Once again, a new job opportunity fell into my lap that really puts me in the driver seat of leading a department. In this case, a former coworker I met for dinner casually mentioned that her company was seeking to build out a new role. A few weeks later, I got an email from her saying the company had indeed decided to move forward with the position and frankly it piqued my interest. Needless to say, I was hired on. I’ll be leaving a lot of friends behind at my previous company, but hope to stay in touch.
Our pack had recently tragically lost our Scout Cubmaster, and through a peculiar set of circumstances find myself taking on a leading role in the pack. I had initially volunteered to be a Den Leader, taken some initial online training and turned in my application. Coincidentally, the District Commissioner was present at one of our recent meetings, and recommended I put “Cubmaster” on the role form (!). Such a leadership role landed unexpectedly on my head, and there is quite a lot for me to learn and with it a great deal of responsibility. We have a good troop of kids, and I want Scouting for them to be a rewarding experience, thus I must persevere.
The 2016 election between the nominees Hillary Clinton for the Democratic Party and Donald Trump for the Republican Party promises to continue to be interesting. It seems the two candidates, neither of whom seem to be beloved by their constituency, may very well become emblematic in the collective consciousness of the choice between which of the two are the lesser of two evils.
Not too long ago, my wife picked up a book, David Ree’s How to Sharpen Pencils. Being a curious fellow, I read the book and found the subject matter piqued my interest. A few weeks later, I ordered some pencils and a pencil sharpener recommended by the book. So now, a Carl Angel-5 sharpener sits on my desk and I occasionally keep it busy sharpening.
Turn the crank and the sharpener does the rest…even stopping when the pencil is sufficiently sharp. Since the Angel-5 pulls the pencil into the single burr sharpener itself, there is no need to grasp the pencil at all after it is placed. All you have to do is turn the crank. It’s method is a bit different, as shown in my video below, but so far has produced consistently sharp pencils for me.
After nearly 20 years with my current employer, I unexpectedly came across a new job opportunity. I was not actively looking, but the new position offers considerable promise and growth, so I took the new company up on its offer. It’s a strange time for me, moving from the familiar to the unfamiliar, out with the old and in with the new. Laissez-faire to more conservative work culture.
The new company has been around a long time, and is a different field than my present company. There will be a lot of new skills to learn and old ones to polish, and probably a lot busier as the company is much larger. The commute time and distance is nearly identical, but now is south towards the Big City.
It will be a major change for me and my family, no two ways about it, and I will miss my coworkers.
The other day I shut down some old, largely unused sites, so I’ll now concentrate my energies, such as they are, on this one. This will also have the advantage of saving me some money!
