On the 4th house we struck gold, fell in love and within another week we sold our house and were in debt up to our ears... But we were living the dream!!!
It wasn't long after that I found that working for such a large corporation, you really are just a peon of the system and in the big scheme of things, no matter how many customers were satisfied; there really was no satisfying the company. They always demanded more and with a whole new structure of how things were ran it was again time to move on. I wanted so badly to get out and I went from loving cable to almost despising it towards the end. I needed a new job in the worst way but the only other solutions were satellite install with long days of driving... Not my cup of tea.
My wife saw an add for a computer tech at ESD and from the second she read it, both of us said "THAT'S ME!". It felt like the job description was meant only for me. I was ecstatic! I rapidly filled out the app and did all the necessary things to apply. I then waited.... and waited...and waited.
Finally I got the phone call for an interview. I was nervous as all get out. I had no official experience doing computer work. I was self taught, I only fixed friends and families computers and built a couple websites. I remember hand writing allot of my skills on the front and back of the application trying desperately to impress with my lack of credentials and any formal education past 12th grade.
I remember Joe Burkleo and Joe Frischman grilling me on some things I could answer and some I could not. Allot of questions revolved around Novell and I just didn't have the knowledge of that product so I was getting very concerned I wasn't going to fulfill their need. I was right. They called me up and told me I didn't get the job but they thanked me and she even said they really liked me but someone else just hit it out of the park.
I was bummed. But everything happens for a reason and so I figured if I'm meant to be a cable guy then so be it. Get 'R Done!
A week later the wife and I went out crabbing on our death trap of a boat and I got a phone call. It was ESD calling asking if I was still interested in the job. I about dropped my phone in the ocean but with a death grip I said "YES!!!" . For whatever reason the previous person didn't work out and I was their next choice. I could not believe it. I was going to be changing professions again and I had no clue what to expect.
I remember my first job was to figure out why Accelerated Reader wouldn't work on the network. I had no clue what Accelerated Reader was but I knew how to research and i went to work trying to find out the requirements. Before long I realized it was a rights issue and I had it up and going within the next day. I continued to my next issues at hand and was able to resolve those as well. I soon found that I was able to resolve most problems fairly quickly and I was loving it.
You get a sense of what a superhero feels like in a way when you solve problems for people that are aggravating them. And it's an amazing feeling knowing you either saved their day or made their lives a little easier by resolving the issue.
I found zen...I lived on the coast, I loved my job, my wife, my kid.. What more could I ever want? Dreams do come true!!!
After 4 years of working for ESD I was told that North Bend was cutting ties and that my contract was not going to be renewed. Dreams do die.. :( Even though they were happy with my work and I did everything that was asked of me; they were not going to re-hire me...
Once word got out that I wasn't going to be hired, staff members and students both started a petition to have me re-hired as a North Bend employee. There were hundreds of signatures but as of June 30th, 2011 I was no longer employeed and I had to file for un-employment.
I spent some of the summer in Montana where I foolishly thought I could spend 3 weeks without the wife and kid. I've never spent that long without either of them and I spent the majority of the time more home sick than anything. In the meantime my brother Chris was just getting out of the hospital with pneumonia and my sister Lindsey was just going in. She ended up getting extremely sick and spent almost the whole time I was there in the hospital. Chris on the other hand ended up not getting any better and in fact had his own mystery diagnosis issues for about 6 months before they found out he had polymyositis a rare auto immune disease that affects the muscles. He has actually been a good resource for Mayleigh as he went through almost the same exact things. High doses of prednisone and chemo. Unfortunately like my wife, he also will live with this the rest of his life and need treatments regularly.
After enduring what seemed like an eternity away from the fam, I came back home to an interview. It seemed that all the petitions had earned me the chance to apply for the job I had been doing the past 4 years. I felt confident I had what it took... I was right. :D
In September of 2011, I officially became a North Bend School District employee and in the process had one of the most profound moments of my life... and probably one of the best days of my life outside the birth of our daughter and marrying my best friend.
During the in-service they always announce new employees. I really wasn't expecting to be announced as I wasn't really a "new" employee but I was in that ESD was no longer my employer. They were going down the list and they get to the technology department. My name was announced and I stood up and did a little wave and sat my shy butt back down as quickly as I could. The applause continued. Just as I thought it was about to end it got louder. Then some people began to stand up and even more cheers some whistles (easy ladies, I'm married! j/k :P). I began to turn extremely red I'm sure and I was fighting back the tears with everything I had. It will be a moment I will never forget and I know for the people that were there, they most likely would not either. In so many ways it was a victory for everyone and I just happened to be right in the middle of it.
When you have that much love hitting you from every angle; I can't even explain what that felt like. To be blessed to work in this district and have people that care about me in the way these people do....?? It's Priceless!!! I have no words... I have never been so humbled in my life and now it is coming full circle again. The love that the people have been showing our family is tear jerking to say the least. I truly had no idea that we would have received the support we have and I can never repay them for it. Well, maybe with free computer services for life! lol.
 |
| District Love & Support |
No comments:
Post a Comment