7/27/2014, Job update and other things

I have started my new job and things are moving along pretty well.  It is taking longer than anticipated to learn all the things that I need to know to be able to do the job and get started in the full swing of things.  I have enjoyed the extensive training, but it also feels like it could be done a little better at least for my way of learning.  They are training several people at once for several different positions and there is a lot of general policy and company stuff that everyone has to learn.  And then we do shadow stuff with the people in our various departments.

The company as a whole is a Residential Re-entry Center (RCC), there are so many acronyms it starts to get ridiculous, but even after 2 weeks I find myself starting to use them and not really thinking about it.  An RCC is a part of the Bureau of Prisons (BOP, see what I mean) that is the final stage for federal inmates before they are released from prison back to the community on probation.  These types of facilities can range from in the prison to the community, however as there is no federal prison in Hawaii, people sentenced to federal prison are all sent to the mainland and then when they are about to be released (last 6 months of their sentence or so) they are sent to TJ Mahoney (TJM) RRC.  The company overseas all inmates who are going to be released in Hawaii, Guam, American Samoa, the pacific region in general.  For the end of their sentence they gain increasing privileges and time in the community.  In return for overnight passes and furloughs to be with family, the residents are expected to find a job, a place to live, start saving money, repay any restitution or fines, and maintain any requirements of their sentence (drug/alcohol rehab (DA/AA), mental health (MH), etc (again with the acronyms).  As they secure work and progress through the program they are allowed to spend more time out of the center, start to live at home, and what not.

So my job within this company is the "Community-based Case Manager" (CBCM).  I work mainly with the people who have moved to higher levels and are starting home detention or community placement, the later sounds nice, but are the same thing.  Basically, the people who are now living at home.  This means doing random home and work checks to make sure they are complying with the terms of their release (all residents are required to be accounted for 24 hrs a day, to ensure this it is my job to randomly swing by work and home once a week and make sure they are where they say they are going to be).  In addition I also continue the services that all residents receive.  Weekly case note updates, ensuring they are attending DA/AA services, paying subsistence (payments to the RCC for the cost of their stay, 25% of their pay once they start working), saving money, etc.

So thats a run down on my job.  Still in the training process.  The person that I am replacing left the company and there is a case manager assistant that has essentially stepped up to take the job.  However, he is in the USAF reserve and getting called up for August, and he is supposed to assist all the other case managers.  Loren (Assistant CM) is trying to get me trained to take his/my job before he goes, but not sure he is going to be able to finish before he goes.

That is job 1.  Job 2, Smart Karate (SK) is still going, but I am getting a little frustrated with them.  I was supposed to start learning how to do their billing procedures so that I could potentially take over for the woman currently doing it, but that was talked about in the start of July and still has yet to happen.  They have outlined the path that I can take to receive my black belt through them, taking a different path than most.  Partly a reward for working for them, partly a result of my demonstrated ability in the martial arts, part work reward because they can not pay higher salaries.  But it comes with the expectation that I would remain an active part of the organization for a while.  But I have concerned over their organizational setup and overall business model.  I dont think they are going out of business anytime soon.  However, I see a lot of annoyances coming from their attempt to teach mainly at after school programs.  It requires a lot of staff who can not get enough hours to really make SK a viable even part-time job.  Its 1-2 hours a day, 2-5 days a week, but requires pretty much the whole afternoon, 2:45-4 plus transit time which here can be quite a bit.  Makes working elsewhere hard.  But not enough hours available for more and each teacher can obviously only be at one school so if they expand schools as they want they need more staff to work 3 hours a week, and the staff need to be qualified black belt which can be hard to find, oh and they need reliable transportation and like working with 3-10 year olds... its get hard to maintain staff.  This all results in a situation like we are facing now with summer ending and the school year starting and shortage of teachers to cover all the program hours and no one in the pipeline to bring in and start training to take on hours.

I do like working for SK, all that withstanding.  Learning Karate has been interesting, getting paid to train is great, although paid more would be better.  Just keeping an eye on whether the frustration that comes with SK starts to outweigh its benefits or impact other areas.

What else, someone knocked over my motorcycle a couple weeks ago.  The damage estimate is looking like more than the value of the vehicle.  And with my new job requiring me to drive all over the island I think I am going to sell my bike and get something a little newer and without all the electrical issues the current one has.  But right now the insurance is moving slow and I dont know if they are going to issue a check for the damage estimate or salvage the bike.  But while all thats going on, a new electrical problem has surfaced that may or may not be related to the accident causing the main fuse to blow all the time, making the bike unrideable.  If they are going to salvage the bike, there is no point in getting it fixed. If not then I need it running to sell cheap after the settlement.  But there is a huge backlog at all the bike shops and it has sat for 4 days at the shop I go to waiting for someone to have time to take look and get me an estimate on the cost to get it running.  Now its a race to see if the insurance or the repair shop moves slower.  Fortunately Marina has a car and bike (and bicycles to work) so I can coordinate with her to use what she is not.  And there is a car at work I can use if I want.  But I just want to be done with the current bike and get something good on gas mileage (I get $.55 a mile and can make $12-$16 a gallon with a decent bike at 30 mpg) for doing all my house and work checks.  But need to know how much I have to spend before getting a new bike.  I am going to a used bike dealer today to look at their stock and get an idea of what I can afford once I hear from the insurance company.

There is a grappling tournament I am entered in on the 9th.  Should be fun.  And I am hoping that once work goes from training to regular I can find a normal work schedule that will allow me to put together a regular training schedule to try and get another MMA match.  I would need to find a coach that I like, and have some people in mind, but want to make sure that I have time to put in the hours that I feel I would need to be ready for a match.  And will have to wear my headgear when sparring to not break my nose before the match.  At least the new job comes with full health care, dental and I think vision.  So that nice.

Thats about all I got.   

Life updates, 7/13/14

I thought I would respond to the email from Phil in my blog so that everyone can read it and I wanted to try and start writing again since I havent posted in a while.

So what has been going on.  Yesterday was the triple crown grappling tournament.  I think it will be the last one of that organization that I will do.  They just seem pretty unorganized.  People have been less interested in them because of that and as a result the brackets are smaller.  My Gi division only had 3 people.  Instead of doing a round robin style, one person by luck of the draw got a bye into the final round.  I matched up in the first round with a good grappler.  We went the full 6 minutes and the overtime 2 min without any points being scored.  At first the ref raised my hand as the victor, not really sure why because although it was a technical draw, at that point the winner should be the person who was attacking more and that wasnt me.  After a quick coaches discussion, the other guy was determined to be the winner, still only three people... I got third place.

In the No Gi division I did much better.  There were 5 competitors and I took 2nd.  I won my first match pretty easily, I think 10 or 12 - 0.  Lost the final match for second, 7-0.  I think.  The other guy was good.  But I get to hold on to my yet to be submitted streak and only having lost in a grappling match by points.

Moving on to what is probably the bigger news, I am starting a new job next week.  I had been waiting to say anything because a lot of things have come up and several rounds of interviews to have nothing actually materialize.  But I have made it through the rounds and next week start the orientation training for TJ Mahoney Hale.  I will be case managing Federal prisoners through their re-entry on release from prison.  I still have a lot to learn about the position and how it works, but basically I will be ensuring they find work, a stable living environment, meet court conditions for release and try to keep them from being the 70% the re-offend.  It doesnt pay amazing, starting salary is $18/hour, but it does come with benefits, still have to see exactly what that entails and should be fairly flexible with the hours.  It is also right across the street from an MMA gym that I have wanted to train at but is hard to make at rush hour, now I could easily walk there.  Wednesday and Friday are the orientation.  So I should now a lot more about the job after that.  I think there is also a short test, so hopefully that goes well.  And I am still waiting on the results of my federal background check.  So I guess the job is not finalized as I have not signed anything yet or been paid, but I think this one is going to stick.

Of course as soon as one gets offered another comes along as well.  In this case I think I should be able to do both.  The people at TJM know that I have been working at Smart Karate and said that I should be able to make my schedule in a way that I can do both.  I am going to step down a few teaching hours, but keep working a couple days a week for them.  But SK has also offered me the chance to take over all their student billing duties.  Something that has been being done piecemeal by two people and not very well overall.  While I was supposed to start training two weeks ago and am still waiting (also was told that I am in line for another raise) it is there and I am confident that it will happen, but they are slow and not the best organized.  So I am happy to keep getting paid by them, but not a company that I would want to devote myself to entirely.

However, through SK I meant another Brian who is something like the director of a youth community outreach/recreation center.  Mostly targeting juveniles who are going through the justice system.  It appears they are in the process of redesigning an old facility to turn it into a rec center and looking for programs to offer for juveniles who have community service or pro-social hour requirements to complete for the terms of their court decisions.  I have been talking with Brian about organizing a course in traditional martial arts (TMA) for them to offer at the new rec center.  I have been taking advantage of still having access to Ebsco through the Chicago School library and pulling a lot of articles on TMA and the positive effects it has on violence reduction, aggression, stress, etc and writing a proposal to get funding to teach to the little delinquents (not sure that is the right term).  So that would be a 3rd albeit part-time gig.  I think the idea would be 2-3 days a week.  And would have to go through several approvals before we could move forward to actually planning the course.  However, to make that work it would be much better if I actually had a black belt in something (the whole idea is the use of TMA over modern or sport martial arts which is where most of my training lies) and SK could help with that.  I have been talking with SK about getting my black belt through them but everyone is busy and it hasnt been a priority... until now.

On top of that I am trying to keep meeting with my Chinese teacher once a week and keep the language up.

Oh and my motorcycle was knocked over twice in a week by people backing out of parallel parking spaces and not looking behind them.  The first time the mirror on the handle bars cracked, $20.  The second time the rear passenger peg was cracked, the rear fairing cracked and the sub-frame got bent, estimate for parts and labor $1950.  And I think I should replace my helmet as well since the bike kind of fell on it.  Thankfully when I came out of the restaurant the guy who hit me was trying to pick my bike back up and I was able to get his information.  When I texted him the next day at first he denied it was him, but then after getting the police involved he starting being a bit more cooperative.  I am trying to arrange a time to meet with him later today to discuss whether he wants to go through his insurance or pay out of pocket.  I offered him to pay half and I would deal with it myself, probably sell the bike cheap and buy something new because the repair cost is most likely greater than the value of the bike and the damage does not impact ride-ability, just dont want to have a passenger putting weight on the peg.

So yea, its been a pretty eventful and busy couple weeks. Hopefully by next month money will be coming in because it seems that I have a lot of costs coming up.  I also learned recently that my original student loans do not get a 6 month delay on repayment from graduation, only the new ones get the delay, so that was nice to get a notice telling me I was two months behind because the account that it was linked to was closed back when I relocated from China to the US.

But things are going well, jobs are finally (albeit slowly) lining themselves up and after almost two years (quit Wuhan ISP in August 2012, although was paid through the month till September) of no real full-time work, I'm back.  I am thinking a hard year working through these three jobs and then trying to make a real push to get to the mainland for a good 4 to 6-month vacation.  Been talking with Marina about trying to ride motorcycles south from the US as far to/through South America as possible in a couple months and then swinging back up.  I mean after a year of full-time work I think another 6-month sabbatical is important to keep the might fresh and rejuvenated.

3/13/14

Tonight… so first off, our house is suffering from a slight centipede infestation.  For those who don’t know, Hawaiian centipedes pack a punch.  Some people who are unlucky enough to find out after the fact are allergic and the sting is possibly fatal.  Almost as painful is the bite.  They get to be 6 inches or longer and have blue coloring.  For 13 months I didn’t see one alive, a few dead in the driveway after a big rain.  Now we have dozens in the ceiling.  Small bitty fuckers, that probably couldn’t bite through the skin, but only getting bigger.

Now on my way to bed, there is a leaf tucked up in my door jam.  I walk by several times, it doesn’t move.   But I notice that it has a tail and the more I look I realize that it might also have legs.  It might not be a leaf … scorpion.  So far I haven’t even heard that they have those on the island.   Given its disconnect from the mainland there are many things that just never made it here, I’m not sure if scorpion is on the list.  I check Robyn’s room for a dirty glass, there is a better chance of that being the case then you might think.  But no success, so I go get a class from the kitchen.  It hasn’t move yet, why should it run now.  Come back and sure enough I have trapped a scorpion in my bedroom doorway.  

After a bit of debate I decide that my karma has been pretty good these last couple weeks, I have found $80 on the ground ($20, $20, and $40).  So instead of throwing the scorpion in the fire outside (roommates were having a little bonfire to enjoy the night) maybe it would be better to release him.  But as I am coming to this decision, a fire truck arrives and 4 fire fighters have come to investigate our fire pit.  Apparently someone down in the valley below has seen our little fire and was concerned that our house was burning down.  They were very nice, told us that for cooking or religious services a fire was ok, but otherwise it is frowned upon.  Vieve quickly extinguished it and they headed off. 

The scorpion, while already decided it could live, was clearly not met to go in the fire.  It was released over the side of the house back to not my room.  Now its almost 1am, I have to work at 7am and I can’t sleep for shit…and the internet doesn’t work, so this is going to have to wait to be posted for at least a day or so.

3/9/2014

On the big island for the weekend and have been having a great time.  Marina has now met both sets of parents and I think it was pretty painless.  But the weekend distractions have been pretty good.  Friday we went diving, two dives.   A reef dive and night dive with the manta rays.  The first dive was amazing, the visibility was so much better than where I dive on a regular basis.  Saw so many things from the basic eels and fish to garden eels, spinner dolphins, octopus, and a nudibranch.  Even on the way to the dive our boat stopped for a couple whales that were within 20 feet of the boat for about 10 minutes.

The second dive was Marina's first night dive and was also re aally cool.  It was supposed to be the manta ray night dive where everyone gathers and uses their lights to attract plankton and briang in the rays.  Not many came through, but still saw 3 and 1 stayed overhead for a while circiling and being awesome.  Saw a whole bunch of custraceans, lobster, shrimp, something in a big shell and an eel eating a fish.  Overall the dive was great.  I am a huge fan of the night dives and cant wait to do more.

Then on Saturday we went to volcano and checked the national park out.  It was pretty cool although the lava flows in the area have stopped.  It was much better to come back at night and see the crater lighting up the area from the glow.  My cell phone did not do it mcuh justice but thankfully Terry was able to get some good shots.  This morning we hiked through the crater and walked across the old volcano flow.  The landscape was unreal in distant plantet kind of way.  What Mars or the Moon should look like, but the weather was great and with mild overcast and good wind it was a really pleasant hike for  walking on Mars.  After the hike we had lunch in Hilo and headed back to Kona.  One more day here and then its back to Oahu and time to get ready to move...

March 3, 2014

updates...
school finished yesterday for the last real term.  Still waiting on one grade, but should be another straight A term.  Passed the research class so now the last term is going to be finishing my research project and defending my project.  Should be pretty easy as I am confident with what I have put together so far.  Then I am done. Will have a masters degree and the debt to prove it, question is now what to do with it...

I have started working at Smart Karate teaching martial arts to kids.  I think through them I am going to be able to get a black belt in karate, although to be honest I'm not sure what that would be worth at this point in my martial arts progression.  Some of the knowledge, self-defense and weapons stuff is fun, but a lot of the abstract and fancy kicks that they teach for the higher level belts is really not that useful.  Plus having the belt doesn't get me more MMA matches... but who knows.  Would be fun to have, but would prefer one in BJJ.  That might take a few more years, or a decade.

The dive job has been going better since the new captain, George has been handling more of the admin duties.  Staffing seems to be running better as well since they removed one of the divers and replaced him with a string of new people, they never seem to last that long.  One of the current divers is going to be sailing a boat that he made from Hawaii to the mainland.  When he takes off I am going to move to three days a week from two.  But at the moment he is waiting for a window in the weather.  Between that and Smart Karate I am almost to a real number of hours working in a week.  Not quite, I  want to ease myself into it.

I think I will try to get myself one more fight to try and redeem the loss from January.  Maybe in May or June when I can really dedicate myself to work and training without the third distraction of school.  Not sure what kind of schedule I will have once I start the hunt for a real job or something that might use either Chinese or psych so I want to get another fight in while I know I have the time for a good training camp.

Last real update is that Marina and I will be moving together and got word today on an apartment on liholiho street.  Going to be signing the papers in a couple days, trip to the big island to see my mom and then time to move in.  The Robert place house is starting to wrap up and slowly cleaning out the house.  At least stocking the kitchen should be pretty easy.  Pics of the new place to come.

January 25th, Blaisdal Arena, MMA Fight, Not So Good

Last night did not go so well.  Fight ended at the close of the first round.  At the moment I am still not entirely clear what the actual decision/reason was.  I don’t really remember the course of events after the middle or so of the fight.  I took a couple good right hooks to the side of the head, evidence of that in lumps, tenderness and purple/bruised ear on the left side of my head.  The inside leg kick was landing, but I wasn’t linking that to anything else.  Instead of taking advantage of him being off balance and closing in for a follow-up combination, I think I was glad that I bought myself a moment to try and get my head together to avoid another hook.  Looking back I needed to try and counter that hook, spent so many rounds and pad time working and coming in on the punch to counter with the straight right or the 2-3-2, but just couldn’t bring myself to feel confident enough to step in and throw with the fear that the right hook was somehow going to double up.  As I think about it now I am pretty sure the straight right would have been clean down the middle.  Must have been really frustrating to be in my corner after all that work to see me hold back that combo. 

            As the fight came to an end, I’m not sure what exactly happened.  I was pretty sure the round had to close to over, thought I heard the 10 second bell.  Then the ref was in front of me; I thought he was directing me to the corner.  I asked him something, either; is the round over and I think I say him waiving off the fight so I tried to ask why the fight was over.  But I stress I think that’s what happened because I am really not sure.  Then I realized there was a fair amount of blood coming down my face, mostly my nose.  I don’t really remember from there to the locker room.  But it was straight to the bathroom to bleed all over the floor.  Between myself and Shojin (fighter and training partner) who was the fight before (broke his nose) the bathroom looked pretty nasty.  Possible murder scene and the cheap bathroom towels did not help to absorb anything.  Later one after we were cleaned up and head back together, Shojin was trying to clean up the mess we had left, but started leaking out the nose faucet, dripping once for every drop he cleaned.  It seemed to sum up the night.  After a little while, everything comes back into focus.  Spent some time getting myself cleaned up.  Went out had a beer.  Felt much better.

            I’m trying to figure out why I didn’t counter.  I know was backed down a bit by the power.  I was expected him to be quick, but was rocked pretty early by one of the hooks and was afraid that if I got hit with another it might not put me out, but was going to leave me badly dazed.  I was also waiting for the left straight to follow-up, might have but the right side feels pretty clean so either it didn’t happen or it missed.  I am used to counter punching, but when the power in his shots backed me down, I wasn’t confident enough to risk the counter.  On offense the leg kick was working great, the one head kick was good, but didn’t press the punches or take advantage of him being off balance. 

            The other thing was different was that I wasn’t looking forward to the fight.  It was different in the prefight.  Usually the week before I get really nervous/anxious about a week to a couple days out, but as the day draws I also get excited and look forward to stepping out there.  This fight I was excited.  It felt more about getting it done so that I could move on to the next thing.  Like it was something that I do, I’m going to keep doing, but this one just didn’t feel like something I wanted, more felt obligated, to myself and for the people I was training with.  I think the biggest disappointment comes from letting down the coach and the team.  You want to represent your team and show what you and the gym can do.  Getting TKO’d at the end of the first round doesn’t really do that very well.  It happens.  I would like to find a way to get that fire back that I had at the last fight.  I think need to change my training a little.  I wanted more diverse training partners more proper MMA focus to bring the Muay Thai and BJJ together.  I definitely do not want to finish on a loss. 

            Maybe with school and the job pressure and everything else it was too much.  I don’t know, but next term with school winding down, working a martial arts job, and less distractions I can get my head back to where I want it to be.