What's Next?
6/9/2004
Tonight as I finished editing the images for the writing that I wanted to do, I was about to shut down the computer and head on off to bed thinking that I could just compose this one on another day.
But the other days just keep on flying by, and the events of the last week will soon be overshadowed the next round of life. So I decided to plop back down and type out some words, words that I am sure that I will appreciate at some distant (these days not so distant) point in the future.
Thursday was the Good News, Bad News day. Just as we were about to enter the parking lot of the High School for the Senior honors presentation, son mentioned that there was a message on the machine for Mrs., and he thought it was about the job.
As the boy went on into the school to join his peers for the assembly, Mrs. tried to track down the caller.
"They took the candidate with 5 years experience in the specialty."
Well, Duh, I thought, they sure should have, unless that person was an outright dolt.
I was disappointed to the core.
I was mad at the universe, and just plain mad.
I think it was good to have the distraction of the awards ceremony, watching the boy get recognized for this and for that, but the big one came when he picked up a major award from the Athletic Department, one that covered something along the lines of a Senior Achievement Scholar-Athlete - most coachable award. (One to a boy, one to a girl)
The boy was pleased, and so were we.
As the evening wore on I thought that it was interesting that I had found a position in AZ to apply for that very afternoon, but the way things are going, I've not really got much hope left to allocate to it.
It's a dream position for me, actually the best I've seen in probably 10 years of looking. But like I said, I am out of emotional energy and I'm focused on what happens next.
And then the same hospital that had the specialty position posted another more "general" opening to which Mrs. applied that very night.
We are not letting moss grow under our feet.
The Last Run at the state track meet on Saturday was a big disappointment, mainly because we missed it. A host of issues came together, not the least of which was a parking area that was a 10 minute walk from the main gate.
We missed the race by about 1 minute.
But, we did accomplish one of my main goals, and that was to test ride a motorcycle that we missed last year, by about the same amount of time.
But buying a bike to tour with is a very near term goal and I am not about to shell out tons of money for something that one of us, or both, might not like.
In this case it was neither, so the Gold Wing bites the dust. The elevated seat puts Mrs.’s helmet right into the slipstream of the bike and her head was shaken, not stirred.
And although it's kind of smooth, and it has the ability to cover long distances, it's still the Winnebago of motorcycles and I'll be quite happy to stick to Harley Davidsons thank you very much.
The Countdown Clock is FinishedAnd then there was Sunday afternoon, downtown in a park on the riverfront, with just the right temps and a nice breeze for the big ceremony.
As you may or may not be able to tell from the panorama, the parents were quite a ways back from the kids as they got their diplomas. Fortunately for me, and for many of the boy's friends, I've got the big lens that covered the distance quite nicely.
And there it is, the diploma is in hand, and we are finally free to go.
And although there is this lingering disappointment in the air, I've managed to put together a quick business trip to Denver this week. The meeting starts with a dinner on Thursday night and then is over in the early afternoon on Friday. I ran into some problems renting a Harley so I took the easy route and grabbed a mustang convertible for a couple of days of wandering.
I've got a little cabin reserved on the river in Estes Park and I'll have Friday night and all day Saturday and Sunday to hike through Rocky Mt. National Park. It will be a nice time to clear the air and I might even come back with a picture, or two.
