Ah, Summer 2019

With a Midwest twang severely off-key, I’m out the front door, earbuds plugged in, arms pumping, on my routine early morning walk. Of course, I must look ridiculous and sound even worse, echoing the chorus of - Get Rhythm by Johnny Cash.

Thankfully, there’s no one else on the streets. Summer is upon us; officially, the summer solstice occurred in the Northern Hemisphere today at 11:54 a.m. EST.

According to Ker Than in an article for National Geographic, “The solstice is the result of Earth's north-south axis being tilted 23.4 degrees relative to the ecliptic. This tilt causes different amounts of sunlight to reach different regions of the planet during Earth's year-long orbit around the sun." Translation, daylight lasts until after 8:00 p.m. in Southern California.

Again, I’ve been blessed with another opportunity to re-invent myself this year. On July 1st, 2019, I accepted a position at Cenergy Power as an Energy Analyst. Going from pounding the concrete at Home Depot to a desk job with a normal work schedule. Why this job, you ask? Well, in 2011, I successfully completed a B.S. program in e-Business. My favorite courses are Statistics, Inferential Statistics, Business Law, and Project Management.

This job allows me to stretch my analytical skills, broaden my horizons, expand my computer expertise, and polish my advanced Excel skills. My mind will be called to stretch its limitations, meet new people, work with pages of interval data, and crunch numbers to create possible scenarios of large solar projects for corporate clients. If you haven’t guessed by now, I’m a “geek” - one of those guys who loves technology and finds ways to make it work for you, not against you. What better way to step into the future than working with alternative energy for the good of our planet.

Speaking of stepping into the future, it's Friday morning, and once again, I’m headed out the door. I’m back in training for this year’s High Sierra adventure. With earbuds in my arms and legs pumping, let's see what new ideas I will encounter today; as I mangle a medley of Johnny Cash tunes, I Walk the Line seems appropriate.

Ah, summer!

Comments

Truth for Sale

This episode is inspired by Elton John & Bernie Taupin On Memorial Day, I took my first bike ride since the accident , seeking proof that my legs, lungs, and nerves still remembered the road. The morning air carried that familiar Southern California mix of ocean haze, exhaust, eucalyptus, and sun-baked asphalt. My tires hummed across pavement I’ve ridden for years. Somewhere between the steady click of the chain and the rhythm of my breathing, Elton John and Bernie Taupin’s The Captain and the Kid found its way into my ears. There’s a strange kind of magic when the cadence of a ride syncs perfectly with a song you know by heart. Suddenly, the music and lyrics stop being background noise and become a lens. And through that lens, the road started talking. I've been cycling on this road some, Can't help feeling I've been showing my friends around. I've seen it grow from next to nothing, To a giant eatin’ up our town. Called up the tealeaves and the tarots, Asked the...

Epictetus, Ego, and Acronyms

In this episode, Destroy Communication, One Three-Letter Acronym at a Time This week, I want to explore a deeply relatable, universally feared workplace character: the "know-it-all." Now, I’m not pointing fingers here. If we are being completely honest, we have all played this role. We've all uttered some version of, "Yes, absolutely, that aligns with our strategic objectives," while our internal monologue is screaming, "I don't even know what the objective is, let alone the strategy." What got me thinking about this was a chapter in Ryan Holiday's book, Wisdom Takes Work . Holiday leans on a powerful piece of Stoic truth from the ancient philosopher Epictetus: "It is impossible for a man to learn what he thinks he already knows." It's a brilliant quote that strikes right at the heart of the human ego. You can't learn what you already know, and you certainly can't learn what you pretend to know to save face. Though to be ...

Breaking the Script

In this episode, The Art of the Short-Circuit. We spend a surprising amount of our lives on conversational autopilot. You see it everywhere. At the hardware store. At the post office. In office hallways, where two people can exchange greetings, discuss the weather, and continue on their way without either one actually hearing what the other said. "How are you?” "Good. You?” “Busy." “Yep." It's less of a conversation and more of a system check. Most of us aren't being rude. We're just moving fast. We have emails to answer, meetings to attend, errands to run, and a hundred other things competing for our attention. Before long, our interactions become little more than verbal lane markers helping us navigate the day. I like to break the script. When I run into someone, instead of the usual greetings, I'll ask: "What's the good word?” The reaction is almost always worth it. You can practically see the gears stop turning. People pause. They blink....

The Yellow Legal Pad

In this episode, the Art of Refiring July 1st is staring me in the face, less than two weeks away. For years, retirement seemed like something that happened to other people. Suddenly, it's on my calendar. I've been thinking a lot about the dreaded "R-word" lately. Not because I'm worried about having enough to do. Quite the opposite. What fascinates me is this strange paradox: Why does retirement make so many of us nervous, while having a job—even one that regularly drives us crazy—somehow feels comforting? Let's be honest. Most of us spend years complaining about meetings that should have been emails, reply-all disasters, impossible deadlines, and that one coworker who insists on microwaving leftover fish in the breakroom. Yet when the idea of walking away finally arrives, we hesitate. I think I've figured out why. A career isn't just a job. It's a highly structured coping mechanism. For forty-plus years, somebody else has basically decided what I...

On The Fly

Search This Blog