One year already
Posted: 11 August 2004 at 03:22:42
You know, a visit to engrish.com is guaranteed to cheer me up. Couple good new ones this week.
Eli’s #1
Monday was Eli’s first birthday. We had a small family and friends get-together with my parents, Christine’s parents, our neighbor Mandy and her son Jack, and Jennie. Christine’s lovely sister Laura and her hubby Jeremy came too. We’re not sure why... but we’re glad. ;-)
Eli had a blast. Christine made a delicious cake I wouldn’t mind her making a couple times a month (or more frequently, even). Eli got lots of clothes and a few cool toys. Maya and Lucy really liked the John Deere utility ATV thing he got. It vibrates, makes engine sounds, and plays some workin-hard country music.
Eli’ll grow out of it. I did.
The country music.
oscilations
As I mentioned in the last Fozzolog entry, my moods have been a bit on the downside yesterday. Today was probably the worst in months. Fortunately, I got out of the funk I was in and was able to do some work on the sprinkler system in the front yard and head to Home Depot with the family to do some shopping. We stopped at McDonalds on the way back.
Christine has been very good to me. She has to put up with lots of bullsh*t from me when I get into a down mood. I pity anyone who has to deal with me when I’m in such a funk.
I’ve been thinking maybe I married the right girl.
We’re coming up on TEN YEARS this year. Wow.
Right now, I’m feeling the best I’ve felt in several days. Despite being in a funky mood most of the day, I learned a little about myself and some ways of dealing better with these funky episodes. So, I’m feeling a lot more confident now.
ITT Technical Institute
I interviewed for a part time teaching job at ITT Tech last week. The interview went fine. They asked me to come back this week for a teaching demonstration where I would present a topic for about 15 minutes so the staff could gauge my ability to teach.
I e-mailed the associate dean I interviewed with and told her I had decided to withdraw my application. Here’s why: When I interviewed with her, she asked me about my certifications. I told her I didn’t have any and have never been required to have any. I mentioned that, in several instances, I’ve taught courses for other schools and training companies that were preparatory for certification exams like the CNE and the RHCE.
From what I was able to gather, if they hired me, I would start at the very lowest pay bracket because I only have a bachelor degree and no certifications to go along with it. She told me even an A+ certification would go a long way to bumping my pay up.
I thought about this over the weekend and it irked me more as I thought about it. Talk about inflexible policies! Shouldn’t they pay their instructors based on experience and performance? Certification seems to me to be a poor guideline for pay— especially when I consider the people I know who hold certifications like A+ and MCSE. They don’t know that much. In some cases, I know a lot more than them about PC architecture and Microsoft operating systems and networking.
These certifications don’t represent any real retention of knowledge about the respective topics nor does it represent any superior ability to convey that knowledge to others in a teaching environment.
Even the skills required for the RHCE— which I admire and would gladly get if someone gave me $1000 or so to take the exam— can be crammed for and forgotten promptly once the exam is over.