Thursday, October 14, 2021

Thursday Rambles : What is on My Mind


Oh my, it is mid October all ready!  Locally we are just starting to pick up a little fall color in the trees, a few leaves starting to slowly fall.  It looks like the complete leaf drop will be late, there have been years when it was late November, this might be one of them.  

The condo I live in is in one of four high rise towers, on top of a hill. There was a small kitchen fire on the 15th floor of the building across from us one evening recently. No one was hurt and damage was described as minimal.  The fire department response was described as "overwhelming."  At one point there were no less than 15 emergency vehicles between the two buildings, plus whatever was behind that building.  There were at least three ladder/snorkel trucks capable of reaching the rooftop.  Fires on high floors are the greatest challenge, the greatest threat.  I would much sooner see an over response than an under response.  Yes, my property taxes are high, but we get what we pay for.  

I am under consideration for promotion to replace my boss who is retiring early next year.  There are those who think it is a done deal.  I am taking a very careful approach.  I trust those who are making the decision to make the choice that is best for the organization. I would, will be, honored to serve, and I will give it my all, but if the best interest of the project is someone else, I will be fine with that.  

I received a wonderful complement, from someone who probably had no idea I would ever read the comment.  I worked with another state to draft a grant proposal, and my office was included as a subcontractor for a nice amount of money.  It was a competitive bid process, with outside reviewers scoring the proposals.  I have served as a reviewer on those a few times, it is a real evaluative process. The proposal was selected for funding (good news this will keep me well funded for the next year.) 

The reviewers comments, good and bad, were sent to the grantee, who shared them with us.  One comment described the issue as complex with a real need for change, and then went on to say that the proposed work plan included three of the best researchers and thinkers in the field, my name was included as one of those three names.  It is on a topic and an issue that I have spent thousands of hours reading, listening and thinking about, and someone thinks I am headed in the right direction.  It is a topic that my understanding, and recommendations on have changed dramatically over the past 10 years. Someone noticed.  I hope I can live up to their confidence. (And I just deleted a paragraph expressing my "imposter syndrome" fears.) 

We have a major project to finish in the office, one that is a few months behind schedule, so my normally quiet after mid-October through the end of the year office life, is going to be replaced with laboring away until New Years this year.  The delay was an unexpected twist, that forced us to pause for a couple of months at a critical time to wait for an outside research approval.  But still we committed to being done, and one way or another we will.  

Like the leaf suspended in mid air?  It was caught on spider silk, suspended in mid air.  I have walked trails hundreds of times in the last 18 months, and this is the best, most dramatic suspended in mid air I have seen.  I am glad I was looking up, saw it, and stopped to take pictures.   


18 comments:

  1. Every time I hear about a high rise fire, I think of Steve McQueen from the Towering Inferno and a friend of mine who used to be a firefighter in NYC.

    "There is no way to fight a fire, safely and save all the lives of anything above a 15th floor, you guys know that, but you keep building them higher and higher."

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    1. We are on a lower floor, easier to get to the ground floor, reachable by a ladder,

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  2. Great photo! I love stumbling upon these things when I walk. And usually when I do, I don't have the camera with me!

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    1. A checklist by the door: keys, cash, dog, camera,

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  3. Anonymous10/14/2021

    Your work sounds very complex to me and way beyond any of my skills.

    I too like an overreaction to a fire call out. As we know from Grenfell Tower in London, such simple thing like a fridge fire can go very badly. But surely there isn't a direct connection between your property taxes and the fire department response.

    What a great focused photo on a falling leaf.

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    1. The county I live in is well funded and has lots of resources, without the tax base, we wouldn't have the fire equipment that showed up. There was more equipment here that night, than the entire county I lived in Kentucky owned. Someday when I am retired, I will write about my work on this blog.

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  4. It's always nice to receive a compliment on your professional skills -- savour it! And good luck in the job promotion competition!

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    1. Thanks, I need to remember praise people more.

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  5. Congratulations on your success and the obviously well-deserved high praise. I’ll keep a good thought for you regarding the promotion. Today’s photo is a bit of magic!

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  6. Sending good thoughts about the promotion,
    Loving that stopped in midair leaf. Very cool.

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  7. That photo is outstanding! On one of my past consulting assignments in Chicago, I had an apartment on the 12th floor. One evening I was cooking dinner for friends when fat spatter in the oven caused enough smoke to make the smoke detector go off. I called the lobby to tell them I had it under control but that didn't stop a huge turn-out from the fire department who pounded on my door in full asbestos suit and gear. It was quite exciting and all because of a pork roast.

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    1. I need to remember to clean the oven

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  8. Pork roasts are powerful things. Great, great photo!

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  9. I love these sort of posts and I am glad to read of the good things in your life.

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    1. I hope you are having a good day,

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