Back in the saddle again.

Today I was officially re-hired at Starbucks. I am once again a barista. Although I have been responsible for filling the role of a barista at times over the past two years, I have not been one for almost that, two years. I kind of feels like I am back to square one. I know it’s not though.
What has changed to make it different this time around?
“Idiotbook” did not exist back then for starters. I have been married for almost 3 years now. I am less than 20 credits away from completing my degree. I had less than 20 credits when I started as a barista. I am president of my school's chapter of ACJA. I own a motorcycle.
I think it would be easier to list things that haven’t changed about me since I was a barista the last time around.
My name… I think my haircut is the same as it was when I first started, it has changed many times between then and now though so I don’t know if it counts… I got nothin’.
Anyway, I am excited. I am seriously looking forward to the next year in my life.
Oh yeah! This is where my new store is, just in case anybody decides to come visit and say ‘sup?.
-p

Don't forget to pick up your brass.

What am I learning in school right now?
HOMEWORK PART B:
Log on to http://www.firearmsid.com/. On the main menu click "Firearms Identification" then "Introduction". Read through the various training sections and answer the following questions.


Completely unrelated:
This is a picture of the flowers outside after Kristin and I walked out of a movie theatre last week. We saw "The Pink Panther".

If any of you are tired of wearing your jackets, feel free to visit.

Letting a few rocks go.

Some of my barista's were so upset about my last day working with them that they had to use whipped cream to express their feelings instead of words.

Hey man, how's it been going?
Funny you should ask, let me tell you.

I have not been able to share what I think and feel about the current state of affairs on planet pete online because I do not want to get anybody into trouble, myself included.
I have had a really hard time keeping my pain/sorrow from turning into anger/malice this last week or so. I have found myself slowly regressing to my most favorite high school mentality:

Apathetic at best, self-destructive at normal.

I am currently taking measures to restore my mental health to not such negative space. It has been rough.
Some times it is just a little too hard to see through the mountain of crap in front of my face and imagine sunshine and rainbows on the other side.
Today I saw a school counselor.
We had a chat. I found out that I am a few steps ahead of the average crowd. The average crowd being that “laid off and I don’t really know what I am going to do with myself and I am pretty mad about being laid off and I just wish it was over” crowd. I feel a little better.
Let me tell you a few things I found out, and a few things I managed to verbalize as I talked my situation through with the counselor.
I am actually doing something about my situation and the way I feel. That puts me huge step ahead from what I understand.
I did not just start school this semester, and have no idea what I want from school aside from the opportunity to get a job doing something different than the job that laid me off. That is another one of the things that puts me ahead.
I never want to have to shoot anybody.
Many officers never draw their weapon before they retire, and even fewer officers actually fire their weapon before they retire. I always liked to imagine that would be the case for me. Just go to work, help people, and go home. I have come the realization that this is not realistic. *flashback* I always imagined that that would never happen to me either. Some people it never happens too. I am not one of those. This realization kind of puts me a step back from where I was before I was laid off. It also scares the snot out of me because it kind of makes my whole list of jobs that I want to do, and have pursued in the last two years obsolete.
I found out that my school offers a course dedicated completely to figuring out careers that I would not have to shoot people in, guaranteed. It is a short term course that starts in March. I am going to take it. If I were an assistant manager, I would not be able to, but I am no longer an assistant manager, so there you have it. This kind of helps me feel better.
I found out that today that it is not just a daydream for me to be finished with my forensic certification by August. With a bit of work, and if a few things go my way I can make it happen. I also found out that it is not unrealistic to be finished with an Associate Degree in Administration of Justice before Christmas, same deal, a bit of work and a few things my way.
If I was still an assistant manager, this would not be possible. Here is my letter of gratitude:
Dear Starbucks,
Thank you so much for not looking me as a human being, but as just an 8 digit number next to a name and a position on a list. Thank you so much for forcing me to do what I really want to do with my life, even when I was really comfortable doing something I am really good at to your benefit. I seriously didn’t think I would ever be ready to take that step, now I am really excited about the thought of doing just that. I have not been this excited since my first day of college. Thank you. Thank you so much for giving me the opportunity to meet the people I have met over the last 3 years, without you many of my most cherished relationships would not exist. Thank you so much for forcing me to deal and work with people I absolutely loathe. (sidenote: I am willing to bet that if you know me well enough to be reading this, you are not one of these people, but rather one of the cherished relationships) With the experience gained through working with these people I feel like I can better handle myself in situations that are not really in my control and also a little more professionally in situations under my control. Thank you for giving me the opportunity to come back and work for you as a barista so that I can keep my benefit package. My wife and I want to start a family and we would be really afraid to do so if we did not have such wonderful coverage. Thank you.
Oh Starbucks, our relationship will never be the same. I don’t hate you guts even though I want to. I truly believe it takes love to hate, so I guess I am glad that I never really loved you in spite of the time I dedicated to getting to know you. I also refuse to dedicate the amount of energy it would require to hate you. I believe that like love, hate also takes work. Perhaps if you could, you would appreciate that.
I could not be where I am now without you, so to you I say thanks.
Sincerely,
-p

I don't know why, but I felt like posting this.

The picture is completely unrelated.


Education
2006-Present Grossmont Community College San Diego, CA
Major in Forensic Science
§ 4.0 GPA All semesters at Grossmont Community College
2001-2003 Salt Lake Community College Taylorsville, UT
§ Completed Administration of Justice Prerequisites
Membership & Leadership
2007-Present American Criminal Justice Association
§ President 2007-2009; oversee club meetings, create and post meeting flyers.
Volunteer experience
Fall, 2007 Cadaver Maintenance Grossmont Community College
§ Assisted in maintaining AOJ dept. cadaver; drain fluids and inspect body for mold.
July, 2007 International Association for Identification 92nd Conference
§ Volunteered at registration table and lectures during conference.
§ Attended various lectures on ritualistic and occult crime scenes, home invasions, different stages of decomposition, and new product reviews.

April, 2007 “Expanding Your Horizons Workshop” USD
§ Assisted in providing a hands-on, interactive forensic workshop for Jr. & Sr. highs school students; 800 students attend this program.
Employment
2007-Present Starbucks Chase & Avocado, El Cajon, CA
Assistant Manager
§ Fill leadership role as part of management team, and ensure café runs to standard.
§ Clean Sweep Taskforce representative; attend monthly meetings and communicate information and operational standards to store team.
§ Handle cash management and log books; oversee and maintain product orders.
§ Maintain 5-Star legendary service while following Starbucks guiding principles.

2/2005-10/2006 Linear Striping El Cajon, CA
Road Striper
§ Led crew and completed jobs as foreman; executed layout of new parking lots using diagrams and blueprints, ensured new lots met ADA and fire lane standards.
§ Measured and mapped existing parking lots for reference after re-surfacing.
§ Performed maintenance and minor repairs on striping machines and work trucks; drove work truck and hauled equipment to job sites; operated pneumatic and electrical equipment.

4/2004-2/2005 Quality Towing Las Vegas, NV
Sales Jumper
§ Supervised Private Impound operations, and assisted in managing sales accounts.
§ Filled out tow reports when documenting cars received into storage yard.
§ Operated “sneaker” and flatbed tow trucks and vehicle lockout equipment.

Pictures of my cat. Nerdy.

Sweetpea's new favorite game. When she is not leaving voicemails on Cousin Eddie's phone or moms answering machine, she likes to try and catch the leftover drips that come out of the faucet after a shower. It is just strange for me to see a cat playing with water, in a shower, all by herself, and not run away when I walk in the bathroom.

I should be doing homework right now.

So… Keeping with the idea of pictures, and actually using the new Christmas camera, I thought I would explain the next few images. These are all pictures I have taken at my current store, El Cajon and 67th. I think about all the stuff I just see, much like when you are driving along or riding on a bus or train and staring out the window. To me, none of the images I see when doing so really stick out, it is just filed in my head as “stuff I see on a bus ride” or whatever. The file in my brain that these images would be in is labeled “Stuff I see at work.” This store has two things going for it as far as visual stimulation. First, it is on top of hill, so I get some pretty sweet sunsets/sunrises.

The second thing this store has going for it is that the alley that my dumpster is in is not like any other alley I have ever had a dumpster in. Does that make sense? I guess I will have to start taking pictures of cool and uncool dumpster locations to illustrate this point, for now you must just take my word for it. In my experience dumpsters are usually closed in, out of sight and out of mind. The walk to and from is often quite the same. Boring. I like my dumpster walk right now, and I am going to miss it. Honestly, there is nothing like taking the trash out as soon as you see the grey start to come above the buildings in the morning, and just to get a secret peek at the world before it is awake and ruined by large groups of people going about their daily business. I like it when it’s quiet. This is the closest to recess I get from the way it feels to be in California and I love it.

The first picture is from last week. I think it was Thursday night. I started bringing my camera to work after I found out I was being let go on Wednesday. It had been raining and overcast constantly since last Friday, and the clouds finally broke long enough for me to see the sunset on Thursday. This is a picture of that moment. I wanted to try and get a couple shots, but the batteries in my camera died after the first picture. I forgot to charge them before I took it to work.

The second picture is the same sky as in the first picture, just from the back of the store as opposed to the west parking lot, and at about 5:30 or 6 on an overcast morning. Note that the white sign on the top right side of the brown building in this image is the same sign in the bottom center of the first picture.

The third picture is the wall directly across the alley from my back door. There is a piece of graffiti that has been painted over. It says “AZTEC NATION.” You can read it through the paint. Total side note: That is an idea that most “sureño” or southern latino street gangs identify with. Back on track: I like this building. I don’t know why, but this building makes me feel the same it feels to finally see the Jordan River Temple when driving back to SLC from St. George or something like that.

The last picture is looking down my trash alley to the east.
I am really going to miss this part of my job. I like this alley. I like my store. I am really bummed that I cannot stay.

I wonder if it really has bedbugs and these people are just rude.

So I took a page from Jakes book today. I always see stuff that I want to take a picture of, but don’t have a camera. For Christmas we got a smaller camera that can go more places with us. I took it on my morning run today. I have wanted to share my favorite couch with everybody. It has been her since before the first day I started working out. It has rained pretty much all day for the last six days or so. Today was my first run after the rain. It was still there, just a lot more muddy around the bottom. It made me think of this. Mostly because of the garbage part

I don't know if I am allowed to blog about this, but what can they do? Fire me?

It is a sad day for Starbucks.

Today I was informed that Starbucks will “let go” quite a large number of assistant managers. I found this out because I am one of them. Total bummer. My last day as an assistant manager will be February 25th. I am pretty bummed out. I feel a little ripped off because of the amount of work and effort I put into getting this position in spite of, and frequently instead of, school, church, and personal obligations, such as date night with my beautiful wife, or not going to see my parents for Christmas or Thanksgiving three years in a row.
However, the world has not come to an end. Since this termination, or “separation” as they say, is out of my control and is not based on any poor decisions or actions on my part, I am eligible for rehire on February 26th. I can reapply at the barista level. I feel confident in my abilities to get rehired, and although I would like to, I cannot say any more about that. What does this mean? All of my benefits, stock options, stock grants, 401k contributions, etcetera, etcetera, will be carried over to my re-employment. So if I do get rehired, it will be more like a demotion than a layoff/rehire. *phew*
I know my wife is pretty excited about this. She doesn’t know it yet though. She forgot about how when I was a barista and talked about moving up to supervisor she got all bent out of shape because this isn’t my career and I should spend more time in school instead of at work. She got even more bent out of shape when I said the word “management”. Her face flushed the same color as a Utah jersey before I got any further than that word. Guess what beautiful, wish granted.
In retrospect, it looks like I had this position just as long as I needed too. I was able to show that I earned enough money to buy a car with my name as the primary debtor for the first time ever. I was also able to pass a job offer that I got through my practice interviews to become an ASM to my wife. She in turn was able to leave Starbucks before it “all hit the fan” if you will. Yep, I don’t think I really needed much more than that.
What else has happened this last couple of weeks? I passed the CBP written test with a 93/100. Awesome. That means I have to show up to a structured interview panel next Wednesday. I am so excited I can’t even handle it. That’s about it for now; I know I will have more free time, so maybe I will manage to be a little more social.
-p