Watched a ‘classic rock’ band Friday night. Pretty good-couldn’t stay for the whole gig. One song stood out.

“Here I am

On the road again”

Every morning I’m on the road at 5 after 4. Yup-4 o’dark, when even the birds have enough sense to have their heads tucked under their wings.  Every day, heading off to a job that I pretty much enjoy.

“There I am

Up on the stage

Here I go

Playin’ the star again”

Every day is busy. I seem to attract people needing answers-‘Can you program the environmental chambers for our special project?’ ‘Can you help with our experiment?’ ‘Why doesn’t the program run?’-and explaining to new engineers why you can’t run power next to high impedance input. It’s fun, and I do like helping.

“There I go

turn the page”

And so the pages turn every day.  Except this week I realized-in the middle of one of the perpetual re-orgs that every American corporation believes in- that I had started a new chapter sometime ago.  It caught me off guard; I wasn’t expecting it. No, I didn’t lose my job or anything drastic.

I realized that I was no longer one of the cool kids, or the favored few.  I had become the Old Guard, the white haired wizards that have the answers but are not regarded as promotion worthy.  Young ‘Up & Comers’ are given the opportunities and groomed for their future roles as leaders. They appear almost out of nowhere, zooming in from the previous assignment, and now checking the box for this part of their training.

Most of the ‘Up & Comers’ are good, personable, deserving of the opportunity. They’re in every company; I’ve enjoyed the U&C’s I’ve worked with.  My job (should I choose to accept it) will be to mentor and help the U&C’s become the great leaders they can be.(this recording will self destruct in 10 seconds (sad-my cultural references are 50 years old!!))

In case you haven’t worked in the corporate world:

Cool Kids-skilled, intuitive, providers of solutions. Opportunities are seized for the enjoyment of solving problems.

Favored Few-seem to get promotions/job assignments out of sync with experience or ability.  Sometime this happens due to chance, other opinions are more in line with ‘boss’s favorite’.

Old Guard-experienced hands (white haired geezers) at development/technical issues. Will analyze before acting. Favorite motto “Accidents are just Unplanned Outcomes”. Beware – some Old Guard will analyze instead of acting.

Up & Comers-Could be boss’s nephew, could be someone with a lot of potential.  Only time will tell.

Time to ‘geezer’ off for the evening.

Turnin’ the page for the Good and True,

Billy Acre

Hot, fresh donuts. Yeasty, slightly crispy on the outside. Lightly glazed.

Fresh coffee, dark and steaming.

Mmmmmmmmmm…..

“Oh, you brought doughnuts too?  Well, I wouldn’t want to hurt anyones’ feelings, so I guess I can have a small one. With chocolate frosting. And sprinkles.:”

“Thanks, but I really shouldn’t have a cookie. Wait…are those peanut butter cookies? With peanuts? Maybe I can take one for later.”

“Wow-homemade eggrolls? Family recipe from your Grandmother? You’re making them with your niece to raise money for her Laotian Miss America pageant? Well, sounds like a good reason to buy a couple.”

“Oh, I forgot-today is the day they’re selling sundaes in the cafeteria for the Food Shelf. Yeah, I’ll head down that way in just a minute.”

I think I need to walk about ten miles before I go to bed.

Waddlin’ for the Good and True,

Billy Acre

 

…until you can watch a home game without wearing your winter parka.  I love an outdoor stadium. Afternoon games, evening games, just love ’em.  April games-I’ll go, but it’s just not the same when the yellow shirts are going up and down the steps calling “Hot Chocolate here!! Git’cher Hot Chocolate here!!”

I learned a lot watching baseball. Not a lot about baseball, just a lot about everything.  I mean, think about your job. What if every one of your errors was counted and published every day, like a baseball player?  I mean, as a baseball player at bat, you can fail 6 or 7 times out of 10 and still be thought an outstanding player.

Quotes from the Great Game and the players:

“Rooting for the Yankees is like rooting for the house in blackjack.” – Adam Morrow

“Don’t pray when it rains if you don’t pray when the sun shines.” – Satchel Paige

“…I know things. For instance, there are 108 beads in a Catholic rosary and there are 108 stitches in a baseball.” – Ron Shelton

“Progress always involves risks. You can’t steal second base and keep your foot on first.” -Frederick B. Wilcox

“Okay you guys, pair up in threes!” – Yogi Berra     (OK, some are just funny!)

“It’s getting late early” – Yogi Berra  (I feel like this every October)

“If you don’t think too good, don’t think too much.” – Ted Williams

“Yesterday’s home runs don’t win today’s games.” – Babe Ruth

And with that, I think I’ll go see if there’s a game on.

Pitchin’ and Swingin’ for the Good and True,

Billy Acre

….pretty much means you’re not a terrorist. Where was I going with this? Aww, nuts-I hate it when my train of thought jumps the tracks.  Maybe it’s because the train and the tracks are getting old.

Maybe I have an excuse.  This time of year is when we unpack the summer clothes we had in storage, and replace them with the winter clothes we hope we don’t have to wear again until fall. Having to be up out of my comfortable chair/couch kind of throws my system out of sorts on a weekend. And…finished and filed the taxes for last year. Checks in the mail, whole enchilada finished for the year. Have sort of a love/hate relationship with taxes.  Love that I get the opportunity to earn a living, hate that I have to summarize the year past in a few numbers.  When I look at the income/outgo numbers, I never feel I did as well as I thought I did.

Then, when I go online to check the news, I get reminders of all the things that people think I need help with. I don’t need reminders at this age – generally, if it doesn’t hurt, it doesn’t work!  I also seem to be at the age where I get ads for the little blue pill. Today the ad was for the little blue pill in a single pack.  Great- I’m being judged for my health issues and activity level. Grrrrr.

I still get a daily newspaper, but not the ones from the TC. When I did subscribe to them, I could count on two points of view- from one, a middle of the road view. The other paper was referred to as “the Red Star of the North” by most of the folks that didn’t happen to live in the TC.  I look for a  “Dragnet” approach to the news-“Just the facts, Ma’am”. Most of the time, I get disgusted with the news articles; they’re more of an editorial/soap opera than the news.

Well, I think I need to go become one with the couch.

Subscribing to the Good and True,

Billy Acre