Why the title?

"Pioneers take the arrows"

Oh, wait. I should be upbeat and taking arrows doesn't sound like an upbeat thing to say.

So, let me amend that statement.

It was courage and vision that led the pioneers to leave behind a comfortable, settled life and trek West to begin a new life in a new place. Many of those from the East that went West found a strength within themselves that they didn't see while they were in their old life. Instead of being one of those that just kind of went along with the others in the old life, they became leaders and visionaries in their new lives.

The sentiments of that last paragraph come from a favorite author, Louis L'Amour, in many of his books. So, I can't really say that it is an original thought from me. However, what he said is truthful.

Welcome to being a pioneer. Look ahead and ignore the "barking dogs" that give you negative opinions and comments. Louis L'Amour also spoke of the barking dogs.

In some of his stories, it was usually a father or older man telling a young boy how it was that when the Westward bound Conestoga wagons rolled through towns, the dogs came out to bark at them. His character then told the young listener that the barking didn't stop the wagons from going on to their destinations.

Following the advice of the Louis L'Amour characters, may we all forge ahead with our plans, after carefully considering all consequences and leave the "barkers" behind.

Wednesday, May 9, 2012

A Day with Both Bad and Good

This will be a short post because I was late getting back to the house. More on that in a bit.

The bad news is that I didn’t get the promotion at work. So, no big increase in pay and a longer period to get debts paid off. I have a suspicion that an employee already at the lab is preparing to retire from the state’s law enforcement side of the retirement system, and will be hired then on the non-law enforcement side for the job. It is kind of like “double-dipping” within the same agency. It wouldn’t be the first time that has happened.

A lot of times when it happens, it does so because someone has skills that are really hard to replace. We have one gentleman who used to be an investigative agent. He retired from that, but because his skills in forensic reconstruction from bare skulls are so good, he was hired back in that role.

Another was both an investigative agent and electronics whiz. He retired from the law enforcement side and was rehired as the electronics guru working with specialized equipment and with video recordings. One of his designs was to put a very small camera into a replica of a mud dauber’s nest and attach it on a suspect’s front porch.

However, even though I didn’t get the job, I am one happy camper because my new lens arrived today. I was late getting home because I had to wait at the UPS facility for the truck to come back into the terminal and get my lens to the pick-up facility.

I am now excited because Jo came up with the idea of driving over to Muskogee, Oklahoma this coming Saturday and seeing the memorial at the USS Batfish. The Batfish is an old WWII submarine that was active in the Pacific of that war. While the 70-200 lens will be useless inside the submarine, it will be good on the outside.

So, in honor of Mother’s Day, our youngest son will take us to lunch and we’ll tour the facilities there at the Batfish. I’ve wanted to get over there to see it, so I’m just a wee bit pumped tonight with the arrival of the lens and the anticipation of the weekend trip.

That will be my first opportunity for using the lens, so maybe I can show something off in the future in the form of photographs.

2 comments:

  1. Your agency sounds interesting. Like Bones or CSI, but I bet you don't have their cool toys (does anyone?). I've always worked in research, which means it helps to know how to make equipment out of beakers and rubber tubing.

    Sorry you didn't get that job. I hope it will become obvious soon why it's a good thing.

    ReplyDelete
  2. Oh, ho. Now I'm going to step in it, Roxanne. A friend at work commented that I might not have liked working at the lab anyway. Her comment was, "those folks are just strange."

    So, very quick-like, I answered with, "Well, they are scientists."

    You can slap me down now since I now know you've worked in research with "beakers and rubber tubing."

    ReplyDelete

Note: Only a member of this blog may post a comment.