Big, big change.....blog temporarily suspended.

Ok, before the big news I have to pat myself on the back. Fri we had our midterm and I rocked it. The little nerd that I am got a 98 on the exam and, when grades were posted, was ranked #1 in the class. At school this status is called "Gold." The guys in class weren't happy. One of my friends made a great suggestion that I wear a tiara to school. Oh would that burn those guys up!

So, big news. I'm moving back to Portland. Now before anyone gets upset, I'm still continuing with automotive school. In fact, the timing works out quite nicely. Portland Community College has a program that looks good and I can start on April 9th and will cost me about a third as much. This means very little down time on the girl-in-mechanics-school blog. It will continue with a whole new group of characters. My decision was quick and based in my gut (seems like a lot of my decisions have been that way lately). I think that I belong in Portland and can't really imagine living in Denver for the next two years. So, to all my Portland friends: see you soon! To all my Denver friends: Let's get a drink soon! Everyone else: Get your ass out to visit!

Also, there is a space in my car for someone looking to take a road trip and see the expanse of Wyoming and Idaho. I'll probably leave around April 5th, so let me know.

it's about time.

I've finally came home with oil in my nail beds, grease and grime on my shirt, and smelling like exhaust. The past two days have been awesome. We've lifted 2 ton automobiles 6 feet into the air with the touch of a finger and then walked underneath them (my new superhuman power), diagnosed lots of leaks, identified worn parts, and adjusted brakes.

Yes, folks. My automotive training has officially begun. And I'm loving it!

I'm glad we got a moment to learn a few things hands on. It's been amazingly boring covering safety info over and over and over.

Oh, and that reminds me. I've been so inundated with safety facts I almost forget to share my lesson of the importance of safety glasses. This is why they are important. We were granted the luxury of being scared shitless by watching a video displaying close to a hundred different ways you can mess your eyes up. After a butt-puckering 20 minutes I concluded that everyone should wear safety glasses AT ALL TIMES. In the shower, to bed, at the movies, walking the dog. What if that squirrel drops it's nut from the tree and it hits you in the eye? Or your pillow case rubs your eyelid the wrong way? And do we even need to talk about the effects of shower spray in the eye?

I have a secret. Not only did I get offered a job, but I interviewed at a BMW dealership! I got the phone call right after my last post and sat down with the service manager yesterday. I think the interview went well. Working for a BMW dealership's service department is a hard job to get and he's not in a big hurry to hire anyone, so I asked if I could come in on my own time and shadow a tech for awhile. I'm going to work for this job. Constantly be around and showing my enthusiasm. I need to make myself standout. I'm still taking the other job.

In fact today I had to go for a physical and drug test. No worries, I passed everything. I was shocked though at how strict the guy was about the piss test. The very second I checked in I realized I left my i.d. in my car. The guy at the desk wouldn't let me go to my car by myself. It wasn't like I had been searched or unloaded my pockets or anything yet. So I couldn't figure out why this man was being EXTREMELY hyper-vigilant about making sure I didn't pull a fake piss sample out of my car or something. Weird.

I made a trip to the auto parts store near my house tonight and made a note to never return to this location. I'm required by class to purchase a tire tread depth gauge. It's not a complicated instrument. It just gives the tread depth measurement in fractional inches and millimeters. A lot of times the gauge is included in the tire pressure gauge. Costs about $6-$10. A lot of people use a penny as an imprecise makeshift tread depth gauge. I went into the auto parts store and asked the sales person for it to save time hunting. He reacted like I was asking where they kept the toothpaste.

"Huh? You mean a tread gauge? [my thoughts: Did I stutter, yes, EXACTLY what I said] Nobody uses those. I don't think they even make them. [me: well if that's the case then where did the other 25 people in my class come up with one? I should have bought the one at Target I passed by last week, that would have saved me the headache of dealing with this jerk]. You can use a penny for that [me: and then what do you tell your customer who's tire you are checking? 'Sir, your tire tread looks ok. In technical terms, the depth is to the hairline of Lincoln's forehead.'] I've worked here for three years and never seen one [me: I wonder what else this place doesn't sell or take seriously]. This gauge (costing $38.99) will measure that."

I left the store. Empty handed and annoyed.

So, enough procrastinating. I've got my first midterm tomorrow. I need to study....

movement in the right direction.

So, big news....I've been offered a job!!!! After taking a gruelling 1.5 hour test (personality bullshit, letter scrambles, pattern ordering, etc. - which in turn says I'm management material) and having an impromptu interview with a manager, I have been offered a position as a receptionist/parts cashier at a trucking company. The hours are perfect for my class schedule and the pay is good for someone with no experience ($12/hr), so barring any complications with my physical and drug test I should be joining the workforce next week. Long term, I'm not expecting to go to work in the big-rig diesel industry, but who knows - I may like it. Time will tell. And interacting with truckers on a daily basis is definately going to add some colorful stories.

I've been thinking that I need to find my "attitude." What I mean by this is that I need to be sure I don't take flak from some asshole trucker, student, employer, etc. because I don't know everything (yet) and because I'm a girl. I've been nervous about entering the job force because I'll be walking into a playing field where I'll be surrounded by people that know a whole lot more than me and I'm sure aren't going to be afraid to show it. I need to make sure I learn to stick up for myself when it's needed and not by too timid. I'm not always good at comebacks and have a tendancy to let people steamroll me when I don't know them. I've got to keep my head held high.

Classes:

I've been smoking the homework, and flying under the radar when it comes to having good scores. My study-buddy has been taking all the flak for having the highest score and I'm glad it's not me in that position. One former prisonmate has lightly joked around that Study-buddy shouldn't be surprised to find his car not starting on homework due dates and test days. He's also said that Study-buddy needs to watch his back.....I'm sure the threats are in jest, but with this crowd you never can know....

Suspended-license Thug is car shopping.....

A potential employer from Montana (learned it's considered Montucky - cute) toured the school and spent some time hovering outside our classroom observing. He didn't like poeple's hoodies and skull caps. People didn't like that too much - "He don't like my dress, fuck 'em. He's just some white dude from Montucky."

For all those people who aren't Nascar addicts (most of my friends): I learned that Dale Earnhart died in a crash back in 2001 because the G-force of his car hitting the embankment combined with the weight of his helmet caused him to be decapitated with the skin on. Visualize that, suckers!

Somehow there was a discussion about women getting their hair done (I stay out of these discussions). One guy was complaining about when his wife gets her hair done, "She says, 'Don't touch me!' and lays in the bed as straight as a board." Another helpful gentleman chimed in, "That's why you do it doggie style!" Good to know.

My education is worth every dime.

Tomorrow, we learn how to put a car on a lift and change the oil in a car.

Terminology.

Real quick, before the glossary lesson, I had a great interview yesterday with a service manager at another domestic dealership. The drive is far and the pay is crap, but I got a great vibe from the guy and think it would be a good place to get my feet wet. Hopefully I'll hear something back early next week. I'm feeling better.

Now for a little commonly used terms:

Lube tech - not to be confused with specializing in the application in sexual lubes, this tech changes the oil on the car. It's the next step up the ladder from lot attendant. Get your mind out of the gutter people.

Wrenching - doing the work of a mechanic on cars for a living. Since there are a million job opportunities out there for auto techs they refer to the actual on-the-line shop job as "wrenching." Example: I was only wrenching for 10 years before I moved into running training for BMW. Sometimes I miss working in a shop everyday.

Drug test, piss test, random drug test, hair follicle drug test - Most places require regular drug tests. A lot of them even require a hair follicle for you to get the job. This includes even your neighborhood Goodyear. Kinda hyper-vigilant on the anti drugs, but I guess insurance for places is out of this world and making sure shops have a drug free environment helps to bring premiums down. I have to supply one for the place I interviewed yesterday. I was honest with the guy - I've used drugs a little in the last six months. I've never been that into it. He seemed cool with that. message here: don't do drugs, period. Even school has random drug testing....

sleepy eyes.

School starts at 7am. I usually have to wake up early to walk my pup, take a shower and eat some breakfast. Getting up at five in the morning is killing me. I ask, is a shower optional for automotive school? What's worse is that this weekend is daylight savings time and next week I'll be getting up at five which will really feel like four. i don't think i've been up this early since high school. Thank god for coffee!

a lesson learned.

Today is International Women's Day, and I figure what better day to write about being a woman in a male dominated field than today. This week has had it's challenges, that's for sure.

As you know, I've been looking for a job in the automotive field. An entry level jobs that gets my foot in the door. There are lots of them out there. It's just a matter of finding one. I applied last week at and upscale dealership for a lot attendant job. The job isn't glamourous, and I'm ok with that. I realize I have no training or experience and that I'm going to have to start somewhere. I went in on Tues this week to inquire about the position in person since the service manager wasn't available to talk when I put in my application. I had noticed the employees were dressed nicely so
I pulled out the old business-cassual attire to show I am serious about getting the job. I was lucky enough to get a quick 10 min with the manager. He told me the job had been filled but wanted to know what my strengths are. I gave him a bunch of quick bull-shit answers. "I'm a quick learner with a strong mechanical and mathematical background." "I'm very detail oriented." The typical crap. He responded by telling me that while they don't have any positions open, he appreciated the fact that I came in to talk to him. "Shows tenacity." He explains that they might have a position as a greeter available. The greeter would involve getting there before customers, MAKING COFFEE, and, you guessed it, GREET the customers. Crazy, I know. I explain I'd be fine with that if I have the opportunity to shadow technicians in downtime. He looked perturbed that I said this. I can't understand why. I told him I am going to school for automotives. He says, "well your job is to greet the customers. That is what you will need to be doing." I would have appreciated more of a response that stated something along the lines of "We definately like to promote from within...blah blah blah." Or even explaining that I am welcome to shadow techs in my spare time. Nothing. I left a little discouraged. To top it off, the guy told me he had called me the day before. There is no record of missed calls on my phone and it's not known to miss phone calls altogether. Liar.

So moving on....Went to another dealership dressed in my professsional kiss-ass dress. This one was a domestic dealership. (Note: Katie has complete disdain for the design of domestic automobiles. Pieces o' crap, in my opinion.) The lot manager took one look at my resume and kindly told me that I'm too overqualified for a lot attendant. He remembered my voice from a message I left for him the week before and commented on how professiona I sounds. "What about a sales position?" I AM GOING TO SCHOOL TO BE A AUTO TECH! Did the sales thing. Not my thing. He asked me if I realized how little a lot attendant gets paid. I explained that I am willing to make that sacrifice. This guys wasn't a total slimeball like the previous guy, but I still left frustrated and jobless.

So. What is holding these people back from hiring me?

Lack of jobs?
Professional background?
Being female?
Lack of experience (I'm not applying for jobs that require skill. Most require washing cars)?
Good communication skills (blogs entries excempt)?

Which one takes the cake?

On the flip side I'm blowing it up in class. Yesterday we started a 12 page math packet which is due in a week. He gave us the classtime to work on it. I finished it first out of 30 people. My new friend next to me was about a page behind me and he double checked all my work. I got most of them right. Pat myself on the back. By the time class was over a lot of people had finished half of the packet. Some people had barely made it past the second page. The teacher posted grades for the class up to this point at the end of class. All the students clamoured to find their status. I waited it out. The crowd called for my student number - they wanted to know if I was at the head of the class. Turns out I'm not. I'm about 0.7 points behind the number one guy. The head of the class is my new friend that checked my math packet. I laughed and told him that he's going down. I will be ..1. He laughed in return. Good old fashioned friendly competition. Good thing we've been doing our homework together.

Murdurous Thug got pissed at me today. We had one week to type up our graded rough drafts of our resume and they were due at 7am today. At 9:30am, our half-hour break time, the thug approaches me and asks me if I type well.
"I type ok. What's up?"
"I'm slow at typing and need to type up my resume and I was thinking you could...."
"I'll help you, but I'm not going to type it."
"Nah, I don't need your help. Fuck it. I'm failing this anyways."

Lesson learned: Do not help these guys. The fact that he didn't do his resume is not my problem. If I help and give them an inch, they'll take a mile, like I owe it to them. I don't need to earn their respect by bending over backwards for them. Instead I need to earn it by being a damn good mechanic.

basic concepts.

Everything today went smoothly. We covered basic physics concepts. The overview they give at the school is so watered down I found it almost a little confusing. I'm going to be sure to not fully trust the book and do a little refreshing on these concepts on my own. Best example I've ever heard on convection came up today though. Convection is the process of moving heat suck as through hot air rising and cool air sinking. You warm you seat when you fart - blowing hot air. Physics meets bodily functions. I don't think that this is probably the best example but it sure was amusing.

So, why do I talk so much about thuggery and prison? Is it a new obsession? Maybe a little. But mainly this is happening because it comes up almost as much if not more than actual talk about cars. We managed to get off subject today when the teacher made a comment about a cop that was parked outside the building. The class FREAKED! This brought about a great conversation of the exits in the room, statute of limitations in most states, being expedited, and that a plastic fork can make the best knife when prepared correctly.

Tomorrow we are taking a field trip to a jeep dealership in town. It was asked if we can take a field trip to the jail. "I wanna visit my dad."

I had a long conversation with a guy that is going to automotive school so he can make enough money to attend architecture school. He's like my mirror twin. Kinda.

He did three and a half years in prison and is trying to start over. It's heartbreaking in a way. He committed a crime seven years ago. His initial time spent was three years and then he was out for 11 months before he broke his parole and ended up locked up again. During his last lockup his fiance got pregnant with someone else during the time she was living in his parents house. He just got out in December is trying to stay clean, find a job, and attend school. He can't seem to understand why I would walk away from the architecture world and I can't understand why he would want in. How do I explain it to him? All of these conversations make me wonder what most of these guys' chances are of making it through school....time will tell I guess.

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I've recently had the luck to meet a female Master Tech for BMW. We had a chance to sit down for coffee on Sat and discuss the industry. She's been in the business for quite some time after leaving a career in Sports Promotion (she was encouraged to sleep with the clients in order to sell season tickets). She believes that most harrassment battles aren't worth the fight. She said she just tries to set the stage off right as soon as she gets on the job. The guys are watching and waiting for a female to screw up the minute she walks in the door. Instead, she says she takes her time and proves herself. She does have a hard time getting raises and training sometimes but her recommendation is to take the bull by the horns. The best thing that came out of the conversation is that she is going to try to get me a job at the BMW dealership. "Women gotta watch out for each other in this industry." Cross your fingers...

BMW prospects led me to their website. If you have never checked it out, I recommend it. If you only have time for one thing check out the video of their new factory in Germany (a popup will come up and you can follow the links to the Leipzig tour or choose to go to the "Explore the Ideas are Everything microsite" link). It was designed by Zaha Hadid. Pretty cool.

Also, check out this great calendar of female mechanics. It was made by a female photographer from KY no less. Good inspiration.

quotes.

Clarification: These statements happen in downtime not classroom time.

Thug ..1: "...who really wants to be here...i don't wanna be at no school...i wanna be chasing pussy..."

Thug ..2: [singing] "...you can come on over baby. First we'll start with some foreplay..."

Thug ..3: "...I don't commit to no one but myself. All these women i date want me to fix their cars.
Her: Oh honey come over. You can drive my car when we go out.
Him: This car drives all fucked up. What's wrong with it?
Her: I was hoping you could look at it.
Him: sigh.
He then told me that he and I could never date cause we'd argue about how to repair the car.
Damn. I shed a tear.

food, jobs and safety.

First, it has come to my attention that I need to clarify the professional dress example. The teacher was making a point that what you wear in your personal time is your business but that what you wear while you are at work is extremely important. He was pointing out that he doubts I wear my uniform out on the town. He did a good job of painting the picture for everyone. Just to prove him wrong I'm going to hit the town in my standard issue blue-on-blue ensemble. I've got five shirts - anyone want to join me?

So I've finished my first week. It's been interesting and boring at the same time. Anyone who has ever started a new job or school most likely knows what I mean. Often the first week is the slowest. We haven't covered much of anything that concerns the mechanisms of an automobile. We have however covered safety, mapped out all the locations of the fire extinguishers and first aid stations, raided the coffee machine in the lunchroom, and prepared our goals for the next ten years. There were plenty of times I wanted to put my pen in my eye to dull the pain of class.

I have come to realize that I'm going to have to develop a rap about why I'm going to school. Unlike most people I don't have a PASSION for cars. My reasons for starting tech school amount to more of a hunch or experiment. I've changed the oil on a car once in my life. This hardly qualifies me as an automotive mechanic. THIS is why I'm going to SCHOOL. I'm having a hard time with the personal nature of the question "why are you here?" It's a common question, but I'm beginning to think it's a little too invasive. People that ask me this don't know me yet want to understand my deep personal reasoning. They then pass judgement when the don't hear the answer they think I should give. I need a story.

We covered OSHA and EPA guidelines this week. They teacher expanded on the importance of following the rules. It was apparent that the majority of class thinks rules are made to be broken. About a month ago a close friend of mine gave me an article that addressed the issues of machismo in the workplace. The author of the article is a female working in a male-dominated union shop in NYC. She deals with the attitude that safety rules are for sissies on a regular basis. Most people don't realize so many of the rules came out of years of struggle. Prior to regulations protecting the safety of workers and our environment, companies treated them as disposable. Why worry about safety when there are no consequences for your actions? Safety goggles - how many eyes were lost before they were required or available?

Speaking of a feminist perspective. The teacher made a suggestion for those wanting to own their own shop: Put everything in your wife's name. Women-owned businesses are not in abundance, so often there are special grants and loans for minority owned businesses. Response from white guy: "That's bullshit sexism!!!!" Sigh.

I'm on the job hunt. Without any experience, my opportunities are limited. I will probably end up at a dealership washing cars, running errands and shovelling snow. In the long term my options are vast. I can work on any car out there, work in Antarctica, fix tour buses for band on the road...sky is the limit. check this out...oh, to be pit crew for them....intense....don't forget to look at their winner's circle photo album

Recipe of the week:

JAILHOUSE BURRITO
Prep time: 3 minutes Total cooking time: 33-63 minutes

1 bag of chips, Chili flavor preferable
package of ramen noodles
1 cup hot water
miscellaneous meat product, whatever is on hand

Empty bag of chips, setting content aside. Save the bag. Pour half of the chips, ramen, water, and meat into bag. Mush up. Roll bag closed tightly. Place the package under mattress or other object that can provide pressure. Leave for 30-60 minutes. Remove from under mattress, cut top of the bag. Remove log of food. Enjoy!

Yummy in my tummy!

Next week we tackle math. We will be covering decimals and fractions for two days. For a girl that once majored in engineering and mastered Calculus 1,2, and 3, Differential Equations, and Linear Algebra this should be good times. It will take all my strength to not put my pen into my eye. Wish me luck.