Thursday, September 20, 2007

Going with the Flow

I walked to the end of our walking path today and sat for a long while on a huge limestone rock overlooking a small creek. I don't get as much time to think these days. It seems every waking moment is dedicated to one task or another and the simple act of sitting still thinking seems to be a luxury. Today I thought about jobs and what I would like to do next.
When I was a kid I would sit on a creek bank for hours on end thinking about how my life would be when I grew up. I knew then that I'd have a home, a beautiful wife, and a hot rod car but I don't recall thinking about how I would acquire these things.
I tend to go with the flow and I stumbled into most of the jobs I've had throughout my life. When I graduated from high school my sister worked for the State of Alabama and she got me an application for a job on the road crew. I filled it out, dropped it off, and a few days later I had on a colorful vest working on the highway department chain gang which was surveying the an exit ramp off Interstate 65 south of Birmingham. I worked on the chain gang all summer and started to college in the fall.
The plant manager of a local fabricating place was in one of my classes and told me I should consider a job at his plant. I filled out an application and a few days later I was working night shift on metal punch presses. I did this job until Uncle Sam offered me an all expense paid vacation....I actually had no choice with this job. "Greeting - You have been selected by your friends and neighbors to serve in the Armed Forces of the United States of America." Never did figure out which friend or neighbor put me in for this gig, but I was not happy.
When I got out of the Army, my girlfriend (who is now my wife) had a friend Dale Short who was an editor of a local newspaper. He offered me a job and I took it. I was on that job for three years and got fired on my birthday. That was 1976. I drew unemployment for a year and did a little bootlegging to keep the lights on. Late in 1976, G.M. Young, a guy that worked for the phone company that used to hang out at the paper called me at home and offered me a job. A few weeks later, I was gassing up trucks at 3 a.m. I stayed with the phone company until 1997 when they outsourced my work to EDS. The only thing that changed was the color of my check.
So you see, I've never really had to think about a job but it is my intention to think long and hard before beginning the next phase of my life.
I didn't mean to bore you all with the details of my work history, but when I don't have a better idea, I'll write about anything.

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