Chili's...

So, after being hired at Chili's, I gave my two weeks to my other two jobs. I was supposed to train for Chili's the week before I officially started there while working at my other jobs. If that didn't work out the manager would just let me train the week after when I was free. Sounds fine to me right? I have to go to orientation before training can commence. So, on Monday, a week before I am completely free to work Chili's, I head over to some random hotel to have orientation. I can't find the place. I'm driving around going, "Where the hell is it?!" Finally, I realize that they had put down the wrong hotel name on the sheet they gave me. 15 minutes late, I walk in.

As I'm coming in, the woman behind the front desk suddenly says, "Are you here for the Chili's orientation?" I reply with a yes and then she says, "Well, it has been canceled. I'm sorry."

Okay...I think to myself. So I head back home the half-an-hour it took me to get there. Orientation for Chili's is once a week on Mondays. So, I have to wait another week to do it. Alright, no problem, we had talked about this. I will just do it next week.

So I do orientation the next week. It goes smoothly. I am told to call and find out my training schedule after I get out of orientation. I get home and I call the restaurant. They say that I need to come in that Saturday to train. Wow. Five days of no work? Well, I had been working quite a bit at my old jobs, so I will just call this "time off".

I get there Saturday and train. When I finish, I ask to have my training schedule. They say to call later and they will have it ready for me. Okay, will do. I call later that day for it. They say they are training other people and that they couldn't get my in until that next Wednesday or Thursday when the schedule changes and that they will call me about it. I'm a little frustrated, seeing as it will be another week without work, but fine, I guess I can understand.

Wednesday night rolls around. I am at a friend's house at about eight or nine pm and wonder what is going on. Will they call me? Well, I decide to call them. The training manager, Sarah, answers and seems angry that I called to find out, like I should know already when I work. She asks if she can call me back because she has to see if a trainer can come in tomorrow. I get a call back and she wants me in tomorrow. Fine, nothing like short notice for both the trainer and myself. I need to start working ASAP, however, so I go along with it.

The next day, I go to training. Now keep in mind, two weeks have gone by without real work and I'm on day two of five in the training. I get there and train. It has been a good day of training. I got to shadow the trainer, serve, and see how its done. At the end I fail the menu test, however, for which you are only allotted 30 minutes to study. The training manager, Sarah, comes up and starts saying that she has no one to train people and that I screwed up big time and if I don't pass the same test the next day, I am no longer in the training program (fired). If I do pass she will try to slot me in the next day Saturday. I am fuming, but, I keep my mouth shut and go along with it.

Friday, I take the test and pass. When I ask, though, they tell me that I can't train again until Monday. This is getting ridiculous but fine.

Monday rolls around. I go there to train and they let me study for 30 minutes for the next menu test I will be taking right away. I study, I fail. I'm sorry, but I cannot memorize every ingredient and preparation method in 30 minutes. Since I fail, they send me home with instructions to come back tomorrow to take the test again. If I pass I go on to train (they never said when). If I fail, I'm fired.

This is ridiculous. The next day, I call the general manager, James. I go and meet him there and tell him the whole story. I also lay out that he had promised me that I would be trained as soon as possible so that I wouldn't lose money. I outline the fact that I feel like I'm being dicked around and also this entire time I have never seen a training schedule or know who I am training with. He apologizes many times saying he had no idea and that someone who had been hired way after me was already on day four. He also said he was very angry and someone would be hearing about this. I think he was happier that I didn't just go to corporate with it. Anyhow, he said that it was up to me whether or not I wanted to work there because I told him that I was disenchanted with the job. If I did, he said he would get me a schedule that day. I went home to think.

After a couple hours of thought, I couldn't get passed the fact that the environment would be awkward in some way. So, I called him up and quit.

That was yesterday. Today, I wonder what I am going to do for a job. I have been in this apartment for about four months and I haven't been able to pay a month's rent. My parents are floating us through this which is unfair to them and makes me very angry. I haven't been able to save money since I lost my job at Brain Snacks (a small bookstore) last November. I don't want to be rich. I just want to be stable and have some saving money so that we can be alright here.

Panic...

Full Metal Panic. If you are a Mecha enthusiast (like me) you will love this show. Even if you are not though, it has a great mix of comedy, drama, and down-right-in-your-face-'mechs-with-shotguns-knives-and-machine-guns-blowing-up-helicopters-and -tanks action. The characters all rock and really make this show what it is. Bottom line: its just a good show, watch it now! You heard me.

Box O' mags...

These are pretty cool. They are made by STAR airsoft. You can buy a box of magazines for only $40. Granted they are plastic and only hold 30 rounds, but I would rather have mags that are cheap and wouldn't have to worry about breaking. Plus, being the "everything must be close to the real thing" guy I am, I like the 30 rounds. I think this would be the way I would go with maybe a 300 round high-capacity magazine on me just in-case.

I SAW it...

Yep. At the airsoft store last week, I got to hold and touch the new CA249. It was gorgeous. It is an exact replica of the M249 SAW and it is heavy. The whole thing is metal. The bipod folds up into the handguard and, if you pull on it, it will spring out to the extended position for quick use. It weighs in at about 15lbs and you feel it. It was hefty, I would not want to lug it around a battlefield. My hat is off to the guy who carries the real ones for his squad. You can use the M16/M4 magazines but the best is the self-winding box magazine that holds 2400 rounds. The rate of fire, according to the forums on Arnie's Airsoft, is amazing. The thing is a beast. And it ought to be considering it is $900+. I don't know that I could pay that much for one weapon, but at least I got to hold it. Heh.

Tears...

It has been out for awhile, but, if you haven't seen it, go rent Tears of the Sun. It stars Bruce Willis as a U.S. Navy SEAL lieutenant. He and his team are sent in to extract Dr. Lena Kendricks (Monica Bellucci) from Africa. During the mission he ends up questioning his morality. Freaking awesome movie! My favorite live-action movie really. The plot isn't too deep, but that is because the movie focuses on the characters and how they interact. It is rather gory and graphic but the director didn't want to falsely represent what is going on in Africa. Check it out.

Black beauties...

Just wanted to throw up the pictures of the 2 airsoft weapons that I have been reading about and considering for the last 7 months. Its easy to make a well informed and smart decision when you have so much time to think about it. When I do get one (yeah right, I should get a clue) I will post a pic of mine.

New links...

Just wanted to give the heads-up on the new links I threw up. Both are accounts from G.I.s of their experience in the field. The first one, Armor Geddon, is hilarious though. He writes about some funny stuff happening in the armed forces. The second, by Michael Yon, is a lot more serious. Its more of a "news" reporting blog. Both are excellent reads. Check 'em out.

Incoming!!!

I had to post this. This screenshot embodies a lot of what Battlefield 2 is. Look closely. Where's Waldo? Heh.

Layla..

No, not the song. We just got our poodle puppy last Saturday. We named her Layla. She is very smart and catching on rather quickly. She is already spoiled. She doesn't like to be left alone and cries when she is. She woke up the other day and practically jumped out of her skin when she didn't know where she was. She is pretty funny. It is nice having a dog around again (even if it is a poodle j/k). I'm going to try and get a pic up when I can. That is mostly what I was waiting for to post about her. But, what the heck. I can post twice right? Might as well with how much this blog gets updated. ;)

Plus...

Boys and girls, I give you the YF-19. It was one of two prototypes that the movie Macross Plus was about. I originally didn't like the movie. At the time I was looking for heavy mecha battles and space wars. I has only a little bit of that. Its more about two test pilots and their lives up until that point. And so, after my purchase, I was initially disipointed. Recently, however, I watched it again and loved every second. I was moved and found a deeper meaning in it. Therefore, I now say it is well done and well thought out. It is showing its date now, but if you can get around that, it is a good flick. Check it out.

Oh wow...

I was on one of my favorite Battlefield 2 sites, and found this page. Check out all these mods. Mech Tactical Simulation? Battlefield: Apocalypse? Verge of Armageddon (command & conquer based)? Rise of Kobol (battlestar galactica)? The list goes on and excites me. The best part is that EA is encouraging them and giving them some support. Very cool.

Awesome...

spec ops

Sorry, but I couldn't resist posting a pic of my favorite class, the Special Forces. I love it. Alright, I'll stop now. No more Battlefield 2 pics...for now.

Space, the new RPG...

Awhile back, Cobalt's posting about Space Operas got me all excited about them. So, I started running the Robotech RPG. I stuck the players on a battleship, the S.S. Hayes, as mecha pilots. The Hayes and another ship were escorting the new colony ship dubbed SDF-Hope on a mission to spread humanity out among the stars for greater survivability. Mid-space-jump though, all 3 ships jump-drives were attacked by anti-united government forces. The only surviving ship was the S.S. Hayes because its jump-drive didn't get destroyed until after it came out of the jump. What's worse is all 3 ships had their jump co-ordinates changed just before the jump, so the Hayes has no idea where it is. I have them stuck out in space, near a desert planet home to an Invid (evil alien race) hive. I have run 3 sessions and so far it has been awesome. Thanks Cobalt!

Ahhh, my baby...

cobra

Now that I have actually figured out how to fly this baby, I am rocking the tanks with it. I just keep hovering in low and letting 'em have it. No more tank. Thank goodness for the Cobra.

Oh boy...

Goodness me, I haven't posted here in so long. I would like to share why. As my last post said, I fixed my Dell. I was suddenly then taken over by Counter-Strike: Source. I love that game. But now there is a new problem, Battlefield 2. A game that I know Cobalt has been dreaming about since he was born. A game where one can pilot helicopters, tanks, a.p.c.'s, dune buggies, and jets. What’s more, you can be all kinds of different soldiers from medics to special forces. My favorite is jumping out of Blackhawks and parachuting behind enemy lines. The best part? The maps online are huge with 64 players. Its so good its ridiculous.

As for what is really going on, last Thursday I gave my 2 weeks to Jewel and COD (my jobs up until this point) because I am going to work full-time as a waiter at Chili's. I never wanted to be a waiter, but apparently the money rocks, which excites me.

My girlfriend and I are getting a dog on the 12th or 13th. Its a poodle puppy. She is allergic to anything else really, so there is no other choice. All that aside though, it will be damn smart which is always a plus. We went and saw the puppies again last weekend, they were all really cute. Suddenly, I feel like we are becoming our own li'l family.

Alright, enough of the mushy stuff. So BF2, you can blow all this shit up with C4 when you are the special forces. I love running up to tanks, planting C4 on 'em, and hitting the detonator. Say good night!

More posts soon.