All is good

Hi all, i was just thinking that any of you who check my blog might see my last post and think that I am still miserable.

So just to let you know I am good. Some things still piss me off, but some things have changed. I have cooled down.

Anywho, changing the subject. This weekend is the Brizzy's wedding in which I will be best man/MC. Should be lost of fun. Hope to see you all during my week of starting August 9th.

Take care out there.

How good have the Riders been?!?! Hope we can keep it going in spite of all in injuries.

No Discipline

I am pretty pissed off at my fellow class mates today. It isn’t just one thing, but a number of things that have really got me going. It had been building for a while, and I think I need to vent a little.

It all stems around the fact that I am highly disappointed in the discipline our class is showing as a group. I blame the administration of the school somewhat, and I will touch on that in a bit, but my fellow classmates are starting to let me down.

Not showing up for gym in the mornings…giving a half ass effort at gym… not showing up for class because of whatever reason… lying about assignments being handed in…blaming the teachers for the program for all their problems… complaining… complaining… and more complaining.

Diving a bit more into these; on Friday we have 1/3 of our class missing from gym class. Yep, only 20 of 30 people showed up. One individual also missed gym on Thursday and Monday. That just isn’t good enough to me. On Thursday our fitness instructor didn’t show because he slept in…it happens, but many students, rather than stay and do the 20k bike like we knew we were supposed to, just went home…I just expected more form people. Or there is our test today, several people didn’t study, but when they do poorly they blame the school. Or they did fine and brag about not studying and passing…well way to sneak by champ! One person in out class regularly misses Friday’s and Monday’s and I really don’t see any fallout of this…what message does that send to the rest of us.

I may sound like a bit of a hypocrite about the complaining piece, seeing as this blog is one hug complaint, but people seem to focus so much on the negative it is getting to me. Be happy about the fact that you are here; you could be doing something much, much worse.

As for the administration, I am disappointed at the discipline tactics they use…when I came into this program I was told it was going to be para-military, and I expected to have a bit of a rough go…HA! No freaking way. Did you know that our instructors are not allowed to make us do more than 10 pushups at a time…this is a OH&S guideline. This obviously doesn’t include gym class, but what a joke. I thought I would be doing pushups every time I was late, every time I misspoke or screwed something up. One person in our class missed last Friday because they were to hung-over to come, on Monday the instructor told her that he wasn’t mad, he was more feeling bad for her because he knew how bad she must have felt… FUCK OFF! ARE YOU KIDDING ME!...again, what message does that send to the rest of us.

I thought when I came here I was going to be pushed to improve myself…they told us we would become a different person, and I honesty don’t think I am any more disciplined than I was before I came. It pains me to say that, but I just expected to much more.

It’s not like I find this course super easy, it is challenging academically, physically, and emotionally… at times…but I came here to be pushed…and for the most part I have not been.

Anyway, I think I need to talk to someone at the school about this. I don’t know if it is better in person or in writing but I need to let them know what I think. And I am not alone. There are a few people in the program who are very focused, very dedicated, very disciplined….they make me look like a loser gang banger, and I can’t begin to tell you how much I respect them, how much they inspire me. I just wish there were more people like that. It’s not the course material or content that I have a problem with, it is the overall, general attitude that seems to be prevalent in the group and in the school. It’s like after years of teaching, they have lost some of there heart. I don’t want them to break us like we are in boot camp, but I would like to see consequence for behavior seems to be very clearly unacceptable.

And to my classmates… are you not hear because you want to be…are you not trying to be ready for one of the greatest and most respected professions in the world…do you not respect the sort of effort that takes…do you not respect all the firefighters that have done this before you…are you not worried about how you look and how ready you will be when school is over.

Tell me, please, am I being to hard on people? Am I just expecting to much. It is because I think what I am trying to do here is more special than it actually is. Am I going to be equally disappointed when I get a job after this and see that all firefighters are not what I thought they would be.

Can I take that kind of disappointment and still be in the profession.

Writing this has not made me feel better.

more randomness

After working out early Tuesday morning I returned home to two cop cars blocking my parking spot and two officers standing by my front door. I thought for a moment that my roommate finally flipped his lid and what up on the roof with a riffle, but it turned out there was some sort of domestic at our neighbors apartment. When I walked by I could still hear shouting. Nothing really exciting came out of it, but it’s always cool when cops are at our door.

The Mrs and I spent part of our long weekend in Edmonton. Highlights include our Polynesian themed room at the Fantasy Land Hotel at the west Ed. The room was complete with a bed that seemed like some sort of boat, and a large Jacuzzi, complete with waterfall. However the TV remote did not work to my satisfaction, so I give the room only 3 stars.

Speaking of TV, the riders won and that makes me happy. I watched that game in Edmonton and was happy to cheer out loud when watching the game in the lounge at Chilis.

Also in E-town we went to Body Worlds – which is an exhibit of actual human cadavers, preserved and placed in interesting positions to allow viewers to see how the body works. Examples were a guy playing basketball, a person sitting and playing chess, or one had two dudes playing football – one talking the other. The have holes or layers cut away to highlight different systems in different models. Very cool stuff. I would recommend this to anyone going to Edmonton before the show ends in mid October.

We all have pet peeves, and I may have more than the average guy. One that has been bugging me lately is people who swear loudly in public. Don’t get me wrong, I swear, at times I swear a lot, but I do not like to swear in the presence of children or seniors. But you get those people in public places that drop the loud f-bombs for everyone to hear and it makes me cringe. I think it is a huge display of disrespect, and by the name of this here blog you now that would not sit well with me. I think it really shows a general lack of character.

I can NOT believe the leafs signed Jeff Finger to a 4 year deal worth 3.5 million per season. Why is it the insist on overpaying players that don’t deserve to be overpaid. It would be one thing if they overpaid Marion Hossa, but they insist on overpaying players like Bryan McCabe, Jason Blake, and Jeff Finger.

I need to do two speeches this week in class. I’m not worried about them, but I am stumped on what topic to do my persuasive speech on. I am doing my informative speech on how to officially score a baseball game, but I can’t decide what to persuade people about. I have thought about sports or driving habits, but it needs to be 20 minutes and I don’t know if those two things will take up enough time.

Later gang.