In today’s world where everything is becoming computerized, it’s no wonder that colleges are pushing the IT related courses of study. Computer networking, A++ certification, Cisco certification, you name it they’re pushing it. It’s a fast growing industry and one that doesn’t look like it’ll be going away any time soon. After all, the more computers a business uses the more IT people it needs to keep up with the demand. To be honest, the place I work at really should have more IT people - after all, we can barely get our computers fixed promptly. My co-worker has been sitting for a week without his normal computer because our IT guys are stretched to their limits!

Cisco certification is definitely one of the best ways to go about getting into the IT field. A lot of IT jobs require it, so getting it is a great idea. It can really change your life. You want have to deal with hearing that you’re not qualified for an IT job because you don’t have it. You can add it to your resume as a professional skill and professional certification. We all know what jewels like that can do for you - you can get better positions, better wages, etc. So it’s a definite good thing to have.

Myself, I’m wanting to go to college next semester for IT/Networking and one of the things I am definitely going to look into is Cisco certification. From what I’m seeing, The Cisco Learning Network will be a great place to start, whether to learn the Cisco stuff before I go to school, or to take it after I leave school because my training at college didn’t cover it. The site gives you all the requirements, plus has forums to discuss with other people about the certifications. All in all, this is a very good thing.

Every have one of those days where everything, including blogging, has lost it’s appeal? I don’t feel like blogging, I don’t feel like crocheting, I don’t want to cross stitch, I don’t want to watch movies, I don’t want to read. I don’t want to do anything. Maybe it’s because my stomach hurts for no apparent reason. It feels like a gallbladder attack, with one slight problem. I don’t have one. I haven’t had one for 11 years now. So who knows? Maybe I’m just not in the mood for anything and my body is trying to give me a real reason not to do anything. LOL

Last night my friends and I went to a local place called Johnnie Mars. That place is so awesome! It’s “down home” cooking and it’s good prices too. My friends both got the grilled chicken dinner which was chicken, choice of potato, salad bar, cup of soup, and dinner roll. I got the ribeye dinner which was steak, choice of potato, salad bar, cup of soup, and dinner roll. We also got an order of cheddar cheese balls and each got a slice of pie. We walked out of there for about $43, stuffed to the gills. We paid less there than at Perkins the night before, and we were still hungry after we left Perkins.

Perkins pissed us off though. We left Perkins at 11PM. At 5:30AM (yes, 5:30AM) we got a call from Perkins saying that the check we’d written did not have sufficient funds to cover it in our bank. Problem number 1 - they don’t use the same bank we do, and our bank does NOT have 24 hour service, so how could they find that out. Problem number 2 - when we went to the bank at about 1PM, there was more than enough money in the bank to cover the check and no deposits had been made to the account for over a week. So explain to me how it is that Perkins called us, asked for my friend by name, and stated that there wasn’t enough to cover the check in the bank at 5:30AM the same day? We think they changed the amount the check was written for. My friend is going to be checking with the bank in a couple of days to see if the check cleared and for how much. It wasn’t written in a way that it could have been changed on the check, but we think they at least tried to change it.

As a result, we’re not going back there. You see, this is the second time that a member of the wait staff or management has offered to take our payment to the register for us and the second time that something bad has happened as a result of that. Frankly, we’re tired of it. Last time we lost $10 cash to them because they swear we gave them $50, not $60 to pay our bill. We gave them 3 $20 bills. So yeah, we gave them $60 and they gave us $5 change for a $45 bill. So someone got a $10 tip that we weren’t intending to give them. Now this crap with the check. Frankly, I think it’s a bunch of bullshit and I think it’s simply a matter of trying to “force” us to leave tips.

You see, we base what tips we leave on how the service is. If the place isn’t busy and we’re being ignored (needing refills on drinks, waiting forever to just order our food, waiting forever for our check, etc) we won’t leave a tip. We’ll reduce the tip if the wait person comes over 5 minutes after bringing our food and asking about dessert. Here’s a clue - asking about dessert should be left until everyone, and I do mean everyone at the table has finished their main meal. Nine times out of ten, we are getting asked about dessert before we even get half of our dinners down. Not cool. Another no-no - leaving the check before asking about dessert. We shouldn’t have to tell you we want dessert because you’re leaving the check.

A lot of people say that it’s wrong to leave a small tip. Let me tell you something. The way a lot of wait staff treat people is why they don’t get tips. If the waitress is good, she’ll get a decent tip. If she’s ok, she’ll get a smaller tip. If she’s just horrible, no tip. Tips are a reward for properly caring for your customers. They are NOT mandatory and nor should they be. If a restaurant automatically adds the tip to the check, I don’t eat there. Only the patron should have the right to decide what the tip is and if it should be given or not. End of story.

Just wanted to make it clear to everyone, the money on the donation button is in fact going to be going for college. It is not going to go for computer items, groceries, Orlando vacations, or anything else other than college. If nothing else, if I can swing the payments for tuition, it will go for my books. I don’t plan on it going for anything else, and in fact, I plan on attaching a savings account to my PayPal account that the money from the donations goes into so that I can keep track of it.

I’m seriously ready for a change in my life. I’m not happy in my current job, I’m not happy with my current situation. It’s really time for me to go back to school, get a degree and make something more of myself. I mean, yeah, I love the benefit of free Sirius radio since I work for them, but to be honest, I just can’t see myself working there the rest of my life, even if the call center does stay open that long. It’s just not for me. Yeah, it’s definitely time to work on changing my life for the better. And college, when I get there, is my first step.

Yes that is a donate button over there. It’s for the college fund. A friend suggested I put one on my blogs and see what happens. I don’t expect anyone to donate money, so if you don’t want to, don’t worry about it. I’m not gonna cry or get ticked off about it.

Michaels has become a dangerous place. There is way too much stuff I want there. Yarn, jewelry making stuff (which I want to try) and new stuff for making soaps and candles. Oh, I’d love to have a great big gift card for Michaels just so I could go craft shopping! I love to shop in craft stores. It’s so much fun.

In any case, I have 2 afghans and a shawl in progress right now. One afghan I have part of the way done, I just need to do 32 more squares for it and then put it together and do the edging. The other afghan is worked all in one piece and I’m a little under half way done with it. It’s a really neat one too. I’ll take pics of both when they’re finished as well as the shawl. But you’ll have to visit my crochet blog to see them. The pics of the first shawl I finished are there already.

I am so not wanting to go to work tomorrow. I just really don’t want to go. Oh well, I just have to remind myself - work 2 days, get a day off.