Unfortunately for everyone involved, we're not using superior firepowerin Iraq. We're meeting force with force, equal force. If anyone in Washington truly believed in the mantra peace through superior firepower, I raq would be a parking lot right now.

I don't look at it as 'sucking' necessarily since I do have a nice little house and we do have our cars so at least I can manage. Money has never been a 'priority' to me as it is to some people I know... I would rather be happy and have enough to cover the bills if you know what I mean, it's just the 'emergency' type things that crop up which seem to hit us hard and unexpectedly.
As CobraA1 said, I do have options, even if they are very limited. Going back to school is an option for me, but only online. I cannot afford to quit the day job to go to school part time, or even full time. My main reasons for not jumping right into school again is because I REALLY don't know what the hell to take that would be a 'profitable' career choice. Back when I got into automotive it was being touted as the up and coming career field to be in to make decent money. That was a farce as MANY technicians can tell you and over the years the average flat rate wage has actually dropped roughly four to six dollars an hour. This is a definite backslide in the real wages for the field.
So tell me people... what would be a good career choice/education choice. I initially thought that maybe programming would interest me, but some devs and users on here have pretty much assured me this is not the way to go. Any help guys?
Seriously Oz, I am not 'whining' about my financial state, and I would HATE to give TL more fuel for his fire as he already has me labeled as a 'cry baby'...
I just wanted to lend some perspective on the situation in my neck of the woods and trust me... I am not the only person stuck in this position... this is why 'we' call this wage slavery. They have us where they want us!

the CANADIAN GOVERNMENT. Requirments include being unable to speak english and being in this country right off the boat. if you're a white male born and raised no need to apply. might sound racist but those are the facts.

if you've got the brain for it, bio-science is the big thing right now. it's where about all of UCSD's current presige comes from. marketing is always a money maker, if you've got the stomach for it. in general you'll make bank if you get an MBA.

government jobs are sweet. as an entry-level, full-time admin here on campus, i have a stable salary (2,600/month or so, or about 15.50/hour), choice of 7 health plans (my HMO is $4/mo), free dental and vision, and a crapload of other benefits (my legal insurance is about $8/mo, i have 2 life insurance plans plus more options, extended disability options, and multiple retirement fund options). but there's great job security, and most importantly for me, i'm not stuck in a mindlessly repetative position. there are always new positions openning up and lots of opportunity to move up. keep in mind this is in San Diego's economy, but still large universities are like small cities. they typically coordinate almost all their own services internally, from food to electricity in some cases.

as far as education goes, if you're going to improve your mind, go to the best school you can get into. if you're going for a business degree to improve your career, DeVry or University of Phoenix are fine as far as i'm concerned.

Absolutely true. That's the same exact mistake we made in Vietnam.

During Desert Storm operations were planned to maximize our strengths - speed, air support, overwhelming firepower. We just gave those advantages away once we started nation-building in Iraq. We didn't plan well.



I feel the same way. It can become an endless cycle - more money, nicer stuff, bigger bills, need to make more money. You really can't buy happiness.



I can't force myself back to finish my degree. Every time I think about it I give myself a stomach ache.



I was originally going to be a programmer when I was in school 20 years ago. Looking back that would have been a huge mistake. Windows made Cobol and Snobol obsolete ovrnight. Really, the best choice would be to follow something you love to do, but that isn't always feasible either.

Thanks for the tips Dystopic. I'm actually pretty bright (despite my 'childlike' actions in here at times... ) and bio-science seems interesting enough, but it would obviously require a more 'in depth' education than an online service can deliver. I have been in management in the past and would love the opportunity again (both in food service and automotive). I've checked out the University of Phoenix a few times and never really decided to take the plunge but I trust your endorsement of them and will probably dig deeper for some more info. Does DeVry offer online as well and if so, which of the two would you 'recommend'?

Hey Oz, I never saw a reply... did you see the movie 'Waiting' yet?

all the comp sci people i know say you learn way more from futzing around with a computer than you do from taking classes; the degree is really only for show.

Wait, you're a government employee? You're a drain on my tax dollars? Get back to work, you slacker!   

Yes, and it is real life. All the foodies I know think its funny that you all think its funny. That's our world - we live in it. My whole career has been like "Waiting". I couldn't work a normal job anymore.

no problem. i recommended these places for buisness or managerial stuff because they're cheap. the truth is, in my opinion anyway, you can't teach good management. a lot of it is about your personal style. but you need the pieces of paper to move forward. of course there are good principles you can be taught, but most of what you'll value in terms of what you learn during career advancement comes from experience, not books and classes.

as far as online classes and which of the two is better, you're on your own for that one. i'm sure there's info available online. one point of caution: these are not public universities, they're for-profit businesses. they'll try to sell you on a program to make a buck, so treat them with the same suspicion you would a used car salesman (not the teachers, they're just teachers). it'd also be good to look into local community colleges as another alternative (you can get more diverse gen ed classes, if nothing else). and do look into financial aid; it's supposed to be there for anyone trying to go to school who can't afford it completely.

yes, my salary is federally funded, even though my employment is administered through a state agency (the UC). you know, it's a federal offense to hit me.

You don't think I know this world of yours eh? I did my three year 'tour of duty' working as a line/broiler cook for Chi-Chi's... with a head 'chef' by the name of "Mojo". The best time of day was the lunch rush since they offered the 10 minute lunch or it's free... problem with that 'free' part was the waiter/waitress had to pay out of their pocket so if we didn't like the person they would wait... well beyond the 10 minutes of course! Even had a waitress just like the one in the movie, the alcoholic... can't remember her name (movie or real life) but she was portrayed in the movie perfectly.
We did have some GREAT times though, and the dinner rush was always the most exciting as anything could and did happen. The part about closing though, that was all true. For some reason you always had that small group of idiots who just felt the need to walk in five minutes before closing and the damn hostess would actually seat them...

I have this mental picture of the knight with the rubber chicken from Monty Python walking into your office...

Is it still an offense if it is a citizen from another country? No, wait - it's an act of war!



Everyone in this industry has or has had a substance abuse problem. I remember watching cooks get paid on Friday night and sit in the bar (they haven't even left the building!) and drink up their paychecks.



Well, hell, if you can do that, you can do anything! I spent two years as a broiler cook for Bennigan's back in the day. Don't you miss going home smelling like garlic, sweat and smoke?   



I'm addicted to that rush. Every day I come to work, and every day it never goes like I expect. Every day is different. It's never dull!

i never waited tables, but i was a "smoothie technician" for jambajuice while i was finishing college. i'll have to see this movie. Office Space is more the story of my work life. i'm trying to collect the short animations they were based on (Milton by Mike Judge),

No, I miss the burns from the 'fajita skillets' that were always piled oh, I don't know, about ten feet high on top of my broiler. It was a 'skill' to snatch the one from the BOTTOM OF THE PILE, as that was the white hot and ready to go skillet for serving fajitas of course... and then there was the weekend ritual of actually having to climb up inside the hood and clean it out... yummy. If you've never smelled this wonderful odor that emanates from this crud you don't want to, trust me. Oz can probably back that one up.
A quick story from a memorable Friday night... ALL of the cooks, line, cold/hot prep, etc. decided that we were going to drop acid and work. All I can say is I am surprised at how well we did (or did we just think we 'did well'?) considering there were quite a few of us who would suddenly strike up a conversation with our garnishes or utensils during all of this. Our manager was totally baffled as to what was going on with his staff. The best part was the dishwasher though. She was slightly 'retarded' and was working for us through some sort of social program... anyhoo, the breaker box was right next to her wash table and at one point she just started spraying it with the wash nozzle, literally soaking the hell out of it until it began to spark and hiss and smoke. I seem to remember us all running out to the loading docks and just howling over that one as our manager screamed for someone to 'man the lines'! That was a great time.

I'm laughing so hard I'm crying!

I was cleaning the hood filters at Bennigan's one night. In order to reach them we had to stand on the char-grill. On the grates. I had my head in the hood and was trying not to drip that thick, gloppy, brown hood grease (ah, what a smell...) all over myself when I heard a "whoosh" and my feet got warm. I looked down and all I saw was that burning natural gas blue.

My wonderful co-workers thought it would be fun if I could pretend to be a burger, so they lit the broiler while I was on it. Merriment ensued.

On another evening, just before we left at 2:30AM we put an avocado seed in all four of the microwaves on the line and set them to cook for 15 minutes. We clocked out and took off, giggling, into the darkness.

A nuked avocado nut produces an intense cloud of harmless smoke. Try it at home! The closing manager and the dishwashers called the fire department because they thought the building was burning down.

Then there was the time we chained and padlocked the walk-in closed from the inside and crawled out through the reach-thru condiment door...

Ah, the good old days. I hate being a grown-up!

How are we preventing a Civil War may I ask.

The only areas in Iraq that are marginally save are the so called "Green Zones" and even there it is barely secure. That is shown by the recent missle attack on parliment itself.

Or are you buying all the "You can walk down the streets of Baghdad in safety" crap that government officials are feeding over CNN?

And what are we doing now.

Building a wall, oh yes we are. And what is thatt doing? creating more tension. Bravo, are military genius sticks itself in the ass again.

You people who hate Bush just suck. I know he's had some misteps, but that doesn't mean ya have to trash his presidency. I say get the Iraqies on their feet, but we can't have the troops retreating just yet. Do you people want another 911. Because if we retreat now thats what will happen. That's my two cents.

don't spend it all in one place.

all i have to say is, never insult a jambanaut. you might get a free fiber boost. or four.

Hmm, well even with a basic "arts" degree, you should be able to pull in at least $10/hour. I recently graduated from college, and I've already got such a job.



Depends. Are you good at programming? Do you like it? If so, don't let a few setbacks get you down.

It seems to be, however, that the vast majority of programming jobs are database related . Personally, I think databases are rather boring . . .



Yup. Well, there are some things you need to know that are best obtained through classes, but yeah I've learned a lot by myself outside of class.



So true . . .



Okay, not prevent completely, but hopefully we can keep it manageable until Iraq's own government can get a better handle on the situation.



Yeah, and I could accuse you of buying into the MSNBC stuff. I seriously doubt your sources are any more unbiased than mine. This isn't really about our sources of information anyways - most of our disagreements come from different interpretations of the facts; the facts themselves are not in question.



Not as much as we should. Our military is way too content with a stalemate. In addition, the Iraqi government really needs to push harder to put an end to the violence.

... hopefully.

Personally, I do have hope, but trumpetting the horns of war while on a clear course to defeat is not the right thing to do. I recentely raed an article that described the Bush Administration as having cognitive dissonance, which is a type of psychological denial in which even though someone is faced with clear cut evidence of defeat they use that evidence instead to prove that it is a victory.

I mean, what else would you call it when Congress sets asside 20 millino dollars for a party to celebrate victory in Iraq and Afghanastan.



No, I actually am a moderate and try my best to get information from at least three sources and then average them(sort of). I believed that Iraq Green Zones were actually pretty safe, until the attack on Parliment which at the center of the main Green Zone should have been well protected and wasnt.



Well, we are trying and I do support the soldiers there. Maybe not the war, but the soldiers there are doing whatever they can to keep us safe.

The Iraqius on the other hand are starting to build a culture of dependence. Dependence on the fact that US funded companies are rebuilding their cities for them and how the US millitary will still be there for years to come in order to protect them. So why should they try? Big, mighty US will protect them.

Wow, someone actually agreed with me..I'm shocked, Thanks OZ

Back at you Oz! You got me in trouble with this one. Laughing so hard I couldn't even answer the phone with a 'straight voice' and my manager got a little miffed...
Yeah, seems our fellow co-workers take 'pleasure in our misery' now doesn't it? Must be the field!