Below are the 20 most recent journal entries recorded in bernstorf11711's LiveJournal:

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Friday, December 28th, 2007
8:36 am	I can't stop laughing at this.... (Comment on this)
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
8:47 pm	Sigh (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Wednesday, September 19th, 2007
9:27 pm	The summer has absolutely flown by this year. The job is going very, very slowly.  Too slowly.  While I have been given projects, most of them are stagnant, waiting on other people to do their jobs.  Most of my department is gone this week, so I think I'll push the issue next week.  Other than the slow pace of my on the job training, I've been traveling a lot.  Kansas City, Atlanta, Orlando, and that's just in the past month.  I just found out today that I'm going to Augusta, GA next Month, and as a result, will not be able to attend band alumni weekend. Also, nothing really new on the housing front.  I'm hoping that I can take possession by the end of October but we'll see.  I've just been an transient for the last couple of months, waiting until I can move in.  And it can't come soon enough. Just understand that since Memorial Day, pretty much every work day goes in this order: go to work, come back from work, go to look at the progress of my folks' new house, come back here and crash.  Day in and day out, of course that's when I'm not traveling for my job.  It's gotten so monotonous lately that I realized today  I hadn't turned on my cell phone in 10 days! ok, time to stop blabbering and go to bed... Current Mood: blah (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Monday, August 6th, 2007
7:11 pm	This is outstanding. (Comment on this)
Friday, May 25th, 2007
4:34 pm	The Ridge Tool Era is Over!! I'm done. After a week and a half of scrambling to organize my projects and cleaning up loose ends, I am officially no longer an employee of the Ridge Tool Company.  As I walked out the building at 11am, I felt the sun on my face, closed my eyes and felt free. I'm going to enjoy this weekend as much as I can, and then head off to Firestone on Tuesday morning. I need to start thinking about  new living arrangements.  Apartment?  House?  Right now, I have no idea. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, April 20th, 2004
8:12 pm	Another day, another dollar. Actually, work isn't that bad. They've been keeping me quite busy. I've been working on one project basically the entire time, and it is looking like it will last at least another three weeks if not more. Also, I went to product training yesterday and today. In short, I got to play with big expensive tools!!!! Today was especially interesting because I was able to work with threading machines, which is my group. I threaded all the way from a 4" pipe with a 300 lb threading machine all the way down to a 1/2" pipe with a tiny, little 60lb machine (LEETLE!!) GAHHHH!! Anyway, things are going pretty well. I was able to go camping last weekend with the local Boy Scout Troop, and that was fun as hell. I hadn't been camping in over 4 years!!! Can't wait to go down to UD in a week and a half and see a lot of good people graduate. Just one question for them: Has it hit you yet??? Has it? Just wait till your house/appartment is all empty except for you cleaning out your desk!! Alright, time's up!!! Time to make like a WMD and never exist...errrr or be buried somewhere in a vast desert... or be smuggled to Sudan, depending on your beliefs. (Comment on this)
Sunday, April 11th, 2004
9:31 pm	rambles, rambles, rambles Well, the first week at Ridge Tool went pretty well (yes, I finally accepted an offer from them). However, it feels kinda strange. For the first time, my life isn't going to have some nice checkpoint. You know, "only 2 more years and I'll be done with junior high", or "only a few more weeks in this shit-hole co-op job". Now, I don't have that. Well, I do...kinda. I can say, "Wow, only 36 and a half more years before I can take stuff out of my 401(k) and possibly retire, which is of course contingient on me having enough money to retire on." It is kinda scary. I really hope I can get into this job, because it is the only thing I'm going to have to latch on to. So the plan is this: I'm going to live with my parents for a month or two, see how much I REALLY make after benfits kick in and the government ass-rapes me on taxes. Then move up near Elyria and sock away as much money as humanly possible. Once I get my own place, I need to get out. NEED TO GET OUT! Because if I don't, the only thing I can look forward to is a colonoscopy at age 50 to find out if I get early retirement due to cancer. Ok, no more apprehensive thoughts. HAPPY!! HAPPY!! HAPPY thoughts!!! Time for bed because 5am seems to come earlier and earlier each day. Current Mood: okay (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Thursday, March 25th, 2004
11:09 pm	grrrrr *WARNING...WARNING...RANT ALERT!!!* Well, I guess my celebration on getting an offer was premature. Ridge Tool called me back today with the offer. I'm not going to give out any specific number, but it was shitty. Real shitty. I told them that I would consider it and call them back tomorrow. According to one website, what they offered me is in the 10th percentile of what starting mechanical engineers get in Elyria, OH. Oh, I know that the economy sucks, but you might as well start looking in India from the get-go if your going to make that kind of an offer. This is the closest I've ever felt like a pro athelete. I now know the slap-in-the-face feeling when one gets low-balled even though you should be lucky to make any money at all. I'm not like Tim Couch, who is currently one of the top paid quarterbacks in the NFL and has Arena League stats. I graduated mother-summa-cum-fucking-laude, and all I ask is to be offered a wage which is consistent with those offered to average mechanical engineering graduates. I refuse to get fucked over again like with my co-op. I'm sick of being such a pushover that it makes Neville Chamberlain look like an cameo from Jenghiz Khan on The Apprentice. I realize that when I take a job, I'm going to be working A LOT. It'll be the only thing to do. I'd like it to be interesting, challenging, and respectable. And I know if I take this pathetic offer, I'm not going to be working my best. I'm going to be thinking of how I got fucked over again. NOTE TO POTENTIAL EMPLOYEERS: I WILL WORK HARD FOR YOU!!!! Because frankly, spending Saturday night alone watching the FOOD Channel makes working long hours at an interesting job look like a cocain binge with Paris Hilton. AUUGGGHH!!! *sigh* I'm going to make Ridge Tool a counter offer: one that is reasonable. And I will explain in detail WITH SOURCES why this counter offer is reasonable. And if they don't like it, they can all go to hell. And good luck to them trying to find a tool that will accept their "offer". If they don't bite on this counter offer, I'm going to grad school. I know I've said it before, but this time I mean it. I'm sick of trying to prove myself to be a valuable human being to these assholes. I have the undergrad grades to get into a grad school, and I have the money to pay for it just in case. They reject this counter offer, and I'm going to show these philistines what "qualified" is all about. Current Mood: pissed off Current Music: A DJ mix of the new Beonce' single and ODB that's all in my head. (Comment on this)
Friday, March 19th, 2004
4:00 pm	I landed a job!!! It only took three months!!! Today, I received a call from Ridge Tool in Elyria, and they've decided to extend me an offer. I'll get the offer by early next week, and I'll be working by early April at the latest. Damn, does this feel good. Damn, am I relieved. Damn, I need a drink. Anywho, I'm really feeling positive right now. But I think I'll need my manufacturing and processes book which Baddorf still has. Which means I think I'll have to make another trip down to UD (Spring Fling anyone??). I know that I've just traded a bunch of concerns for other concerns like finding an appartment, getting a car, finding a gym in the area of said appartment, getting phone service, blah blah blah blah blah blah. From my experience through school, co-op, talking with my parents, and reading Dilbert cartoons, Iut I've never felt know that this will be a lot of hard work and won't be all peaches 'n cream; b so good about being part of the system. Oh and this is interesting, too. You are Rerun! Which Peanuts Character are You? brought to you by Quizilla Current Mood: ecstatic (2 Comments |Comment on this)
Wednesday, March 10th, 2004
8:02 pm	"They got a pepper bar!!!"....sorry...hillarious (Comment on this)
8:00 pm	Well, I think my second interview with Ridge Tool went pretty well. However, that doesn't mean much. I need a job, damnit. I'm bored too, so if anybody from UD wants to visit me during spring break, that'd be cool. Because jumpin' jahosaphat yeahaa it is really realllllly boring up here. Btw, sucks to be the FPB right now. I'll be up if anyone wants to share a cup of virtual joe. Or as Clops likes to put it, RFC. Current Mood: anxious Current Music: Save Me- Dave Matthews (Comment on this)
Tuesday, March 9th, 2004
9:42 pm	The Couch era is over!!! The Browns signed Jeff Garcia, and I'm really excited for them next season. I listened to the press conference, and it seems like Garcia is a really down-to-earth person and a leader. Being a 3-time Pro Bowler doesn't hurt either!! (Comment on this)
Monday, March 8th, 2004
9:10 pm	I agree with lori...all kinds of strange You are water. You're not really organic; you're neither acidic nor basic, yet you're an acid and a base at the same time. You're strong willed and opinionated, but relaxed and ready to flow. So while you often seem worthless, without you, everything would just not work. People should definitely drink more of you every day. Which Biological Molecule Are You? brought to you by Quizilla (Comment on this)
Sunday, March 7th, 2004
9:08 pm	Another Week Ahead Well, it seems as if Ridge Tool liked me. They called me back on Friday to schedule another interview for this upcoming Wednesday. This is the first time that anyone has asked me back twice. So, this could be a good thing. (Comment on this)
Thursday, March 4th, 2004
2:05 pm	Update It has been almost a month since I've updated this. The job search is still going slowly. I was at UD last week for an interview at a company called Solid Insight. I was perfectly qualified for the position, but I didn't really like it since it didn't involve any engineering whatsoever. But later that day I was able to chill with my former housemates at the Hills and see a few other people since it was also my birthday. I'm old! I'm just too.....OLD!!! Anyway, it was the first time I had stayed up past midnight in a long while. Before going home the next day, I visited the job fair at UD. Boy, was that a waste of time. I seriously don't think the companies there even try. They just collect your resume or tell you to go to a website or tell that they're not hiring full time. It's been a week since that, and I've already had another interview at a company called Ridge Tool. They make pipe tools. The position sounds really interesting, but I'm not sure if I did well. Bah...oh well. In other news, I went out and got a laptop. I've been playing with it ceaslessly trying to set it up. But it's pretty cool considering we just got Road Runner and set up a Wi-Fi network. Still going kinda crazy here even though last week did me some good. (Comment on this)
Friday, February 13th, 2004
4:42 pm	Another Interview, Another Rejection Went to Jackson, MS on Monday. The interview went well. But they decided that I wasn't the right candidate for the position. Damn, this sucks. Oh, well. Happy Valentines Day. (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, February 3rd, 2004
3:28 pm	Hello Out There *Knock, Knock, Knock*…Anybody home??? I know it has been about two and a half years since I’ve posted to this thing. But better late than never, as they say (whoever ‘they’ are). Anyway, I’ve decided to start posting again because 1) It’ll help me keep in touch with people, and 2) I can tell all the new people I meet that I was in a coma for two and a half years after being mauled by a rabid-flesh-eating koala bear, hence the gap in my journal. But seriously, things have been very different since I moved back to Wadsworth, OH. First of all, IT IS BORING AS FUCK HERE!!!! While I have some friends still residing in the area, I’ve seen very few of them. They have their own lives. During Christmas break (which I don’t really have anymore), I installed five solid oak six-panel doors along with the door casing, baseboard trim, and doorknobs. I have a real respect for carpenters now. Other than that, I’ve read six or seven novels, which is really good for me considering I didn’t read books much during high school. I’ve also been helping out with the local Boy Scout troop. My main concern right now is trying to get a job. I’ve posted my resume` on all sorts of internet job sites as well as emailing/mailing my resume to other companies. I’ve heard from a few headhunters, but they are mostly useless. The usual rejection reason is that they are looking for someone with more experience. I mean, I’ve graduated Summa Cum Laude from an ABET accredited school with a degree in engineering, so I couldn’t possibly have the ability to learn much less progress into an extremely valuable asset (not employee, asset). Trust me, I’m not that bitter during my interviews, which brings me to current events. I recently had a job interview in Sidney, OH for a company called Sankyo America. The place was TINY. The whole building is only 30,000 square feet and currently has only 20 employees. Though the interview went well, I didn’t get a good aura from the place. It gave me the heebly jeeblies. Though I expect that they are only interviewing me so that they can claim to have interviewed a “diverse” field only to bring some guy over from Japan, who admittedly probably has more experience than I do in their industry. But the trip wasn’t a complete loss. I went down to Tim’s apt. last Friday and then went to OU for Winter Workshop, which was awesome. I arrived at UD late Sunday, visited the PMA house and watched the Super Bowl at 220. Then, I went to my interview Monday and then came back here. I have another interview next Monday with Eaton Coorporation in Jackson, Mississippi. They are currently working on hydraulic pumps for the Joint Strike Fighter, and I would be involved with that project. This sounds really cool compared to the job in Sidney. And though, I would be ridiculously far from my family and friends, I currently see it as my best viable option. And if I that doesn’t work out, and I don’t get a job; I figure I’ll just go to grad school somewhere. Btw: I cancelled my cell phone service, so don’t bother trying. And my new email is the same as my old email only with hotmail.com. (Comment on this)
Sunday, February 24th, 2002
2:39 am	I just want to thank everybody who came to my birthday party. I had a lot of fun, and I hope you did too. PS- Yes, I'm drunk; but not drunk enough not to school Tim and Todd at darts :) Current Mood: drunk Current Music: Nickelback - Too Bad (Comment on this)
Wednesday, February 20th, 2002
11:37 pm	As usual it's been a while since my last posting. It's not like anybody reads these anyway, but I have time to post something! Though my co-op started off promising, it is again devolving to mediocrity. I'm becoming the autocad bitch, sadly. And this will mean absolutely nothing once everyone converts to 3D parametric modeling. Instead of wondering what a line coresponds to, I'll just rotate the entire fucking assembly to get an isometric view. Enough about work. MY BIRTHDAY IS NEXT MONDAY!!! I'm having a party at my house this Saturday in celebration. Much music, fun, and beer will be here, so make sure you come if you're still in town!! Other than that, my work term has been pretty boring. Not much going on (except for people being robbed at gunpoint right outside the office). I have to go out and visit more, I think. Seriously. I've been even more of an ass than I was last semester. But I come home from work and find myself either relaxing here or working on somthing at the Phi Mu Alpha house. I just want my life to mean something. I don't want to go to work everyday, hating it, watching the seconds tick by. I don't want to come home and just sit, trying to get rid of the headache I got while at work. I don't want to find myself ten years from now in a state of repetition, mediocrity, and loneliness and wonder, "What the fuck did I do with my life?" It is a time for change, and I hope that I can use my birthday as a catapult towards change. So if you just skimmed most of this, I'll repeat the important part. MY BIRTHDAY PARTY THIS SATURDAY, SGT MUSIC BEER BE THERE OR BE FACIST! Current Mood: Uninspired Current Music: too late for music, I work tomorrow (1 Comment |Comment on this)
Tuesday, January 29th, 2002
7:46 pm	When it comes to being mysterious, that's what you do best. You like to leave others puzzled and speak in riddles. You're not out there for the fame and fortune, you're just being yourself, doing what you do best. You're strong and courageous, and you're always the leader of the pack. You're skillful; people respect you, and you respect people. (Comment on this)