5 Years of Wifey Goodness
Today I put in my 2 weeks at my job. I'm looking forward to going to school in the fall, and have alot to accomplish between now and then. Like finding a new job.
I know Whit and Sean were sorely disappointed in their return to school after the service. I am looking for something that I think school can provide, the certificate to enter a new career path. My criteria for this new job was stablity and decent pay. To start I am going to pursue a 2 year degree in order to become a medical radiographer. I know this doesn't sound like a glamourous or exciting career path, but International Man of Mystery wasn't really open to me. This career change will require further schooling in order to move beyond x-ray tech, but the stability of the work schedule doesn't preclude this.
Today is the Five Years of Wifey Celebration! As a hopeless romantic I've splurged on flowers and a new teapot. Woohoo! That's some anniversary haul! I'm going to cook chicken skewers and rice with broccoli for dinner. Maybe next year she'll be married to someone who pampers her, but until then she'll get the beats and like 'em.
posted by nate @ 2:53 PM
8 Comments:
Congrats on your 5 years. I'm sure they will be followed by many additional happy ones filled with more beer and beats, and from the looks of things, a lot more time at home.
So you're only taking Sean and Whit's experiences as a barometer for after-service schooling? As I recall, Sean was fine with it, he just got an unexpectedly nice job offer after a summer internship. As for Whit, it seems like he got hit with what I did when I first went to college - he found that what he "should" do isn't what he wanted to do. But I'm sure they can explain their reasoning far better than my second hand observations.
Returning to school has been a little rough for me. It's a little weird running into incoming freshmen that are 10 years younger. But no one notices the age really, and the typical response to my age is "bullsh*t". So far as your college pursuits - pick something you love, or at least like a lot. I quit following the recommendations of others and I'm getting my degree in subject matter I've loved since I was about 4. It's been great for the most part, but a good deal of work. But then, so is anything that's worthwhile, right? *cough*marriage*cough*
Just try not to end up as part of that majority of people who hate what they do, and work far too much, just for the money. I think there are enough decent paying jobs out there (save a few specific fields) that you could do something you actually like and not go broke.
wow, Flint's chock-full of good advice. Not that it surprises me.
Ok. Here's my two cents worth..
So like, I gotta ask how the goal of medical radiographer was established.
If your requirements were only 'stability and decent pay' - and then you may have thought, 'not much ted-like work, easy environment, growing sector of the economy' - I don't think you'll be happy.
I guess it just strikes me as odd that you'd come up with that as a job.
I left (4-year) school because I saw it resulting in Navy-like misery at the end. Engineering OR the geography route. Plus, I was surrounded by snot-nosed kids that had nothing better to do than pump out busy work that was assigned to us. For the most part, it was mind-numbing and truly disheartening. Maybe if I had stuck with it for a bit longer it would have become more interesting - but if it had not - I'd be kicking myself even harder than I am now.
I still go to school - my community college. It's all welding. Shit, I'm IN CLASS 22hrs/wk (spread out over two 11hr days) this semester. I'm learning more stuff that's directly applicable to what I'm pursuing as a career - which is panning out quite nicely for me (3 deposits in the bank, 2-3 people on the fence). Plus, I'm making a killing on the GI Bill/College fund. Getting paid more to learn more to make more money and further my craft - sign me up.
Anyway, looking back on my dropping out of the 4-year, the only thing I can say is that I should have done it sooner. And I only say that because I would be further along with my framebuilding now. But that's ONLY because I have a definite goal that I'm working towards. And I think that if you're just going to school to be in a holding pattern/pursing something that would be 'just ok', then you shouldn't do it.
Well good for you, going to school is always a good idea. Radiology seems like a good career, a friend of my girlfriend just got certified and it seems that it will pay well.
One of the things that I did notice is how people get recruited right out of the Navy, as most can probably deduce it is because you are used to crappy pay and crappy hours. No matter what path you choose carreer wise, you should expect to make good money and have a good job! A traveling repair guy is usually one of the first jobs offered to all (not just nukes) servicemen and women. Don't give up, cities, hospitals, even police dept's always have a need for electrical types if you ever need to find a quick job!
Oh and Congrats on 5 years!!!! Hey whatever happened to the other witness at your wedding???
mmmmm... chicken skewers with rice and broccoli. Sounds yummy.
Lou, I can only hope Beau is doing alright.
Biff, all I really want to do is brew beer and work the land. Brewer and farmer don't pay a damn thing, and are really only open to the sons of brewers and farmers.
Falling short of that I need a job that will leave me time to putter around the garden and brew beer in the garage. If it covers the mortgage and health insurance bills then I am good to go.
Biff said...'not much ted-like work, easy environment, growing sector of the economy'. This was precisely the thought process. Being a breeder has played me right into the hands of the man.
Ok, time for my $0.69 worth.
Flint, Biff, and Jorge all have good points. I think the biggest thing is that you've got to pick a direction that you can commit to and go with it. You're talented at a lot of stuff; just pick something and go with it.
Medical radiographer doesn't sound that bad, although I wonder what the long term growth opportunity is like. It'll be difficult to outsourced....except maybe to robots or something.
To respond to Flint and yourself, and to agree with Whit, I think the biggest mistake I made was ignoring my gut feeling and not changing colleges sooner. I had doubts on Olympic College even after my first semester, which wasn't bad. If I had transferred to Evergreen right then, I probably would have had my bachelors right now instead of just an associates degree. But I felt like maybe I was just being a big pussy and doing one of those "the grass is always greener" type things. In reality, O.C. really did suck compared to Evergreen; I was much happier at Evergreen.
So the biggest piece of advice I can give you is to temper your gut feelings a bit if you're prone to snap decisions (I am; more on that in my blog soon), but never stifle your gut feelings altogether.
Having said that, I think that you had an usually shitty job, though. Fixing MG's is one thing, but doing it and travelling the kind of hours you did for the money that you got for doing it was really BS.
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