The Sunday Five: Time for my annual employee evaluation 33

A couple of weeks ago, Doc Spo posted his annual employee evaluation as a blogger.  I don't have the BOD to report to, so I turn to you my readers with a few questions, 

1: What do you think of the Sunday five? 

2: The travel Tuesday posts, too short, too long, just right, or should be replaced? 

3: Should my Wednesday Ws have a consistent set of questions? 

4: What do you think of my moody Mondays?

5: Fridays have varied from fabulous to funny, what works best for you? 

I won't answer this one, I want your answers unswayed by my ideas. 

Saturday Morning Post: The Bucket List 34

 

2023 saw me check a couple of things off of my unofficial bucket list.  I have resisted the idea of putting a list in writing, but there were things I really wanted to do.  And in 2023 I attended the Barrett Jackson Collector Car Auction in Scottsdale, and finished off the goal of visiting all 50 states. 

As I have gotten older the list has become clearer, maybe it is time to put together a list of things I have not done, that I would like to do, before I kick-the-bucket? 

• Ride a long distance train, in a sleeper cabin - bedroom.
• Ride in a hot-air balloon 
• Publish one more book (or more) 
• Spend a month in a foreign country 
• Go to Japan
• Cross the Atlantic on a ship 
• See Lake Superior and the Soo Locks 
• Take a weeks driving trip, without knowing where I am going when I leave home
• Spend an hour on a bench along the national mall, watching the people
• Visit all of the stations on the Metro Rail system
• Visit Liberty Island and see the statue up close 
• Take the sweet bear for his first helicopter ride 
• Take an art class

Well that is a good start.  When this list is done, I will make another. 

Funny Friday : Stranger Things Have Happened 35

I saw this on Facebook Recently and it reminded me of a true story from the 1970's.

My father was hanging out at the local small airport one day, he did this a lot, so there are a lot of stories that start this way.  A local business owner had gassed up that day and flew his small plane to the nearest city to meet a friend for lunch.  Lunch turned into a few drinks, and foolishly he flew home.  The wind was strong and out of the east, so he set up for landing on the short, east-west grass runway.  He miscalculated his approach, and landed short. In the parking lot at the airport, on top of a pick-up truck. The fuselage landed in the truck bed, the propeller shredded the cab, and everything kind of slid forward about 50 feet coming to stop. Fortunately, no one was hurt. 

The owner of the truck called his insurance company to report the accident, and the insurance agent said, "Who has been drinking? Don't move a thing I have to see this and take photos before anything is moved, or they are never going to believe the claim." 

Drinking and flying, is the end of the pilots license, he didn't appeal. The local police gave him a ride home, but couldn't find a law against drinking and flying.  

Thursday Ramble: You are not from around here, are you? 36

I have lived in five US states in my lifetime, including three major geographic moves as an adult.  With a country about twice the size of the EU - about the same size as Europe as a continent, we have a lot of regional differences. And I have experienced being told, "you'll aren't from around here are you?" a few times.  Within a few months my accent adjusts, the cultural adjustments take a while longer.  I learned a long time ago to not expect a new place to be like the old place. Some differences I will like, some I will adjust to, part of living there is accepting that things are as they are.  The people and the place are not going to adjust to my being there, I need to adjust to the place.  

Few if anyone in the America's is from here. Some of our families have been here for a long time, some of our family members arrived in the last 100 years, the blink of an eye in history and culture.  

Immigration is an immensely complex issue.  Immigration is a part of human life, past, present and future.  As long as people feel unsafe or insecure where they live, some will move. 

My World of Wonders aka The Wednesday Ws November 29th edition 37

Who have I met this week?  Inga and Karl YouTubers from Iceland.  I started watching their channel a few months ago, and on a recent vlog they mentioned that they were going to be in the DC area over Thanksgiving.  I reached out and asked if I could buy them a beer, they said yes.  There are IT professionals, world travelers, fun adventurer's.  Give their channel a try. 

Why? I enjoy meeting people. Let me know when you are going to be in the Washington DC area, we will try to meet up.  I love going out to breakfast.  When I travel, if I know there is a blogger nearby, I try to meet them. 

What else have I been up to? I took 6 days off for the Thanksgiving holiday. I have cooked, baked, eaten sensibly.  I ordered new sunglasses, TV glasses and my first pair of computer glasses.  I cleaned out a couple of drawers at home.  Took a few long walks.  

What have I been watching?  A lot of YouTube, there are some amazing content producers out there.  

Will I start a YouTube channel?  I have thought about it, but video editing is painful, if you are going to do it well.  And I look fat and sound funny (and it is not the camera.) 

What surprised me this week? That people still go shopping the day after Thanksgiving.  

Where have I been?  Dyke Marsh a couple of times, the Holiday Market at Gallery Place,  the optical shop on King Street, Mt. Vernon, and back to the office for a couple of days. 

What have I sorted through? A stack of books. One needs to go to a friend, two (unread) are going into the community library, they are work and I am about done reading for work. 

What am I reading?  Diddly Squat Farm, Pigs Might Fly, Jeremy Clarkson's latest book. I know he is a pig, but his writing is funny. 

What proof is there that I am old?  I purchased my senior public transit card, half price fares on the subway trains and one-dollar bus rides.  

  

Travel Tuesday: Dublin to Holyhead March 2020 38

These are a blast from the past, early March 2020, we went to Ireland for two weeks.  Early in the trip we took the Stena Line ferry from Dublin to Holyhead in Wales.  We visited John in Wales, then went onto London to have dinner with Duncan and Stephen. Then the ferry back to Ireland to continue the trip.  By the time we got to London, Covid was starting to become a worry in cities. Little did we know that little more than a week later we would be on the last Delta Airlines flight from Dublin to the states, before the USA closed the border. 

It was a great ride, as I recall less than two hours each way. I booked the Hygge Lounge with extra comfy seats and WiFi. 

 

Moody Monday: 39

We finally named a replacement for me, when I retire.  The hire was made last week, but won't be publicly announced until this week. Largely because I took last Tuesday and Wednesday off, and frankly Thanksgiving week the notice would go largely unnoticed.  

Erica has been with us almost two years,  she tells me that the first day she was on the job, I told her to get ready to take over because I was going to retire.  She has a deep background in the substance and practice, she will do great.  It was not an easy decision, we had two very well qualified candidates, I am glad that the decision was not mine to make, it would have been agonizing.  We did find a way to reward the candidate who was not promoted.  

This moves me deeply into transition mode, trying to share with Erica  the added duties that come with the title, and the increase in pay.  We could never pay anyone enough, she will come to that realization in a few months.  

I have two webinars left to do. The preparation for those is 99% complete, and I will enjoy doing them.  On one of them I have an amazing co-presenter who will be fun to work with.  

I have the better part of two weeks of paid leave to use up before my last day, so I won't be working much the last couple of weeks.  

Through a fluke in the way the promotion was done, Erica starts five days before I leave.  A nice transition. I think I will word the announcement that Erica takes over as director on January 1st, and my last day is January 5th, and wait to see if anyone is confused by the dates.  

My last board meeting was a few days ago.  People were commenting about it being the last one, and how sad.  I have to say, I am trying really - really hard to not be sad.  It is my choice, my plan, and the future holds great things.  Yes there are a lot of last times involved, but those will be followed by a lot of first times - and those I am looking forward to with a smile.  Some of the things I have done for the last time, I have thought, I am glad I will never have to do that again, with a smile.  When one door closes, another one opens.