A good man

A GOOD MAN

I am here to discuss the life of a man that reinvented himself again and again. I first met him in middle school. He was afraid of everything he had a strong aversion to conflict of any kind, that bit him for most of his life. His mother scolded him and told him under no circumstances to fight with anyone. However, he looked up to his father that encouraged him to stand up for himself. I remember the day that it all changed.  His father, Eugene, was at home recovering from an injury he received from work. His dad observed him in a dead run, being pursued by three neighborhood kids. Turning into the driveway and to the porch, Manny saw his father and was stopped by him. His dad stood and said, “Son, if you keep running now, you will run for the rest of your life. Manny told his dad, “mom said if I get into fights, I would be in trouble.” His father said, “Son, if you are not in trouble with me, then you are not in trouble.”   Manny turned and faced the three boys.  After a scuffle that took about 5 minutes, two of the boys were down, and his father pulled manny off the last boy. That was the last time that Manny had any trouble in his neighborhood.  As a young man, his father took extra shifts and paid his dormitory fees as he was the first of his children to go to university.

            Manny had trouble with womenfolk. That would haunt him for decades until he realized who he was in the universe and was satisfied with himself. The moment that he discovered that he did not need a relationship to complete him. He found that special woman that changed his life for the better. Now it took five marriages to figure it out, but he did find out.  Manny reinvented himself after his first relationship ended and left the country serving in the United States Air Force for 20 years as a Generator Mechanic.

Manny reinvented himself after retirement by becoming a Computer Technician, going back to college. Finally, finishing at age 51, he started a new career as a Computer Technician at the New Mexico School for the Blind and the Visually impaired.  He took to computer work like a duck to water.  His commitment to being of service to his users and his deskside manner was instrumental in making the users comfortable with the constant changes in technology.  He then became a Help Desk technician working for The United States Air Force and brought his calm demeanor to his new job, making friends that he maintained until his passing.  The then went to work for the US ARMY at William Beaumont Army Medical Center as a systems administrator. That work though unusual, was not what he was cut out for as his concern for the user base took a back seat to the demands of the multiple systems for which he was responsible. At his best would take care of his users and their requirements, balancing that with the high tempo of Medical IT. After 18 years as a civil servant.  He answered the call of his family for leadership. Three of his grandchildren and their mother were alone in and needed some additional help as the young men were growing up without adult male supervision in a new city, Columbus OH.  Manny took this opportunity to return to his first love user support as he retired from civil service, taking a job as a Desktop Technician at the Sun Behavioral Health Facility in Columbus, OH.  He made an immediate impression with his experience in networking, system administration, and user support.  He was poised to do great things when illness took him from us. He will be remembered as one of the good guys quick with a word of encouragement. He leaves behind a wife ten grandchildren and a multitude of people that were touched by his presence.    As a person of faith (though flawed), he recognized his need for power outside of himself. As a person that tried to do his best,  immediately make amends when en he was in error I believe he has heard these words. “well, done my good and faithful servant welcome into the .joy of the lord…. Well done, Manny Well done, you and your spirit will not quickly be forgotten.

             

Work the final frontier

Work the final frontier

Tomorrow starts orientation for a new job at my new place of residence. I am excited at the prospect of working at a new location where no one knows me.  The adventure began Friday during in processing.  I started the ball rolling I asked, "did you study for the test?" I asked the 1^st person to sit down in the waiting area. With this puzzled look, she responded, "what test" I replied, "you know the drug test." That broke the ice and the tension that I had and lightened the mood a bit.  The processing went like processing usually goes and pretty much as expected.  Set up the initial login establishing the initial password and signing all the appropriate documents. It was different as this is the first time that I have worked out of the Government system.  With me serving as a GI or a Civilian for 39 years.  There was no question if I was going to work or not. The question what it is going to be like after the move. It is new so new that I have no idea what it will be like to work outside the structured environment of the government.

I am looking forward to putting my best foot forward.  I have no friends here (yet) I am happy to be the tech at the end of row 4 in seat 3.

In my last situation, my mentor was on the interviewing board. Not that he did me any favors, but the process of getting this job was different. I published my resume' online and had a couple of zoom interviews, and I got hired. I had reservations as I was applying for a position as a desktop support technician, as I had no desire to work in system administration any longer. I prefer working with users directly.  I can be more of a help to a person than I can be looking over a system on which I have to rely on other offices doing their jobs for my job to operate smoothly. For example, the statement "The the system is down" is pretty vague.  It could be a networking problem, an interface problem, an issue that has its origins outside of the office, or a problem originating from the chair that sent the email. All these circumstances may or may not be within my span of control to fix. The user's point of contact is yours truly, and excuses or important reasons all sound the same from the user's perspective.  

I am looking to start fresh with a new perspective where no one knows me outside of the information I presented when I applied for the job. I am excited at the prospect. I am going put those lessons I have learned about being the best at one's job that I have learned over the years in this new environment. I had a reason for leaving my last position. Like my father used to say, "you have a good reason, but what is the real reason."  The real reason is I want to be in the lives of my grandsons that are in this area. With that accomplished, everything else is gravy. However, I want to test myself in this new environment to see what I can achieve.

what i fear

What I'm afraid of

I don't have a lot of fears from a personal perspective. I've seen a lot of stuff in the last 65 years.  I have two things of which that I genuinely fear; one is being alone, and the other is a success. I have the unique capability of making almost anyone at ease with me.  For some reason, its been this way all my life.

My Father taught me a lesson that I have never forgotten that lesson has always taken to heart. That advice was. "No one has the right to know what you think at any given moment unless you tell them." I have lived my adult life practicing this concept to the fullest. The only people that know how I feel are my immediate family and closest friends. To the rest of the world, I enjoy being an enigma engaging and cooperative looking for a win-win in every situation willing to do what is necessary for a successful resolution if it is possible. This principle is especially pertinent for people to dislike. I get a thrill when someone that I do not necessarily like has a reasonable opinion of me.  Because I value harmony above all else when it contributes to the benefit of the group, this has served me well in the 20 years of military service and the 18 years of civil service. I do not have to like someone to be able to work with them. The dark side of this talent comes into play in my personal life.

I can make friends at the drop of a hat. I find out what a person is about, and I use that information to build rapport. I had a selfish reason for doing that in April, I sent my wife to my retirement location so that I could complete the work needed to get our home prepared for sale. We rented an apartment in town and was alone. It took about two weeks for me to realize that there is a big difference from being by one's self to being completely alone. The voices that speak in the voluminous solitude attack unabated, exploiting the fears and insecurities that are always there.  The dark side is dealing with persons that do not have emotional stability; they mistake friendliness with something else. That something else is something that one can receive from another.  I will leave this right here.

My second fear is what do I do if I am successful if my plans come to fruition. What happens if my dreams come true? I am so used to making lemonade from lemons. I won't know what to do if things work out. This is such a foreign concept that I find the very thought terrifying. What I believe is what will happen is that I will do all those tasks that I know to do.  Pay debts invest correctly and take care of my family. That will be a one day at a time proposition. I guess that will be the best thing that I can do.

it was a dark and stormy night

It was a Dark and Stormy Night

Somewhere in the South Pacific.

It was in preparation for an incoming Typhoon sometime between 1990 to 1997 Staff sergeant Mikel Anderson and his crew consisting of the newly promoted Staff Sergeant Jones Senior Airman smith and three other airmen in the team. They were assigned to install a generator at the Communications Squadron in preparation for the onset of inclement weather. A Typhoon descended on an island in the 1990s.   A work crew volunteered to remain to prepare for the oncoming storm.  Their mission was to be on call in the event of a generator outage during the Typhoon.

            SSgt Anderson and his crew arrived in a 2 ½ ton Truck with the Generator in tow. After backing the Generator inside of the weather-protected enclosure. Work control was called to receive the instructions as to how the unit was to be installed.  The instructions were to hook up to the primary side of the transformer with a voltage of 240/416, which would be stepped down by the transformer to a usable 120/208.   We had an available fuel source because the site's backup Generator was inoperable due to an engine part that was ordered but had not received. After providing for fuel and setting up the unit as instructed. A radio call changed plans as we were not to hook up to the primary side of the transformer. Still, we were to hook up to the secondary side of the transformer requiring a change of voltage to 120/208 to avoid any damage to the building's electrical grid when activated.

SSgt Anderson took his crew aside and relayed the instructions to his men and explicitly told SSgt Jones to change the voltage immediately to 120/208 before proceeding any further.  Right at that moment, there was a lightning strike approximately 50 meters from their parking location.  The crew felt the hair on their bodies tingling from the static electricity in the area just after the booming thunderclap.  The Generator started, and fuel levels checked.  Everything was in readiness for the switchover to generator power.  After the switch was activated, there was a visible pulse and then complete darkness. At the same instant, lightning struck near the entrance to the communication squadron, which brought down a communication tower that missed the truck by approximately 5 feet.  SSgt Anderson looked at SSgt Jones called him over and asked the question, "Sarge, did you change the voltage back as I asked." The look on his face told SSgt Anderson all he needed to know SSgt Anderson looked to confirm his greatest fear. The voltage was incorrectly set on the generator unit.  At that moment, a Major came out the front door of the facility, looked at the communication tower, and said Sergeant that lightning strike knocked out the building.  Thinking on his feet, SSgt Anderson said YES SIR, IT DID!!!  The Major and SSgt Anderson went through the communications Squadron to assess the damage. Every fluorescent light ballast was blown every unit not connected to a surge suppressor burned out. That consisted of every printer in the building and two computers and four vending machines.

SSgt Anderson took the NCO's aside and had a heart to heart talk. "The airmen have no clue as to what happened: gentlemen, the regulation reads like this. We three are at a minimum will be responsible for one month's base pay, and one of us will get smacked with the full bill for the repairs". That person will be me. However, we have a unique opportunity to avoid this consequence. The Major believes that this was due to a lightning strike, and I do not plan on contradicting him. I need to know where you stand on this issue. If you concur, that will be the story. If you do not, we will take our lumps as we must have the same account, as we will all be questioned about the events of that evening. They all concurred. Now that is settled, change that Generator to the correct voltage.  I wrote the incident up in the after-action report and solicited input from the major who was eager to help and added his contribution to the official document.   We were, asked individually about what happened. A few days later, we were called into the commander's office, and we had to repeat the story for the umpteenth time and signed the official document that recorded the incident. I thought we were home free when my supervisor and Superintendent cornered me in the hallway and asked.  Did it happen, as you said?  I said, Sir, it was the strangest thing I have ever seen. If someone told me something like that, I would have serious doubts as well.  The last thing I heard was "Carry on Sargent" My reply was Yes, Sir!  We three never spoke of it again until we had retired.  It went kind of like this  Jones you remember that dark and stormy night on that island way back when.

  

Why i left a High paying job

Why I left a high paying job

                                                            To help with the Grandkids

I have just retired from Civil Service after 19 years. I worked in Medical Information Technology at a military hospital. Why did I leave? It was for 3 of my grandchildren. The others have an intact nuclear family and do not have the needs that these young men have. That is the compelling reason for leaving civil service. I grew up in South Central Los Angeles. I am well acquainted with what happens with youth when they do not have consistent parental supervision. I made a statement when I was presented with my daughter on July 30, 1984. I will take care of mine, no matter the cost.

            I saw how things were going at my place of employment and felt a compelling reason to evacuate the area. So, when my wife presented me with the opportunity to relocate for the sake of the grandchildren, it was an easy decision. I dropped papers, made plans to sell the home, and depart for my present location.

            Now that I am here, I have no regrets. Some things have yet to be accomplished, but it looks great thus far.  I have a week before I have to report to my new job, and I am taking the time to learn about my area as it's the first time I have lived in an urban environment since leaving Los Angeles in 1981. I have been on military installations or small towns for 38 years. Thank goodness for GPS Technology, as this will take a while.  Seeing I just left a city of 65000 for a metro area of 2.5 million people.

            The boys are good guys. They are open to instruction, and I have been glad we are here.  It's been fun to reinforce what their mom has been trying to accomplish.  The boys will be taking classes online due to the present malaise, so we took a trip to Target and the local five dollars or less store for headsets for the boys and their studies.  An exciting interaction took place at dinner today. It started like this. The middle grandson asked his older brother to help him prepare a package of coconut chicken. After he asked his brother, asked, why are you asking him?  He said he did not want any.   So why are you asking him? There are people here to help you if you ask the right question to the right person.  He then asked my wife. I then asked him to try again.  He finally said Papi, could you help me? I said sure I had him bring the package to me and read the instructions aloud.  After reading the directions, we went to the kitchen to follow those instructions. I asked, what are you having with the chicken? How about some rice? So, he brought out the bag of rice, and I instructed him to prepare it.  

            The dinner was delicious. I asked my grandson if he could accomplish that task without supervision after a couple of times with me helping him.  He said yes, Papi. Well, it looks like today's lesson was a resounding success.

I I was looking forward to the things that we will learn together.  The eldest has volunteered to assist in building my next computer, as I will be rebuilding my old computer for his scholarly endeavors.

Today life is good.