Jack's got a new job...

Friday, April 26, 2013

Jackie is going through the same thing his dad and older brother did as he approaches the end of his high school career…what am I  going to do now?

I went to Cleveland State and started taking History courses because I liked it so much in high school.  Career?  We don’t need no stinking career.  I never knew where I was going or what I was doing with it and I had no help from an advisor in high school or college.  Jason took a semester at Cuyahoga Community College when he graduated, but college was not destined to be his thing and he now has a fine career with the City of Beachwood.

Jack is unsure what his next move should be.  He knows he wants to go to college, but is uncertain about what to pursue.  He’s been working for the past two years in a pizza shop, learning that he doesn’t want to work in a pizza shop…and little else.  He’s a very dedicated worker though; I don’t think he’s missed five minutes in those two years.  I told him I’d check with my former employer, Libra Industries, and see if they’d be willing to put him on for the summer to see how he liked manufacturing.

“Do you think they’d hire me?” he asked.

“Savannah worked there and they loved her.  I’ll put in a good word because I know you won’t disappoint me.  We’ll see what happens,” I said.

We reworked his resume and sent it off.  Two days later, he had an interview scheduled for today.  I drove him there and he went in and nailed the interview and will be working there as soon as school lets out.

I spoke to the owner, and old high school chum, discussing the lack of training for kids coming out of high school for manufacturing jobs.  He has organized other manufacturers and they are sponsoring different high schools, working with the student body to create robots for a end-of-year fight off competition.  The students work with the sponsoring manufacturer, having a chance to work with engineers in the design phase through prototype and final product.  The goal?  Get kids excited about manufacturing again.  I don’t care if Jackie goes into manufacturing, I just want him to experience different things and find out, at least, what he doesn’t like.

I went to the park afterwards and pushed hard through a 23-station Survival Workout.  It left my arms shaking as I climbed back into the car; a feeling I really enjoy because I know I did what I was supposed to do…bust my own ass.  Tomorrow’s weather is supposed to be perfect, sunny and in the sixties, and I’m hoping to put in some long hours at Mimi’s before hopping on the bike for a decent ride.  I need to get the legs working again.  I don’t want anymore repeats of that last cramping ride.  I plan to experiment with a supplement in one of my water bottles to try and replace the electrolytes I lose so quickly when I’m breaking sweat records.

Survival Workout:  60 minutes.

Training Heart Rate:  100-150 bpm.

Calories burned:  600.