Classes this year.

First of all, remodel is done: I'm sad. Troy's crew is doing crazy 6" rigid in an attic and I'm doing odd jobs: slipsheeting, troubleshooting, things of that nature.
I guess I've kinda neglected to talk about class so far. Sorry about that.

Firstly, my instructor Kenny is really cool. I know his brother Rob from work, but they both insist that one is not like the other. (That is evident.) Anyway, I get to sit between Cliff and Ryan which is great, but Sanj isn't in my class at all, which is not at all cool. She and Cliff got me birthday gifts: Sanj got me Happy Bunny goodies and a card that melded crossword puzzles and whores; Cliff got me four Monster Java energy drinks. He knows I'm addicted. But yes, anyway:

Classes are alot more adult, as odd as that seems. No assigned seating. No random homework checks...in fact, no homework checks at all. We leave when we're finished, and we don't have to fill idle time. I'm told that there will be plenty of labs and study groups but it's good for now. As far as the extras go, I know we have foreman's classes (starting at the end of this month for two weeks), COMET II (mine's scheduled for 13 October) and F-Card to get into. So I'm sure it'll get more busy as time goes on. It's a little exciting and frightening to look at our class schedule and see graduation dates.

Another thing that will keep us busy are the full class labs. Each instructor has a specialty and for four weeks we rotate to the four different instructors for two days each week. This coming week is low voltage with Kenny; then fire alarm with Tom, then high voltage splicing with Trevor, then motor control with Buck. That's 10 hours a week in lab. No homework, no test, just labs. That starts sometime this semester. Wondering if we can even get all our lessons done by the end of the year; I know last year, the 5th years had to start going to school several days a week just to meet graduation. Not quite looking forward to any of that. But at least the overtime is done for now.