Review Movie Theaters instead of Movies

On Friday night I went to see the movie "Keanu" at the theater in Lodi. I get to see the movies for free because the production companies want to make sure the trailers that are supposed to be shown are shown before the movies. I am requested to go to movies the first day out and then report to the company what trailers were shown before the movie. I go to a movie almost every week, at least 3 times a month. I go to the theater in Lodi often and each time I go there I am amazed at how kind the management is. I have met 3 managers there and they have always been professional. Sometimes they make a mistake or two, but that isn't why I admire them.

 If you go to the movie theater in Lodi you will buy your ticket at the window outside and then when you come in and you go to the ticket taker chances are that person will have a handicap. When I usually go in there is a man, about 35, that has Down's Syndrome. He always has a kind word to say to everyone. He is always smiling and makes you feel good about being at the theater. Sometimes it is another man with Down's Syndrome who is about 25. This week there was a woman, about 30, with Down's Syndrome. I am impressed with the theater management that they have found a perfect job for adults with a handicap.

I feel good when I go to that movie theater and I have gone there when I don't really want to go to a movie, but I want to support the theater. Everyone wants a job that they can feel good about and this is what the theater jobs do for these employees. The employees are contributing to the company and are doing an important job. In fact, they do a better job at it then many people because they have such a positive attitude that is contagious to the patrons of the theater and I'm sure also to the other employees. I wish more employers would look at ways to do the same for other handicapped adults and find things that they can do as well, and maybe even better than others. I hope this management gets the accolades that they rightly deserve.

I love my job!

I drive a lot for my work. I don't mind and I feel my work is important and I do it fairly well. I work for the California Army National Guard recruiters helping them work with high schools. The area I cover is HUGE. I cover 3/4ths of California which is bigger than all of New England and some countries. I support 7 teams and over 50 recruiters. There are 2 other people in the state that do the same job as I do, those two cover the 1/4 of the state that I don't. I really enjoy my job. Because I support so many teams and so many recruiters no one really knows what I'm doing or where I'm at. They just figure I am supporting someone else. This week I will support 5 different teams. Today I only drove one hour each way and worked in the school for 6 hours. Tomorrow I will drive 5 hours round trip and work in the school for an hour. Wednesday I will go to 2 different schools, the first one is 3 hours away.

After working there for one hour I will drive another one and a half hours and work in a second school for an hour. Thursday I will drive back to the same area, 3 hours away, and work there for an hour then drive 5 hours to stay the night in San Jose and visit with my sister. The next morning I will go to 3 school districts before working at a school in that area for an hour then drive home, hopefully before the rush hour traffic that will turn a 1.5 hour drive into a 4 hour drive. A total of 900 miles this week. I don't mind the driving. I see a lot of cool parts of California.

The recruiters like going to the larger schools so I go to the smaller schools, often by myself. I don't mind that because I feel I do a much better job than the recruiters because I do this every day and the recruiter does it two or three times a year. I like knowing the smaller schools get a better program than the larger ones. What do I do, you might ask. I do a Career Exploration Program utilizing an aptitude test, interest inventory, and work values. After having the students analyze themselves I show them how to find jobs that fit their individual needs.

I work with them until they know how to use the website then explain they can use that website anytime they can get on line for the next year and a half. I give them a tool they can use by themselves to try to figure out what they want to do rather than have their parents tell them what they want to do. They can look up how much the job pays, by zip code and where they can get training and even how many jobs are open. I like my job and feel it benefits society, it makes me feel useful and fulfilled. I travel in many places and see many things. I have the best job in the world!!

Stockton Ports

(Remember that the pictures in my blog usually don't represent what I'm writing about, I just like to share pictures I have recently taken.)

Today I went to a baseball game. The Stockton Ports were playing the Inland Empire 66ers. Triple A baseball is fun because the tickets are not expensive and the fans are more of a close family of supporters. The Stockton ballpark is nice and fan friendly. The seats are close to the field and you get the feeling you are part of the game.

Coming to the game the parking lot said $10 and around the corner was a sign for $5. We figured we had to walk a little but for half price that was ok. We went to the $5 parking and it was just on the other side of the stadium. Next to the stadium. It was strange that it was half price, but not any further. The day was beautiful and the game was fun. It was more like a college level game then professional and lots of mistakes and bad pitching. The home team lost and I felt like I was in Mudville. It was good entertainment for less than $30 on a Sunday afternoon. I look forward to the next time we go!

Living in Stockton

I moved to Stockton in September of 2015 from Sunnyvale. I moved from a large metropolitan area to a small big city. I lived in the San Francisco Bay Area where I could get anything I was looking for easily to the Central Valley where I have to go out of the area to buy things that I want rather than settle on what is available. When I was looking for nice clothes for work I had to go to San Francisco because everything near here is either for teenagers or working in the outdoors. When I was looking for electronics I found there was only one electronics store in this city of 300,00 people with a good college in town that graduates very good engineers. When I was looking for entertainment there were bowling alleys, baseball games, movie theaters, and minor league baseball and hockey games. Lots of places within an hour drive and even decent places to eat close by. To summarize this area is inconvenient when I want to buy things but not so bad if I want to do things.

I moved from a 650 sq ft mobile home to a 1800 sq ft house. I used to pay rent for the space I had my mobile home on in addition to having to buy the mobile home and not I pay a mortgage less than the rent I used to pay for the space. I have a garage for my car and enough space to put everything away in my house. I am more comfortable in this living space and it feels good to come home. My neighborhood is safe and the people are friendly and everyone keeps to themselves. I am finally settled in. I had a family gathering at Thanksgiving, something I would never do in my other place because 5 people wouldn't fit in the place. Life is good and I can feel good about myself these days. Another good thing about living in Stockton is it is very convenient for my work. When I lived in the SF Bay Area it was a 2 - 5 hour drive to get anywhere that I needed to go to for work. Now most places are 30 minutes - 2 hours. I can get to most schools and back in the same day so I don't have to stay overnight.

It has always been important to be able to move to get a better job. Many Americans don't want to move to get a better job any more, they want to find the perfect job where they live or have the government support them. I lived in the SF Bay Area because that is where my ex-wife decided to live and I wanted to live near my kids. I work for a company that has people that do my job all across the country and we all got paid the same. The employee in Oklahoma got paid the same as I did in one of the most expensive areas in the country. I enjoyed my job and and thought it was important to live near my children so I found a way to live with the low salary. I supplemented my income and found a way to live simply. When my youngest went away to college I realized I could give myself a raise by moving to a less expensive area. I made the right decision and look forward to the future, rather than regret the decisions I have made. We all have different chapters of our lives and I have started a new one.

There are lots of changes I have made and I will talk more about those changes in the next few blogs that I write. I am excited to share the new things in my life. I also want to write about some things that have really upset me lately. I will talk a little about politics because I have things I want to say, not because I want to change anyone's decisions. I think most people have made up their mind on who they want as the next president and what I say won't change anyone's mind only make them upset when I state my opinion. I don't care if they state their opinion and I don't think mine is better than their opinion. So, I will start my opinion and if they don't like it then they shouldn't read what I have to say. I'm happy to be back!!