At work, among all the fancy-schmancy hi tech computer thingies it takes to populate each three-screen 911 or dispatch terminal, there is something akin to an instant message that can be sent to anyone else's within the room. They're supposed to be strictly business, but since most of the operators are rooted to their chairs for hours on end of necessity, the digital message windows are used rather than trotting across the room to another station for things like clarifying the meanings of particular screens (like if you're me and you typo some necessary call detail and it appears in something closer to Klingon to the reader, who then needs to shoot you a message of "what the heck is that?") VERY important are the messages that read "I'm going to Chick-Fil-A for lunch, anyone want to place an order?" and so on. Everyone eats lunch at their stations, so only a couple escapees at a time fetch food beyond the pale of the call center.
As far as progress, I've been doing pretty well, I think. I'm on Day Four "on the floor" meaning answering REAL CALLS (Ack!!) with a trainer seated at the same terminal. Among all The Really Crucial Vital Life-Depends-On-It Info I'm being trained on and having to retain in my middleaged brain is the lesser skill of mastering the digital instant messages. A problem? Not so much. They pop up all the time with updates usually posted to everyone in the room, to keep abreast of developing events we need to be aware of, such as if there is a controlled burn in a particular area. Everyone receives a digital message to that effect so that if callers call in with concerns about fire in their area, we can respond keeping that in mind and not have duplicate calls being sent somewhere they're not needed. I have for weeks been privately amused that MOST of the messages bore the subject line bearing the word "Ack." After all, there are a lot of "Ack!" moments that happen throughout the day. Bolos (Be On Lookout For) for stolen vehicles, repos, the status of possible runaways, etc. They all usually come through under the title "Ack."
My learning curve stopped a tad short, as sometimes happens. It was not until a couple days ago that I had my Aha moment and realized that (ahem) the "Ack" in the subject line of the digital messages is not a exclamation, but rather a truncated form of the word "Acknowledged."
Mmmm hmmm.
Wheeee goes the learning curve, over the median and into oncoming traffic, ha!
Well, in THIS BLOG, the word Ack means "ACK!!" and is my benign expression of dismay for being SO behind and SO remiss in particular respects.
I'm SO short on time these days, that this blog's been less and less a record of what I'm learning about gardening and homesteading and more and more a brief rest stop between marathons beyond the walls of my home. It's all a part of the process, yes, but some things have been put on the shelf till there's time in the future to further research and delve. The blog's grown a bit dusty and more...summarizing. BUT I'm DETERMINED that there are a couple of things that WILL be updated as soon as I've finished tomorrow's 12 hour shift (and after I've gotten my beauty sleep...or any sleep at all :))
FIRSTLY, THE BLOGROLL SHALL SHALL SHALL BE UPDATED. I'm SO remiss in this respect, and there are some wonderful wonderful wonderful blogs that should be represented here on the sidebar as links...so my HUMBLE apologies to those of you who belong there, and anyone who'd like to be there whom I may not have discovered yet. I SHALL be updating it within the next few days!!!
SECONDLY, I'm very remiss in acknowledging an honor I was given in being nominated LONG AGO by a blog friend in the homestead world for the Thinking Blog award. Each time I began the reply and then tried to make a list of Thinking Blogs I love, the list grew and grew, I became worried I was leaving so many really deserving ones out, then I tried cutting it down, then I became more anxious at having to restrict myself to a particular number, and I know I'm typing a horridly run-on sentence but what the heck this is how stream of conciousness writing came into vogue, and into the Draft file went the entry for another day, but another day never came...and....well...ACK!!!
THIRDLY, I'm just not here many hours a week, but I want to include this very important time in my blog. Why? Because the "interruption" of going out and working an outside job in order to pay off debts that are roadblocking our actual move to a property where we'd be allowed to have animals and agriculture IS a REAL part of homesteading...at least for us. This blog is about that JOURNEY. I feel humbled when I read about and see pics of all the bloggers I so love out there who're gardening and shepherding up a storm and are so much farther along that path, while I'm here worrying about a few tomato plants and wondering if I'm abusing my handful of eggplants by not repotting them fast enough into larger containers. I feel like I'm the petri dish and so many others are the actual research center DOING THINGS. But what we're doing right now in other respects IS PART OF THE PROCESS. And, so.....time's limited to the doing of it rather than the "fun stuff"....but oh how I'll appreciate it so much more when I finally get to get my hands on the projects dancing around in my head for THAT time period! :) I began some things a few months ago like beginning to research the Pollinator Project, etc, all of which I intended to plug in here as I went. I've not derailed, but like the seasons, I'm running to step in time with the NOW and having to anticipate the LATER. Nuff said. But I often wish I were putting something with more depth here just now. I'm not all about fluff. I have a million questions marching around and around, but the head can only handle a few things at a time, and right now I'm in the midst of exam-taking and getting my sea legs at a whole new job.
ACK!! :)
Lessee how it goes. I'm giving it the ol' college try, for sure!
I'll be updating the blogroll hopefully in the new few, and definately making the rounds visiting all of you bloggers who are blogging away about your lives...that's my recreation and inspiration just now, especially when the brain is waterlogged and can't handle thinking One More Thing Today. THANK YOU for the friends here who regularly check in, encourage, and whose blogs I SO enjoy reading while relaxing. I so appreciate your individual voices and expertise, experiences, and humor. My batteries get recharged, and there are so many of you I wish were my neighbors truly just down the road. THANK YOU for sharing YOUR journeys...I'm learning so much :)
OK...off to sleep. 12 hours of work and 2 hours of commuting in one day, and I'm one tired puppy. I drank a supersized unsweet tea on the drive home, but no matter how much caffiene is coursing through my veins, it's no match for my ability to embrace my destiny of shower and clean sheets. Ahhhhhhhhh :)
More later.
Thank you to all of you who've commented on the organic pesticide question. I'll be checking out each of your suggestions more in depth on my next off days. Thank you so much!
Alright, I'm off to the land of Nod...
Image link from site: http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.cs.miami.edu/~geoff/Seminars/HowToGiveATalk/Ack.JPG&imgrefurl=http://www.cs.miami.edu/~geoff/Seminars/HowToGiveATalk/Contents.html&h=1308&w=1879&sz=478&hl=en&start=2&tbnid=P-HodbA-DTlpkM:&tbnh=104&tbnw=150&prev=/images%3Fq%3DACK!%26gbv%3D2%26svnum%3D10%26hl%3Den%26sa%3DG
1 comment:
Robbyn, I often feel conflicted about my job, and the work I do (not saving lives), and how I can consider myself "among" all these people whose efforts and results I so admire. And you know what? You're right. The off-farm work, if it is part of the whole, big-picture stuff that enables the on-farm work, IS a part of that effort. Without my job, we also would not be on our place, and we would have completely cultivated our front and back yards in town with comestibles. And all the lovely animals would live somewhere else. Or something. I was going to say, "You'll get there," or "We'll get there," but that's not really what it's about. We shouldn't hope to "get there." But keep going. :)
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