Posts Tagged ‘coworkers’
Great Ride
It was everything I wanted and more. Last Tuesday, Cyndie and I had dinner with our friends Paul and Beth, and the idea of going for a bike ride with Paul came up. I wanted to get more hours on the saddle in preparation for the Tour of Minnesota coming up in a week but I’m not a big fan of riding by myself. I offered to drive to Paul’s house so we could start from there.
Paul tossed out the loose idea of riding toward Wayzata from his place in Minneapolis which would provide me both hours and miles. Sounded perfect to me. It turned out to be even better than I expected.
The greatest gift Paul provided was his making almost all of the turn-by-turn decisions so that I was able to simply follow him and enjoy the ride. At one point we came upon an option of trails and I picked the more northern route that I was less familiar with. That choice ended up providing a series of unexpected perks that enhanced my day significantly.
The first one happened after I recognized a unique water tower in Plymouth that told me we weren’t far from the location of my old day-job I retired from. I stopped commuting the 65 miles one-way in December of 2021 and haven’t seen the folks I worked with since. After I left, the company was sold and although I have exchanged emails with the new owner, I had yet to meet him. Yesterday became my surprise chance.
It took some bike gymnastics and one fence scaling to get there due to construction but it was worth it to all-too-briefly be able to say hi to my old coworkers and shake the hand of the new owner. (I am chuffed to discover our Asher shares a name with Brian’s dog. I probably thought of changing “Ash” to Asher from stories Brian had told over the years. Could be, the way my mind works.)
Soon after we left the old workplace, Paul mentioned his mom lived nearby. I suggested we stop and say hi. It had been many years since I had seen her. You never know what might result from an unannounced appearance at somebody’s place, but she was home and invited us in for a wonderful visit.
Two great surprises in one ride! But there’s more.
Paul directed us to the place his brother, David is living and we pulled in so I could witness the gorgeous property where he resides. The curving driveway includes a small bridge across Minnehaha Creek before arriving at the house and garage. David wasn’t around so Paul snapped an “usie” to let him know we were there. I suggested the message could be, “Having a wonderful time. Wish you were here.”
As we cruised along the rest of the way, after baling out on going all the way to Wayzata, Paul pointed out houses, or streets that led to houses of other friends we know. I felt like I was on a celebrity tour.
The mileage for the loop clocked in at a respectable 34 miles which met my goals perfectly for distance and time. The hour of completion conveniently allowed me to pick up Cyndie’s grocery order on my way home.
Paul, you were a wonderful tour guide. Thank you, again, my life-long friend.
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Final Commute
I am one to never say never but in the case of commuting to the day-job that I have allowed to occupy my time for longer than I ever imagined since moving to the countryside of Wisconsin, today is my final time. Starting tomorrow, my ability to give my full attention to managing our Wintervale property will become my new primary occupation.
Another way to put it is, I am retiring. I am choosing to end a career that began in 1981 as a graduate of a technical education in electronics from an institution known for educating radio and television personality-hopefuls. Their electronic technology degree served me well and provided opportunities to work with some brilliant people on some breakout technologies over the years.
At that first job at a manufacturer of vacuum technologies for the surface analysis sciences, I was introduced to the nuances of manufacturing. During my 18-years with that company, I met and worked with Gary Engelhart, an electrical engineer who became the person I would follow to several different versions of system engineering and electronics manufacturing jobs for the rest of my days working in the field.
I tried to quit several times over the years, but Gary always made it clear I was welcome to return when my circumstances warranted. I am forever indebted to his confidence in my abilities. There is sadness in ending my time of working with all the staff at Gary’s electronics manufacturing company, but it is definitely offset by the thrill of claiming the rest of my days as my own.
I will not miss the stress of the day-job responsibilities.
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Starting tomorrow, here’s to leaving my car in the garage more often than not.
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Memory Lane
I traveled down the depths of some great memories last night for a 50th-anniversary event of the company where I launched my industrial high-tech manufacturing career, as an inexperienced fresh-out-of-tech-school entry-level Electronic Technician. I had the good fortune of working for that company in many different roles over eighteen years, putting me in contact with almost every department at one time or another.
That made this celebration event with current and former employees an extra special treat for me. I talked myself hoarse sharing stories over the clamor of hundreds of other simultaneous conversations all around me. From Assemblers to Scientists, Marketing, Purchasing, Fabricators, Software Developers, Facilities Manager, Calibration Technicians, Mechanical and Electrical Engineers in both Manufacturing and Research & Development, Human Resources, Customer Service and even the First Responders team, I came to know a lot of amazing people, almost all of whom I could describe as friends as much as coworkers.
It was difficult to finish a thought without getting interrupted by another fond greeting of long-separated colleagues. Many people asked if Cyndie was still a Principal and wondered what I was up to. I labored to explain how we moved to the country onto a property to have horses, but that we don’t have horses any longer, and I commute many miles to an unrelated day-job that is not all that different from the old high-tech industrial electronics job I did 20-some years ago.
So much has changed, but not that much has changed.
It was a blast seeing the faces of so many people from my years with that company and recalling some of the adventures and laughs we shared. One person reminded me of the times we used our lunch hour to play wally-ball in the company gym. Those were the days.
For some perspective, during the years I worked for that company, we transitioned from pencil drawings on vellum paper to digital CAD drawings. I interacted with my first desktop computers while employed there. I was part of a team that designed a custom system for 3M that they used to manufacture some of the first compact disc optical storage media.
We were dumbstruck that they would be able to store an entire set of encyclopedia volumes on one little disc. What would they think of next?
One night of being immersed in flashbacks to that previous life is a little disorienting. I sure had no idea at the time that I might someday be dealing with broody chickens. Makes me wonder a little bit about what I might think of doing next.
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Relative Something 