Strange little occurrence of acquiring income pass by one's life from time to time. I almost forgot being paid by the college to take notes in a computer class for a deaf student. It was while I was in technical school.
I had advanced a ways in my endeavor to tool up on computers. I was pleased that I did it at all. Coming from a blue-collar background, most of my jobs did not belabor computer skills. Back in the 1990s, you could still find people that had never touched a computer. Older students were coming through the campus and needed help with familiarizing themselves in the encroaching computer culture. I had learned enough regarding computers to carry my own weight in life and at college.
One day in a software class, the instructor asked for a volunteer to take notes. "You'll get paid," she hastily added after realizing she was being ignored. So much for the new enlightened day-care, group-think generation. Being older than my bunch of colleagues, and trying to be a team player in my classes, and I suppose I had some paternal instinct as well, I raised my hand.
Sucker! What's the first thing you should have learned in the Army?
As it turned out, I would be taking notes for a young woman who was deaf - maybe about 20 years old. She also had a paid sign-language person helping her. I was given special paper with carbon copy pages that reproduced my notes in triplicate.
In my general academic toils, I was proud of my day to day note taking. I still have all my note books and folders containing handouts et cetera. It always amazed me that my young colleagues rarely took notes. I would however, quickly and abruptly learn how cryptic my note taking techniques were. I got my little note-taking ego bruised.
A couple days after I had started proudly leaving copies of my notes for the deaf girl, her sign language helper came up to me. "No body can figure out what you are writing," she said rather-matter-of-factly.
I was crushed. It was true. On close examination, I used cryptic and colloquial notations amongst my notes for my own benefit as I would use the notes too.
I changed my note taking style, but it was painful to write like a text book.
Some times the deaf student did not show up, so my notes would pile up on the instructor's desk. As the class progressed, I noticed she often did not even pick them up. I had learned to not take it personal. Many young students would slowly fade away from their classes.
I once sat in a math class - they are every day affairs - and toward the end of the semester, a young fellow showed up with about a week left. The prof asked who he was.
"Bill Smith," the student announced proudly. And then he continued, "Can't you remember me from the first week of class, I am back to finish my exams."
"You were dropped from the class in week two," the professor said with a sigh. The young fellow looked totally indignant and amazed at this obvious transaction.
In my deaf student's case, I fulfilled my part of the bargain and languished with my notes for the remainder of the semester. At the bitter end I took my stipend payment and ran for my life, forever keeping my future notes to myself and...never volunteering again.
Note: This blog "Jobs of Bob" Category does not list the jobs chronologically - I write about the experiences as they pop up in my memory and I often revisit an older job. Go to the Cooldadiomedia Web site and the Jobs of Bob Page for an ordered chronology.
Wisconsin Military Service Person Special Mention of the Week
(each week Cooldadiomedia mentions a Wisconsin service person killed in Iraq or Afghanistan)
Army Sergeant Louis Alexander Griese, 30, of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin, died Wednesday, October 31, 2007, in Tikrit, Iraq. He was wounded north of Samarra, Iraq, when an improvised explosive device detonated near his vehicle. He was assigned to B Company, 2nd Battalion, 327th Infantry Regiment, 1st Brigade Combat Team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Griese was on his third tour of duty in Iraq and had been in the Army for 12 years. He was graduated from Sturgeon Bay High School in 1996.
The Web site militarytimes.com noted Sergeant Louis left for duty in Iraq only a little more than a month after his daughter was born. Louis was remembered as a guy who loved working on cars.
The Web site iraq.pigstye.net a data base for war casualties mentioned via information from the Herald Times Reporter that Sergeant Griese married wife Stephanie in 2002; the couple met online.
The Web site fortcampbellcourier.com noted Sergeant Griese's military decorations as: "Army Achievement Medal (5 awards); Army Good Conduct Medal (3 awards); National Defense Service Medal; Iraq Campaign Medal; Global War on Terrorism Expeditionary Medal; Global War on terrorism Service Medal; Noncommissioned Officer Professional Development Ribbon; Army Service Ribbon; Overseas Service Ribbon; Combat Infantryman Badge; Expert Infantryman Badge; Air Assault Badge; and, Weapons Qualification, M4, expert."
At the time of his death Louis Griese was survived by his wife and daughter, Stephanie and Skylar; and his mother, Susan Frihart, of Sturgeon Bay, Wisconsin. Sergeant Louis Griese was the 82nd Wisconsin military service person to die in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
As of this blog entry's posting date:
99,393 Iraqi civilians have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
9,830 Iraqi Security Forces have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
4,439 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1467 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
842 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
32,033 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10,226 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
103 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
27 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
145 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
21 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Wisconsin military service person special mention of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; iraqbodycount.org; www.defense.gov/news/casualty.pdf; and, icasualties.org.
