For a couple of semesters at the tech school I found myself working a few nights a week as a library assistant.  I had been at the campus for three years in various capacities as a full-time and part-time student.  One day I noticed a plea on the library bulletin board for a paid library assistant.  I found the dude in charge of the library - the library director was an older white guy who was probably one of the few faculty members actually older than me - and after filling out a short questionnaire, I found myself on the work schedule.  I found out forthwith that my duties would be facilitated in amongst the cluster of study lab computers in the back of the library.  Most of the time, the most sophisticated task asked of me was to re-boot a temperamental computer.  

    For the most part, I made use of the few Mac computers they had.  I needed to use a Mac to reconcile the articles I wrote for the newspaper with the Macs in the newspaper office.  Media types always seem to use Macs.  Back around the years just prior to the year 2000, The software to merge up PC to Mac documents was not ubiquitous yet so you had to stick with one or the other and not mix the two when doing word processing.  

    There was a weird young dude that was suppose to be our student boss of sorts.  He had long multi-colored hair with some dreadlocks in tow.  He spent most of his time typing relentlessly in what seems now ancient DOS-esque chat platforms.  If you asked him to help you in turn help a student with a difficult computer problem, he would go out of his way to make the problem ten times harder and then he would spend extra time to undo his own shenanigans plus what ever problem the student had.  

    If I were asked to conjure up the profile of a "hacker" for a police perp sketch, I would probably use characteristics of "weird-young-dude--student-boss-of-sorts."  

    When it came time to fill the student work positions again for the next semester, I was not asked back.  The only explanation the director gave me was that he liked to pass the student positions around a bit as not to have some students monopolizing the limited available campus jobs.  So I guess by putting in a few hours per week (between six and eight) for about two semesters, I fell into the monopolization category.  

    Not really fired, not really laid off.  Apparently, old student library assistants never die, they just fade away.   

    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 Second Lieutenant Tracy Lynn Algers, 30, New Auburn, Wisconsin, died on Thursday, November 1st, 2007, in Shubayshen, Iraq. An improvised explosive device detonated near her vehicle. Algers was assigned to Company F, 626th Brigade Support Battalion attached to 3rd Battalion, 187th Infantry Regiment, 3rd Brigade Combat team, 101st Airborne Division (Air Assault), out of Fort Campbell, Kentucky. She was in a leadership position for supply convoys. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Tracy was a barrel racer in school. Algers grew up in New Auburn, Wisconsin and went to Chetek High School. During college she studied graphic design at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. After college, she worked as a graphic artist and then a certified nursing assistant at a nursing home before signing up for the National Guard. Algers spent many years barrel-racing, a rodeo event in which horse and rider are timed as they maneuver around large barrels. Her horse was named Tango and boarded at Algers mother's property. Tracy was on the rodeo team at UW-River Falls and prior to going to Iraq she was president of the Wisconsin Girls Barrel Racing Association. The Journal Sentinel also mentioned Algers' sister Tanya had been in the Air Force, and her mother served in the National Guard. The Journal Sentinel went on to note Algers originally signed up for the National Guard after college and was the sixth woman from the Wisconsin military services to be killed in Iraq since the beginning of the war.
    The Web site findagrave.com noted that Tracy was born on June 21, 1977. Algers graduated from Chetek Wisconsin High School in 1995. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls with a degree in graphic design. She took her basic training at Fort Jackson, South Carolina, and attended officer candidate school at Fort Benning, Georgia, and the United States Army Air Assault School. Algers had a goal of attending the United States Sapper School following her deployment to Iraq. She transferred to Fort Campbell Kentucky in 2006. Second Lieutenant Algers was deployed to Iraq two weeks before her death. She was a platoon leader in charge of convoys that transported supplies. 
    The Web site startribune.com via information from the Associated Press noted Algers was the 85th female military service person to die in Iraq. She At the time of her death, Second Lieutenant Tracy Algers was survived by her mom, Pauline Knutson; younger sister Tanya Leo; maternal grandmother Bernice Symbal; special friend Rick Hawkins; and her horse Tango. Second Lieutenant Tracy Algers was the 83rd Wisconsin military service person to be killed 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.

    4,436 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    1472 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.

    318 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.

    843 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001. 

    32,037 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003. 

    10,264 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.

 

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