My Thumb Is Tired

Last night I found myself with zero ambition. I had just enough energy to hold the remote in my hand and cycle through the stations. Fortunately I only have three stations so I didn’t have to exert myself too much.

Nova was a repeat. It was the one where they are sending the rovers to Mars and the engineers are trying to get the parachute to work right. It was a funny collection of geeks. You could tell they were trying to be cool too. One dude had his hair all spiked and he was dressed all hipster dude like. You could tell he was the self appointed coolest geek. And of course there was the obligatory geek with a giant mullet.

The other two channels were showing the latest karaoke shows. One was Supernova Rock God Karaoke and the other was Stars Who Can’t, Sing Karaoke With Stars Who Can. Holy crap, it was hard to tell which was worse. It was close but I’m going to give the award for worse to the Stars Who Can’t Sing.

In astronomical terms, isn’t a supernova what happens right before a star dies? How fitting since reality TV is where media stars go to die. It’s a painful death to watch too. Almost as painful as watching me slumped on the couch channel surfing between these three channels. Hey, maybe that could be a show.

Sort Of Looks Fake

Last night while preparing for my sunset paddle I discovered I had to make a choice. I only had enough good batteries to take either my camera or my music player. What a drag it was trying to decide that one.

The cows were out and about and were being quite vocal. I usually don't hear them due to the music player. I couldn't get any good shots of them though. The light goes fast and soon the view finder had that little stop moving sign. I didn't have a lot of luck being in a boat and all. I tried out the flash and had a neat surpise when I got home. I got a lot of blurry ones too. But that's the fun of digital. Just press delete.

As I mentioned, fall is in the air. The sun got lower and the temperature started to drop. The mist rising up off the water was a cool effect. It was a good time to stop and smoke weed.

So here is where I sat. In my boat. Having a puff.

Oh yeah, and here's the other weird thing. As I approached the misty spot I started hearing a lot of gunshots. From two different directions even. I thought about stray bullets for a moment then decided, what can you do? So I paddled on. I figured people must know there's cows out here so they wouldn't probably hopefully shoot in this general direction.

The Verdict Is In

I’m sure the suspense is killing you all, I know it would me. A decision was made, the die was cast, it’s all over but the crying. You get the picture. Friday before end of business I went into the Man’s office and made a command decision. I asked to have myself removed from consideration for the management position.

I thanked him for his time and hoped I didn’t waste any of his. I told him that I had done a lot of thinking about it. It’s true, I have. Lots. But by the end of the week it seemed to me that I should stay in my current job. I like it. Oh sure, it has its days of hell on earth, but in the big picture it’s really what I should do.

I am an engineer. I like being able to say that. I like doing it. I get to invent stuff, make shit up, and draw pictures of it all. How cool is that? It’s fucking wicked cool. I’d miss the creative aspect of what I do. I think my soul would suffer. Don’t get me wrong, it was a very important exercise for me to go through and I don’t regret it at all. It’s all part of some sort of journey of self awareness, or some shit like that.

And thus closes yet another chapter of my midlife crisis. Guess I won’t be hanging up my spagglety wrench just yet.

Hey I know, maybe I’ll take a watercolor class.

Coincedence?

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Suspense? What Suspense?

Okay yes, I know, you want to know what happened with the job thing. Well I turned in my resume. I waited. Then I got an interview. They had a total of five interviewees, two from the outside and three internal.

They did it over two days and I was last. I came to work wearing my fancy pants. Oh yes, I wasn’t messing around. As an unexpected benefit I got a number of favorable comments from some of the women on my fancy pants. That just made the whole thing worth it.

One thing this experiment has done, it’s forced me to think of the things about my current job that I like. I don’t know if I was getting burned out or restless or just tired of the same thing day after day, but the result was that I was mostly seeing the negative things about my job. So when I started thinking about this new position I started to remember all the cool things about it. All the things I would miss. It turns out that’s a good thing.

So I went to the interview. The guy and I had a nice talk and I got to learn more about what the position entails. I got to sell myself, something I’m not used to doing, and that was kind of fun. I think it was fun because I already have a good job and I’m not worried about getting another one. I felt successful, if only for a little while.

He asked me how I’d feel not doing what I do any longer. That’s a big question and one I couldn’t just gloss over, I felt I had to be honest. He commented more than once on another position that I’d be highly suited for, a position that doesn’t yet exist and may never exist, but I’d be really qualified and it would be staying in my field. To be honest I think I’d like that one. In fact I might find it the best alternative.

The next step is to wait. There will be a second interview. Not for all five of us, just for the couple most qualified. I’ll hear sometime next week. That works out well since I’m spending that time thinking whether or not I should remove my application and hold out for that other nonexistent position.

So at this point I’d say that the interview was a total success. I learned a few things about myself, and a few things about the company, that I wouldn’t have known otherwise. No matter what happens, I think I did a good thing. And regardless of where I end up, I think I might have to wear those pants more.

Nature. It's So Damn Natural

This past weekend was perfect weather. Warm, sunny, and most importantly, dry. It’s the best weather for bicycling and I managed to get out there both Saturday and Sunday. Then on Sunday afternoon when I got back from my bike ride I took the kayak down to the river and put in for a fine paddle.


Not long out a giant bird flew by and stopped in one of the trees on the shoreline. Fortunately I had the brains to get the camera out and be prepared. I paddled quietly up the shore line until I spotted a large eagle. He wasn’t quite mature yet, he didn’t have the white head and tail, but he sure was huge. And brave. He just sat there while I coasted right under him, taking pictures the entire time.

Finally he flew off when my boat scraped into some bushes. I tried to get a shot of him leaving but in a boat with a digital camera I had a tough time. I caught one shot of him leaving.