TGIF!!!!!!!!

Well,I'm back in the civilian workforce(ugh,I miss being a soldier ),and I'm putting out feelers for different jobs-in the meantime,I'm working out of a temporary employment agency in Green Bay-Labor Ready,to be precise.For those of you unfamiliar with Labor Ready,the way it works is,you get dispatched on daily assignments,whereever you're needed,and recieve your pay daily.You can work as many or as few days each week as you like,so its very flexible- i LIKE IT.Its keeping some cash coming in,while I look for something more solid,and still allows me time to look around-plus,I'm doing a variety of different jobs,so I'm not going out of my skull with boredom.It has'nt been bad-so far,I've worked at a paper products warehouse,at Lambeau Field cleaning up after last sunday's Packer game,and at the Resch center,which is Green Bay's local sports complex/concert hall/arena-thats a fairly steady gig,and the on site foreman likes me(go figure.....)I enjoy working out of labor ready,and have been meeting some interesting folks.The guys who work out of there run the gamut of everything from young kids just getting started in the workforce,to guys who've been laid off or fired and are just trying to keep going,to students going through the local colege,to winos from our local version of skid row(what passes for skid row in Green Bay is'nt very impressive compared to some I've seen) I'm trying to get the story on some of these guys,without being TOO nosy-some of them will volunteer info,others are more reticent-but I have had some interesting exchanges with a few of them.I have to feel sorry for some of these guys-in spite of their best efforts,they're living on the economic margins-but,I've been there as well.As you may know,I left the active duty side of the army in early 1992,and transitioned to the national guard.Well,after the kids were born in the early 90s,we had some ,uh,INTERESTING economic times......I hopped a lot of different jobs,got fired from a few,had cars break down on me where I could'nt make it to work-lots of things come up in life,so I'm not judging these guys for a SECOND-I've definitely been there,and now that the kids are older,and I've got my pension,things are relatively prosperous for us.I've seen guys that are living below even the low standards I was accustomed to back in our broke days-walking,or riding a bike to work,as they can't afford a car ,or rolling their own smokes to save a few bucks-one guy had come to Green Bay,hoping to find a days work-and had less than a buck left in his pocket,and fumes in his gas tank -he HAD to get a days work.Well,we did our nights work,and the agency was'nt open for another hour,to get our checks for the day-he asked if I could spot him a buck to get a cup of coffee at the gas station,while we were waiting-I gave it to him,and he paid me back an hour or so later.Overall,these guys are'nt bad-just honest working folk,trying to make a living,just as we all do-just hope that some of these guys can catch a break.But as I told some of them,I've worked out of Labor ready in the past,and after working through them,was hired on through the job site-once,at a factory in Algoma,WI,making toilet seats-a very good job-I was clearing around 600 clams a week there,once I got hired on-and another job,in Grand Rapids,MI-at a trucking company,working on the docks unloading trucks-I then became the supervisor,as I was the only one who could speak passable english,and communicate with the drivers(actually,the company is based out of Wisconsin,so I may just ask THEM for a job).Anyway,just because someone works out of Labor Ready does'nt mean they're the scum of earth,simply because they don't have a "regular" job.Anyway,working there is kinda interesting,and I'm having a fairly good time at the job sites,and meeting some "characters"-but I've always LIKED characters-and try to be one MESELF

Even if you do learn to speak correct English, whom are you going to speak it to?

Clarence Darrow

Well,I'm officially back online now-they came and hooked up our phone and internet,(after repairing some ancient phone lines that were here)-my first army pension check hit my account yesterday -and things are going relatively well for us here.As noted in a previous post,we're in the process of buying a house here-we went to the bank the other day,and got it initiated with the loan officer.We 're waiting on a rep from the VA to come inspect the house before the bank can approve the loan,but everything looks like it'll go through ok.I've been putting in applications around here for jobs-applied to the post office,and I'm applying to the Wisconsin department of corrections today,as well as applying for other state jobs.I'm working through a temp agency down in Green Bay(more on that later) and just trying to get fully transitioned back to civilian life,and being back home in Wisconsin.The only hard part right now is acclimating back to the cold-we had our first snow here last night-not much,but plenty more to follow,I'm sure.....

We're finally getting things straightened out here-pretty well settled into our "new" house-(ok,this house was new around the time of the Coolidge administration),but its ours-kinda-waiting on the VA loan,and occupying the bottom half of a duplex in Clintonville,WI(god,we HAVE to change the town's NAME....)-anyway,once the loan goes through,we'll have ALL of the house-which is'nt really a bad house at all-but it will require a LOT of de ugly-ification before its a NICE house.But its spacious enough,once we fully occupy it-4 bedrooms,2 bathrooms,2 kitchens,2 living rooms,full basement and a garage-and we got a pretty good deal on it.The real estate market here in Clintonville has been in the crapper for years now,so its a buyers market-we're getting the place for only $42,000-can't beat that with a stick.Of course,with fixing it up,and doing some renovations we want,that'll cost enough,but at least its cheap INITIALLY.Anyway,we're reasonably settled in,and our phone gets turned on sometime monday,and our internet gets turned on wednesday,so,I'll be back on more regularly after that.Been itching to write stuff about everything under the sun,but my puter time at the public library is limited-but after we're hooked up on wednesday,you'll see more of me on here.