I apologize for the break in posts, but it has been a tough few weeks, with the return to full-time work and Sarah Joy's failure to understand the night is for sleeping while the day is for exploring the world around her. Wifey (see Heart Matters link on the left side of this page) has been doing a fantastic job, and last night was one of the most peaceful yet, so I still hold out hope that we can make this work. Speaking of work, there have been developments. I have been at my employer for 6.5 years now, and have learned a lot. As I am fond of saying, you learn something new every day if you are not careful. I've been shuffled between a few different mechanical systems, and, through focus and a few errors, have picked up valuable lessons about how to analyze, troubleshoot, and even how the industry works. This is a great thing, except this works best when you have somebody more experienced to shelter you from the big mistakes. The highest form of this art is becoming the Old Man In The Back (OMIT-B), the guy who always knows what questions to ask to come to a quick resolution of any problem, and who is really just killing time until somebody approaches him with something novel or new for him to entertain him. Well, my engineering group has had such severe attrition over the past year that the only person remaining for me to lean on for help was the OMIT-B. My group went from something like 12 to 6 people in that time, but as long as the OMIT-B was around I could hold my own. Now the company is reassigning the OMIT-B to work on another project. Yes, the move is for the greater good of the company. Yes, he'll still work for the same company, but he's being physically moved to another location, and will certainly be too busy to spend much time helping my group out. That means that over a period of just over 6 years, I am the Last Man Standing working on the mechanical portions of the weapon systems of our... ahem, product. Not through guts, guile, or gumption, but simply staying in the same place long enough to learn a few things and for everybody else to just... go away. I guess life really is mostly just showing up.
By the way, that picture up top is Arnold Schwarzennegger as Dutch in the movie Predator. After defeating a 7' tall intergalactic hunter in man-to-whatever combat, he truly was the last man standing. That may be a worthwhile post in the near future right there!
I apologize for the break in posts, but it has been a tough few weeks, with the return to full-time work and Sarah Joy's failure to understand the night is for sleeping while the day is for exploring the world around her. Wifey (see Heart Matters link on the left side of this page) has been doing a fantastic job, and last night was one of the most peaceful yet, so I still hold out hope that we can make this work. Speaking of work, there have been developments. I have been at my employer for 6.5 years now, and have learned a lot. As I am fond of saying, you learn something new every day if you are not careful. I've been shuffled between a few different mechanical systems, and, through focus and a few errors, have picked up valuable lessons about how to analyze, troubleshoot, and even how the industry works. This is a great thing, except this works best when you have somebody more experienced to shelter you from the big mistakes. The highest form of this art is becoming the Old Man In The Back (OMIT-B), the guy who always knows what questions to ask to come to a quick resolution of any problem, and who is really just killing time until somebody approaches him with something novel or new for him to entertain him. Well, my engineering group has had such severe attrition over the past year that the only person remaining for me to lean on for help was the OMIT-B. My group went from something like 12 to 6 people in that time, but as long as the OMIT-B was around I could hold my own. Now the company is reassigning the OMIT-B to work on another project. Yes, the move is for the greater good of the company. Yes, he'll still work for the same company, but he's being physically moved to another location, and will certainly be too busy to spend much time helping my group out. That means that over a period of just over 6 years, I am the Last Man Standing working on the mechanical portions of the weapon systems of our... ahem, product. Not through guts, guile, or gumption, but simply staying in the same place long enough to learn a few things and for everybody else to just... go away. I guess life really is mostly just showing up.
4 comments:
Oh Stew, you don't have to be modest. You know that picture is the one I took of you after a hard day of engineering.
I always considered you the old man in the back. That might just be from you being older than me and sitting behind me at work though....
Well, Stew, it sound like you have arrived. The OMIT-B is not something you consciously strive for, it's just something that comes as a consequence of being around the longest. Congratulations old man!
For the record, I have not arrived as the OMIT-B. At least, I hope not, because I always figured it entailed much more ear hair and old man smell.
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