Brother Training

    Was sent to LA the other week to do some training on Brother Fax machines.  The class wasn't to bad.  Learned a lot from the teacher and especially from the other students.  For some of the other students this was just a touch up class for their skills.  There were only four students.  One guy is a technician from another company in the silicon valley.  So basically I already knew him.  The other two guys were from outer state.  Al Spell is a business owner from Conroe, a city outside of Houston Texas.  Richard Shour is a service manager from Kansas City.  Both really nice guys.

     I found Rich funny in the sense that he smoked a lot  and was always on the phone during breaks.  He would be war dialing the moment the class went to recess.  The smoking thing I find interesting because even though I'm a former smoker, here in California it's just not that rampant.  Sure people smoke and you do see them, but not one stick, after another stick after another.  Of course I don't work with smokers so perhaps I'm just spoiled and have been blinded to the many people who do smoke.  Richard had the nerve to start mocking ThaGierk and that is why he is here on www.thagierk.com.  Fuck you Richard, you smoking bastard.  Just Kidding.  He did offer me a job out there in Kansas City which is a compliment.  Shows  that he thinks I'm somewhat of a good technician.  In fairness, I do have Mad Printer Repair Skills.

    And then there's Al Spell,  since we were at the same Holiday Inn (he was actually in the room next to me) we would go out at night.  The first night we went out, as we're walking into a Restaurant he turns to me and says, "Do you want to sit in the smoking or non smoking section?"  To which I laugh and say, "Al, smoking is not allowed in any building in California.  As a matter of fact in some cities it's not even allowed outside on the sidewalk."  He's reply was "That's just crazy"  Al himself was a non smoker, so he wasn't all that upset.  The second thing I found out from Al, is that he has a license to carry a cancelled weapon.  Which led into many conversations at the table.  Said that he lived in the middle of nowhere, and if anything was to happen it would take the police 20 minutes to get there.  Which made sense to own a gun, but why did he need to conceal it?  Still doesn't make to much sense to me, and Al never gave me a clear and valid reason why he has one.  And to tell you the truth, I don't think he was ever going to tell me the real reason why.  Fine by me.