Stupid is as Cochise does...

Family housing had our once-a-semester hall meeting last night. What a complete and ridiculous waste of time. As Jen and I drove to Tucson with the Lymans this past Saturday, we had a conversation about what we'd like to discuss at the meeting on Monday. We jotted down about 5 items we felt were important so we'd be sure to remember them. Last night, as soon as the meeting started, the assistant director asked us if we had anything we wanted to bring up. As soon as I told him and the director we had a list of items, they both visibly shut down. Then they proceeded to shoot down every single one of our issues (except that they're going to try to bring back Nickelodeon). And it wasn't that they politely addressed the issues we raised. Instead, they got downright rude. For instance, I brought up the fact that we weren't comfortable putting our stuff in a maintenance storage area where the maintenance workers would have access to it, and we wouldn't be able to get to it without someone unlocking the door for us. I asked if they could do any better for us, and the assistant director's response was, "You're not getting a key." The problem with that answer is that 1) I never asked for a key, and 2) it almost completely failed to address the real issue at hand. Then, when we had exhausted our list of issues, they told us they had nothing else to discuss with us, and they dismissed us. The big question that all of this raises is, if they're not open to discussing our problems or suggestions, and they don't have anything of their own to talk to us about, then why even call a meeting in the first place? But yet, that's how so many things at Cochise College are done. I'm reminded of little kids playing grown-ups. They act out those motions and actions they see adults doing, but they don't really understand the significance of those actions a lot of the time. In the same way, the leadership at this college tries to go through the motions they see competent people performing, but they have no idea what those motions are supposed to accomplish:

"Hey, we should have a hall meeting with the family housing students."

"Why?"

"Umm... because that's what you're supposed to do at a college."

"Do you have anything you need to address with the family housing students?"

"Nope. But I know you're supposed to have hall meetings at a college. That's just the way it is."

"That's a really good point. Let's have a hall meeting!"

Jenny recently tagged me to share my version of our story. Then she proceeded to get a little upset with me when I didn't promptly do what she had requested. I already explained to her why I haven't done so, but I'll go ahead and share my reasons with the rest of you. The first reason is that Jenny pretty well covered all the bases with her version, and I would feel painfully unoriginal if I sat here and copied what she'd already written. The second reason is that I wasn't in a very good place, spiritually, when we first met, and I don't really like to dwell on those memories because they tend to be extremely useful by Satan in discouraging me. So now you know. If you want the "authoritative" version of how Josh and Jenny LaBo became Josh and Jenny LaBo, please refer to Jenny LaBo's blog.

A Note To Those Who Comment Anonymously

While, like most bloggers, I really appreciate it when people take the time to post comments on my posts, it does tend to bother me a little when people choose not to identify themselves in said comments. Though not normally a problem for me, this did happen recently, and I found it troubling mostly in that I think I know the individual's identity (the writing style was extremely similar to someone I used to know) but I have no real way to be certain. Please don't do that; just put your name on it or identify yourself in some other equally clear way. I promise, unless you're unnecessarily mean or vulgar, that I won't delete your comment. Deal?

Monkey Wrench

The other day I posted a sort of break-down of my plan for the remainder of my education here in Arizona. Naturally, one day after I wrote the post my circumstances changed, forcing me to reevaluate that plan. For me to obtain each of my pilot certificates and ratings, I have to take a ground training class as well as go through the necessary flight training. I was supposed to take flight instructor ground training last semester, but it was cancelled due to lack of interest (my interest unfortunately wasn't sufficient to keep the class on the fall schedule). I was assured before Christmas break, though, that ground training would definitely happen this spring. I would finish ground training this spring and work on the flight training this fall, thus enabling me to begin my maintenance training next spring. Here's the wrinkle in that plan: flight instructor ground training just got cancelled again because, just like last semester, I was the only person who registered for it. So now I have a decision to pray about and eventually make. I can either take flight instructor ground training next semester (because, once again, I've been assured they'll definitely run it next semester) along with the requisite flight training. The other option is to just forget about my flight instructor certificate for now, finish instrument and commercial this semester, and start on maintenance next semester, with the possibility of picking up my instructor cert when I'm done becoming a mechanic. The bottom line is that MAF only requires me to have my instrument and commercial. They recommend the flight instructor certificate, but they don't require it. I know which way I'd like to go with this decision, but I don't want to be hasty in making it. I want to really take some time to seek God's will. My plans just don't ever seem to work, and His always do. Anyway, that's the newest update from this tired, dusty corner of the world.

In reply...

Since a Norwegian brother recently posted a comment asking me where I was at in my training, I decided to write a short post about it, for him and for whomever else might be interested. Before I can apply to Mission Aviation Fellowship, I need both pilot certification and maintenance (or mechanic) certification. Cochise College does offer both programs of study, so I'll be able to sort of kill two birds with one stone, but I've been warned that trying to tackle both areas at once can lead to some disastrous consequences. That being the case, I decided to work on my pilot certificates first. As of right now, I've earned my private pilot certificate and I'm working on both my commercial certificate and my instrument rating. The college breaks the commercial certificate into 3 phases. I've already finished phase 1, and will likely finish phases 2 and 3 before summer. I have one instrument cross-country flight and two oral/flight exams to finish, and I'll have my instrument rating. Next fall, I'll be working on my flight instructor certificate. If all goes well, I'll have it by next Christmas, and then I'll start working on the maintenance program, which lasts 15 months. All together, that seems like a really long time to be a student, but I've already been more or less assured that I can be a part-time flight instructor for the college while I work on my maintenance certification. That will enable me to make some money and maybe pay some debt, and also log some addition flight hours before I apply to MAF. And that ain't too bad. So now you know, Anders (and whoever else didn't know but wanted to).

Back By Popular Demand

While we were in Michigan for Christmas, I heard from more than one person that I apparently don't update as often as they'd like. Since my long, miserable fall semester is finally over and done with, I suppose I'm out of excuses for my infrequent posts. So here we go.

Jen and I just got back from Michigan 2 days ago, after having spent 2 weeks with our families. Despite having really looked forward to our trip, I found myself a little disappointed by the experience. I couldn't reach any of my friends, except one, to see if they'd be in town and available for hanging out. I never got a chance to eat a delicious sub from Intermission Deli in Bay City (if you ever get there, try the #18). I spent the entire second week of our trip sick (which severely impaired my ability to sleep at night). I had a really bad eczema flare-up on my left hand while we were in Deckerville (though that did indirectly give me a chance to spend an afternoon with my dad, so it wasn't all bad). And we had a really interesting trip back home, but that really deserves its own paragraph, so...

Our original plan was to spend New Years Eve night in Saginaw with Kara, then leave for Detroit at about 3:00 in the morning to return our rental car and make our 6:50 flight to Chicago. That afternoon, however, we were informed that parts of Michigan, including Detroit, were forecast to get hit with near-blizzard conditions in the night. In order to make life as easy for us as possible, my parents drove with us to Detroit that evening and got us a hotel room a couple miles from the airport, which was a tremendous thing to do. The next morning, we took a shuttle from the hotel to the airport and everything went fine. We got to Chicago with no problems, enjoyed breakfast at McDonald's, and settled in to wait for our flight to Tucson. That's where things started to fall apart. The plane that departed our gate before us got stuck at the gate waiting to be de-iced, which led to our flight boarding about an hour after our original departure time. Then we had to sit on the plane and wait to be de-iced, ourselves. Then we taxied just about all the way to the runway, and our captain came on the comm to inform us we had to taxi back to the gate to let off one of our passengers. When we got back to the gate, two stern-looking older gentlemen boarded the plane and walked to the back. I was in the aisle seat, so I got to see their I.D.s; they were American Airlines officials. They got to the back of the plane and, a moment later, began leading some guy to the door. As the guy started walking, though, he apparently decided he had way too much freedom, so he said, quite loudly, "It's okay. I'm not a terrorist. You folks enjoy your flight. There's no terrorists on this flight." We found out later that the guy had passed out drunk right after boarding, and the flight attendants had been unable to wake him to put his seat back up for takeoff. Had he kept his mouth shut, he probably would have been A-okay. As it is, I'm sure he probably wound up having a spirited chat with the TSA or somebody for his comments. After that, the flight attendants were required by federal regulations to repeat the entire safety demonstration, since the cabin door had been opened. After that, we taxied back to the runway and finally took off-- about 2.5 hours after our original departure time. We made it to Tucson with no further episodes or incidents and the worst seemed to be behind us... until we got to the baggage claim. Two of our bags came through with no problem, and we were waiting for my duffel bag. Suddenly, it came around the corner, but it didn't look right. Jen figured it out before I did, and said, "Your bag's in a bucket." For those who don't know, if your bag is damaged or destroyed in transit, the handlers will helpfully put it in a sort of plastic tub before tossing it onto the conveyor belt, in order to keep your possessions from spilling out. When the tub finally got to where we were waiting, we discovered that the stitches on one end had completely given out, thus exposing the contents of my bag. Fortunately, I'd packed it so tightly that everything was holding together in a miniature wall of laundry and books. Also fortunately, that was the end of our problems on our trip home.

We took a bunch of pictures on our trip, which I'm sure Jen will post in some form before too long. Be sure to look for those. In the meantime, I hope everyone was satisfied by this unnecessarily long post. If I remember, I'll try to post again sometime before February.