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Reconsider majoring in meteorology!


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In regards to using technology to forecast... I had to spend TWO semesters doing everything by hand. That's the only way you can learnt to look for patterns is when you do it yourself. How else are you going to actually see the CAA or WAA or even isentropic lift and all that fun stuff unless you sit there and take the time to contour it yourself. Yes, computers are a very important part of our work environment now a days, but it shouldn't be the MAIN emphasis when learning all of the material. I didn't learn how to graph maps on computers until my last semester in school (Synoptic 2). I was okay with this since I had a sound understanding of most of the material and had already been through the blood, sweat, tears, and colored pencils. Many times my classmates would wonder why I was able to forecast the next few days so well... It's easy... look to the skies! Or even the conditions to the West/North of you (depending on where you are this helps a ton).

I agree with many on here about picking up another major in Computer Science or even GIS if possible. If you have a GIS certificate or better, then you will have no issue finding a job. If you want to do television... make sure that is what you want to do and have a VERY thick skin. Also, as with any other major, find internships! These are THE most important part of finding a job ANYWHERE! I did two, while some of my friends didn't do any... and you know what? They are still looking for jobs. I graduated in April and found a job in October. Jobs are to be had out there, but you just have to set yourself above all others.

Those are just my words of wisdom, from someone who recently graduated and found a job in broadcasting.

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regarding the find a job anywhere thing, you gotta remember some people are in committed relationships or have family responsibilities preventing them from wanting to do this. Hence my saying that unless meteorology is the most important thing in your life and your willing to do anything for it you should probably find a different field since you won't be able to pick where you live.

In regards to using technology to forecast... I had to spend TWO semesters doing everything by hand. That's the only way you can learnt to look for patterns is when you do it yourself. How else are you going to actually see the CAA or WAA or even isentropic lift and all that fun stuff unless you sit there and take the time to contour it yourself. Yes, computers are a very important part of our work environment now a days, but it shouldn't be the MAIN emphasis when learning all of the material. I didn't learn how to graph maps on computers until my last semester in school (Synoptic 2). I was okay with this since I had a sound understanding of most of the material and had already been through the blood, sweat, tears, and colored pencils. Many times my classmates would wonder why I was able to forecast the next few days so well... It's easy... look to the skies! Or even the conditions to the West/North of you (depending on where you are this helps a ton).

I agree with many on here about picking up another major in Computer Science or even GIS if possible. If you have a GIS certificate or better, then you will have no issue finding a job. If you want to do television... make sure that is what you want to do and have a VERY thick skin. Also, as with any other major, find internships! These are THE most important part of finding a job ANYWHERE! I did two, while some of my friends didn't do any... and you know what? They are still looking for jobs. I graduated in April and found a job in October. Jobs are to be had out there, but you just have to set yourself above all others.

Those are just my words of wisdom, from someone who recently graduated and found a job in broadcasting.

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regarding the find a job anywhere thing, you gotta remember some people are in committed relationships or have family responsibilities preventing them from wanting to do this. Hence my saying that unless meteorology is the most important thing in your life and your willing to do anything for it you should probably find a different field since you won't be able to pick where you live.

Or you could just demand that your significant other move. ;)

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regarding the find a job anywhere thing, you gotta remember some people are in committed relationships or have family responsibilities preventing them from wanting to do this. Hence my saying that unless meteorology is the most important thing in your life and your willing to do anything for it you should probably find a different field since you won't be able to pick where you live.

If you are not willing to move, or have a significant other that won't allow you to do so, then either you should have never gotten into meteo since you don't care enough to pursue it (unless you don't mind the "sweatshops" and can make it work... I do have lots of friends still at AccuWx, who of course aren't paid well, but seem content for various reasons), or you need a new significant other. ;)

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I can think of counterexamples from personal experience.

I can think of counterexamples from personal experience.

Not saying those aren't good rules of thumb, but you have to remember that like any other situation involving human discretion, the acceptance/hiring/promotion process in this field has its flaws.

Like any profession, connections and networking matter as much...in some cases more...than academic credentials.

You can be "good" but if you can't network or communicate your way out of a wet paper bag you're going to struggle getting in the door.

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It's the same with many professional degrees right now. Go interview some Law School or Business School Seniors right now and ask them how their employment prospects look.

If I was in school right now I'd be studying Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic. Then I'd get an MBA in international finance.

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Yes, but as I've said elsewhere in this thread meteorology brings this problem to a new scale that matches few other professions since the field is so small and the number of jobs are orders of magnitude smaller. Generally speaking, most young people are looking to settle down in a particular area or have settled in an area and are looking for jobs roughly within roughly a 1 hr radius of where they live, and yes indeed it is very difficult finding a job in many if not most professions these days. With meteorology, finding a job in a particular region of your choosing is virtually out of the question unless you happen to be in a one of the few places there are multiple met jobs (DC area, Boulder, S Texas). Unlike most professions, it's a given mets have to open up their job search nation or even world wide right off the bat. A lot of mets don't realize this as they are making the decision to major in meteorology and it only comes as a rude awakening later on. Hence, the reason for this thread I started.

It's the same with many professional degrees right now. Go interview some Law School or Business School Seniors right now and ask them how their employment prospects look.

If I was in school right now I'd be studying Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic. Then I'd get an MBA in international finance.

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Yes, but as I've said elsewhere in this thread meteorology brings this problem to a new scale that matches few other professions since the field is so small and the number of jobs are orders of magnitude smaller. Generally speaking, most young people are looking to settle down in a particular area or have settled in an area and are looking for jobs roughly within roughly a 1 hr radius of where they live, and yes indeed it is very difficult finding a job in many if not most professions these days. With meteorology, finding a job in a particular region of your choosing is virtually out of the question unless you happen to be in a one of the few places there are multiple met jobs (DC area, Boulder, S Texas). Unlike most professions, it's a given mets have to open up their job search nation or even world wide right off the bat. A lot of mets don't realize this as they are making the decision to major in meteorology and it only comes as a rude awakening later on. Hence, the reason for this thread I started.

Understand your points here, but the need to be willing to move to get a job has not changed. When I was in school 25 years ago, I was fully aware that if I wanted to work for the NWS, I was going to have to be willing to move. I was also aware that breaking into the field would be challenging. And that was when the job field was not nearly as competitive as it is today. I am not disagreeing with your original points - the job field is extremely competitiive right now, and you have to be willing to work your a$$ off to get a job. But it is incumbent upon students in the field to do the research to find that out early on in their pursuit of a degree, like I and many other did. It is also incumbent upon people in the field (and colleges) to be honest and proactive in getting that message out.

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Yes, specifically that part of the equation has not changed too much. But the overall picture (salary, ect..) is far more challenging for mets today and when I was in school I was not given honest "straight talk" about the reality of the field. The realities have been mainly an underground thing known by insiders but not by those in the mainstream or on the fringes of the field (weather enthusiasts, prospective students, the media, etc). That is why it becomes up to us to make this known. Also remember, the truth is easy to "spin". That is the really frustrating part. One can say there are for more types of weather jobs and new opportunities today (private sector, environmental, cable tv, networks) compared to the past (mainly just NWS) even though the ratio of jobs:mets has decreased, as have salary outlooks for most new mets, which is conviniently ignored. When asked "do your graduating mets get jobs?", the way this is spinned is saying "oh yes indeed! We have mets doing all kinds of amazing stuff! This one fellow, he's working in Alaska, several are in the Air Force, and another grad from a few years back is doing ground breaking research in Antarctica! What isn't told is that the market essentially forced them into these non traditional type jobs if they wanted to utilize their degree as opposed to staying at home and working at McDonalds. Students should do their homework but most of the information you find is in the "spin zone". For example, meteorology being in the top 15 or whatever jobs of 2009 - this was debunked in the original post.

Understand your points here, but the need to be willing to move to get a job has not changed. When I was in school 25 years ago, I was fully aware that if I wanted to work for the NWS, I was going to have to be willing to move. I was also aware that breaking into the field would be challenging. And that was when the job field was not nearly as competitive as it is today. I am not disagreeing with your original points - the job field is extremely competitiive right now, and you have to be willing to work your a$$ off to get a job. But it is incumbent upon students in the field to do the research to find that out early on in their pursuit of a degree, like I and many other did. It is also incumbent upon people in the field (and colleges) to be honest and proactive in getting that message out.

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I'll be starting on my B.S. in Atmos. Sci next fall at Lyndon State. After reading this thread I'm considering double majoring in computer science - they require a track for the "Computer Studies" degree, one of which is Atmospheric Science, and I'll be taking those classes already anyway. The double major therefore would require about 34 additional credits. I was planning on doing broadcasting/NWS "tracks" for the met degree, each of which are 15 credits. My ultimate goal has been, like many, a job in the NWS, but figured taking the broadcasting courses would be a good idea since I also like the broadcasting field of meteorology. Would it be beneficial to do the Comp. Studies major instead of broadcasting track? I've known about the lack of/difficult of getting jobs in the field however wasn't quite aware of how useful Computer Sci could be.

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you would be far better off, in my opinion, to do comp science as a double major as opposed to broadcast met. like other jobs in the met field, broadcast jobs are extremely competive. Since you have the opportunity I strongly recommend not puting all your eggs in one basket with meteorology.

I'll be starting on my B.S. in Atmos. Sci next fall at Lyndon State. After reading this thread I'm considering double majoring in computer science - they require a track for the "Computer Studies" degree, one of which is Atmospheric Science, and I'll be taking those classes already anyway. The double major therefore would require about 34 additional credits. I was planning on doing broadcasting/NWS "tracks" for the met degree, each of which are 15 credits. My ultimate goal has been, like many, a job in the NWS, but figured taking the broadcasting courses would be a good idea since I also like the broadcasting field of meteorology. Would it be beneficial to do the Comp. Studies major instead of broadcasting track? I've known about the lack of/difficult of getting jobs in the field however wasn't quite aware of how useful Computer Sci could be.

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I'll be starting on my B.S. in Atmos. Sci next fall at Lyndon State. After reading this thread I'm considering double majoring in computer science - they require a track for the "Computer Studies" degree, one of which is Atmospheric Science, and I'll be taking those classes already anyway. The double major therefore would require about 34 additional credits. I was planning on doing broadcasting/NWS "tracks" for the met degree, each of which are 15 credits. My ultimate goal has been, like many, a job in the NWS, but figured taking the broadcasting courses would be a good idea since I also like the broadcasting field of meteorology. Would it be beneficial to do the Comp. Studies major instead of broadcasting track? I've known about the lack of/difficult of getting jobs in the field however wasn't quite aware of how useful Computer Sci could be.

Double-check the course requirements to do an Atmos/Comp Sci double major... not sure about Lyndon State, but in SUNY Albany I was a year in before I decided to try the same thing... would have had to stay in school for 4.5-5 years to accomplish the double-major at that point. As it is, I had to take a Comp Sci class in the summer to make up for the time I lost by not doing Comp Sci freshman year.

If you do want to go into the world of broadcast, I would suggest taking at least one broadcast/journalism class that works on vocal training and composure for when you're in front of the camera.

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Double-check the course requirements to do an Atmos/Comp Sci double major... not sure about Lyndon State, but in SUNY Albany I was a year in before I decided to try the same thing... would have had to stay in school for 4.5-5 years to accomplish the double-major at that point. As it is, I had to take a Comp Sci class in the summer to make up for the time I lost by not doing Comp Sci freshman year.

If you do want to go into the world of broadcast, I would suggest taking at least one broadcast/journalism class that works on vocal training and composure for when you're in front of the camera.

I put together an excel spreadsheet of all the core met., NWS track, gen ed, and computer science courses I would need to take and it works out.

I'm wonder, however, if instead of a B.S. in Computing I should go for the A.S. in Computing. The A.S. is 28 credits. Maybe I might as well just take the extra 6 credits to get the bachelor's, which would normally be 53 credits with the Atmos. Sci track of the program. I'll have to do some research.

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It's the same with many professional degrees right now. Go interview some Law School or Business School Seniors right now and ask them how their employment prospects look.

If I was in school right now I'd be studying Mandarin Chinese, and Arabic. Then I'd get an MBA in international finance.

Law is a horrid career to get into these days and most lawyers will tell you that themselves...its actually alot like meteorology in that there are simply too many lawyers out there...the issue though unlike meteorology is not that its hard to get a job its hard to get a good one and considering how long and how much work it takes to get a law degree it makes it that much more unacceptable to get payed poorly...20 years ago you could have gone to "Podunk University Law" and gotten a 6 figure paying job out of school, nowadays you had better have gone to a top tier school or graduated with a 3.8 or higher from one of the lower tier ones or you can forget about ever making 6 figures, I'm not talking about out of school, I mean for the duration of your career....there is no reason with 1,000 Columbia grads they are hiring a guy who went to U Albany with a 3.1 GPA. ...business is a broad scale major that covers you for many careers, but many of those are areas which tend to be highly economy reliant in that when the economy is in the gutter you are going to struggle mightily to land a job in any of them.

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Majoring in Meteorology was a no brainer for me. Growing up in Rhode Island, being exposed to some crazy weather,childhood memories of the Blizzard of 78, as well as my father's weather enthusiasm, intrigued my yearning to learn about this fascinating science at a young age. Although I got my Meteorology degree in 1995 from Lyndon State College, including Telecasting, I never worked a day in the field. I have been working in IT the past 16 years based on a computer hobby that stemmed into a career, with training and certifications, paid by the companies I worked for along the way.

It was a tough pill to swallow the first couple years out of school, continuing to send out tapes and resumes for a job that didn't materialize. But there is a bright side of things. Many of my employers were impressed with the BS in Meteorology. A tough major to complete shows lots of character and dedication. In IT related jobs, there are synergies. It shows you grasp complex concepts, you can "see"/troubleshoot things you cannot see. This type of thinking has become valuable in my day to day job of figuring out needles in a haystack when there is some unknown issue with a system or network.

The invention of the internet was able to bring in more data faster in real time to my house then the Meteorology Lab I learned at years past. Although I miss the huddles around the Difax machine waiting for the latest radar or LFM to come in, the Internet has made me never lose touch of the passion for Meteorology over the years while working a different career path. It is still the hobby it always has been to me.

If you have a passion to learn the science, go for it, but sharpen other skill sets along the way for other career opportunities in the event that you don't get an opportunity to work in the field.

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Computer programming will help out immensly. I didn't have too much experience in that and I believe it has hurt me along the way.

the first post is entirely true. getting rid of people in the public sector becomes easy and encouraged in this era of do more and spend less.

the mistake most young public potential forecaster wannabes make is not wanting to relocate. forky is afraid as hell of having to live in the deep south for a few years at some point in time, whether it be public or private. scotty used to be like that also "i must live in new jersey" but i sense a change. mdecoy got it eventually. he griped all the time about new jerseys issues (ones that dont bother me as much) and either moved or was moving to maryland. not a bad compromise. i sorta like my state in spite of it's flaws. (there are too many tony political types outside the dc/balt metro area) :scooter:

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the first post is entirely true. getting rid of people in the public sector becomes easy and encouraged in this era of do more and spend less.

the mistake most young public potential forecaster wannabes make is not wanting to relocate. forky is afraid as hell of having to live in the deep south for a few years at some point in time, whether it be public or private. scotty used to be like that also "i must live in new jersey" but i sense a change. mdecoy got it eventually. he griped all the time about new jerseys issues (ones that dont bother me as much) and either moved or was moving to maryland. not a bad compromise. i sorta like my state in spite of it's flaws. (there are too many tony political types outside the dc/balt metro area) :scooter:

My experience largely shows that not wanting to relocate and S/O issues are the two most frequent barriers to people never getting jobs in the field more than it is the market itself. Recently I think with the increased number of grads the lack of jobs is becoming a bigger factor. One thing I would strongly tell anyone is that if you do become involved in a relationship with another student in the department that one of you will likely never work in the field...unless you live in either the BWI/DC or Norman/OKC metro areas...those are really the only two places in the nation that 2 meteorlogists can both find work in...generally whoever lands the job first will be the meteorologist of the family and the other will have to explore other options...I know of 3 couples who ultimately did this.

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Please read this if you're thinking of meteorology for a career..I know its long but it may save you years of frustration!

The number of people who are majoring in meteorology has skyrocketed in recent years and is still increasing. As a result, the number of recent grads seeking employment greatly outnumbers the number of job openings and it gets worse each year. This issue was discussed in the AMS magazine June 2008 issue and at various conferences. I can tell you from first hand experience the problem is real.

According to estimates, the number of new meteorology grads each year as of 2008 was somewhere between 600 and 1000. This number is very large considering that there is only 6 or 7 thousand working in the field. Estimates also put the number of entry level job openings each year at around 285 meaning that less than half of new grads will be able to find work.

The oversupply of qualified meteorologists has drastic consequences that go far beyond the difficulty of simply finding a job. If you are lucky enough to break into the field you will have to go wherever the job takes you since few are fortunate enough to get enough offers allowing them to be choosy. The 2nd major thing is salary and work environment. The oversupply has driven salary levels down to obscenely low levels. Since NWS jobs are incredibly competitive to get (only about 40 openings a year and hundreds of job seekers) most are forced to obtain employment in the private sector where starting salaries are in the 21-25 k range. I can tell from experience that in the early 2000s, $20,000 / year was a common number. What’s more, raises are often very small and if you do manage to last long enough to climb close to 30 k, you will have a high risk of being laid off unless you have well above average forecasting skills as companies prefer the cheap labour they can get from eager and willing new grads. Since the private companies have so much leverage over employees due to the oversupply, the workload and the work environment is extremely demanding. Why? They can get away with it because if you quit you are easily replaceable! You will be working your tail off - essentially chained to a desk for the duration of your shift dealing with a heavy client load who will call non-stop during times of active weather leaving you little time to properly analyze and forecast the weather. Also, working more than 40 hrs per week with no overtime is common and some places even have 45-50 hour weeks built into the schedule for certain parts of the year. Employees must also deal with awkward shift schedules which may include hours like 2 - 11 am or even split shifts. Why? It’s all about suiting the needs of the company and clients and if employees don’t like it they are replaceable. I wish I could say that the above experience I described in private sector meteorology is the exception but the reality is that it’s the norm. There are some exceptions but only the very top qualified people will get these better jobs in the private sector. As for the NWS, you can pretty much write it off as a job option unless you have an advanced degree and did a student internship with them and even then it will still be really tough to get in. Bottom line, only a few percent of today’s grads will manage to break into the NWS. As for well paying TV jobs, they are equally if not even more competitive. Again, most start in small markets where the pay is 15-25 thousand/year and only a small number make it to big time.

 

Even that section I have bolded is often not true....I know of several very good jobs in the private sector that were open in the last couple of years which went to people right out of school despite the fact they did indeed interview multiple candidates who were way more eperienced and qualifited....the reason? Obviously they can pay them alot less....in reality people coming out of school have alot of say as to whether or not they break into the career...if they do 1 or 2 internships during the course of their undergraduate career and develop knowledge of forecasting they will have an exceptionally good chance of being competitive for entry level jobs, a decade ago someone could be a forecast ditz out of school and probably still get hired...the hardest job to get in this field nowadays is more the 2nd one than the first since because as you said there is such a massive supply of entry level folk you need to give them a damn good reason they should hire you for more money instead. This of course brings up the other issue that you could get stuck where you're at...this has become a topic of discussion recently in the NWS...people at HPC/TPC/OPC are having a very hard time transferring to a WFO, the same goes for interns trying to lateral and interns trying to become forecasters at offices other than the one they are in....one of the mets on this board tried to lateral as an intern 4 or 5 times and was rejected on each one.

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Ok. I’m not following your logic here…I stated that only the top qualified people will get “better jobs” but then you said no, these jobs will sometimes go to people right out of school since they can pay them “a lot less” Well if they are going to pay them a lot less then they are not exactly good jobs anymore.

Even that section I have bolded is often not true....I know of several very good jobs in the private sector that were open in the last couple of years which went to people right out of school despite the fact they did indeed interview multiple candidates who were way more eperienced and qualifited....the reason? Obviously they can pay them alot less....in reality people coming out of school have alot of say as to whether or not they break into the career...if they do 1 or 2 internships during the course of their undergraduate career and develop knowledge of forecasting they will have an exceptionally good chance of being competitive for entry level jobs, a decade ago someone could be a forecast ditz out of school and probably still get hired...the hardest job to get in this field nowadays is more the 2nd one than the first since because as you said there is such a massive supply of entry level folk you need to give them a damn good reason they should hire you for more money instead. This of course brings up the other issue that you could get stuck where you're at...this has become a topic of discussion recently in the NWS...people at HPC/TPC/OPC are having a very hard time transferring to a WFO, the same goes for interns trying to lateral and interns trying to become forecasters at offices other than the one they are in....one of the mets on this board tried to lateral as an intern 4 or 5 times and was rejected on each one.

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  • 2 months later...

I was looking through this forum and found this thread. Some interesting discussion here. The OP is right on many accounts but definately seems to be overstating the negative a little too much. I graduated in '03 and was aware of these challenges toward the end of school. I was fortunate enough to get a good job in the private sector and now was recently hired as an NWS intern. Knowing what the challenges were, I made sure to make myself standout by going the extra mile and after 7 years had a lot of good stuff I could put in my resume. Bottom line, there is opportunity in this field for those who have the passion and are willing to work hard but you have to know what you want and what you need to do to specifically to make yourself stand out from the competition when applying for that job.

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I was looking through this forum and found this thread. Some interesting discussion here. The OP is right on many accounts but definately seems to be overstating the negative a little too much. I graduated in '03 and was aware of these challenges toward the end of school. I was fortunate enough to get a good job in the private sector and now was recently hired as an NWS intern. Knowing what the challenges were, I made sure to make myself standout by going the extra mile and after 7 years had a lot of good stuff I could put in my resume. Bottom line, there is opportunity in this field for those who have the passion and are willing to work hard but you have to know what you want and what you need to do to specifically to make yourself stand out from the competition when applying for that job.

If you don't mind me asking--what office are you at and where did you start in private wx? I pretty did the same career move starting in private wx in Grand Forks, ND in road weather.

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I had a dream last night that this thread quietly went away. Then I woke to this NIGHTMARE! :wacko:

Sorry, I actually had something to add to it that was relevant (God forbid, you know?). I thought about posting it in the OT version but thought it was more pertinent here.

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CareerCast (and I've seen this repeated on multiple other outlets) ranked being a meteorologist as the 6th best job to have in 2011.

http://www.careercas...jobs-best-worst

Average salary: $85,210 (methodology explains this isn't exactly an 'average')

Explanation of their methodology: http://www.careercas...ted-methodology

That average is skewed by the few who work on large-market TV stations.

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Sorry, I actually had something to add to it that was relevant (God forbid, you know?). I thought about posting it in the OT version but thought it was more pertinent here.

Yeah I'm sure it's relevant and all, I'm just not looking forward to stormguy80 posting the same thing about how met is the most difficult career in the world to get into another 1800 times.

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Yeah I'm sure it's relevant and all, I'm just not looking forward to stormguy80 posting the same thing about how met is the most difficult career in the world to get into another 1800 times.

He's been quiet for awhile so maybe we'll be okay in that regard lol.

Or maybe I just jinxed it. :-(

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