
The fairy tales and illustrations from Mother Goose enthralled me for years.
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?
Observations and Conversations
The fairy tales and illustrations from Mother Goose enthralled me for years.
Do you remember your favorite book from childhood?
List three books that have had an impact on you. Why?
Another daily prompt that is difficult to narrow down. Only 3 books that impacted me. I’m going with Alas Babylon by Pat Frank, The Lion The Witch and The Wardrobe by C S Lewis and Charlotte’s Web by E B White.
Alas Babylon is a story of how a community and leader develop in the midst of societal collapse. The story highlights those who are at their best when the world of falling apart and how they deal with those who are at their worst..
The protagonists pool their talents together to overcome life and death scenarios. They learned through mistakes and by studying old diaries of their ancestors.
My final two books were read as a child. The Lion The Witch and the Wardrobe was my first experience of the fantastic. The epic battles broadened my imagination. I was absolutely enthralled by the story.
Finally Charlotte’s Web a story about love and persistence and the power of promotion.
My greatest fears…
When I think about the things I’ve feared, like going back to college after a few failed tries in my 20s and fear of leaving a steady and reliable factory job for a B2B sales job.
I didn’t really fear the specific moves, I feared failing the attempt and losing income if I failed in sales or money if my grades were too low for my company to reimburse the tuition. In my 30s and 40s, the income was limited. Making these fearful moves took care of the income problem. Ironic, isn’t it?
How did I overcome these fears? This was chronicled in an early daily prompt when I talked about the person who gave me these words’ “…stop selling yourself short.”
As simple as that, fears were overcome. First world fears for sure, but fears all the same!
Describe one simple thing you do that brings joy to your life.
How do you know when it’s time to unplug? What do you do to make it happen?
What quality do you value most in a friend?
Psychology Today lists the following characteristics of a good friend.
How much do you agree with each statement?
We don’t waste a great deal of energy on people who can’t be trusted. So that’s right up there.
They must be fun to be around.
Here’s an interesting caveat; I want friends who don’t judge me, but they need to be able to see when I need correcting and be good at helping with that task.
Those are the most valuable traits of a friend…but the more good traits the better the friendship.
What jobs have I had? It seems that R Dub has been gainfully employed at least for a little while every year since turning 12 years old.
I grew up in a rural part of Nebraska, a state which is mostly rural. So working on farm fields was my first taste of income. Mostly detasseling hybrid seed corn for either Dekalb Hybrids, Fontanelle Hybrids or The Robinson Seed Company.
What is detasseling corn? In the very simplest of terms, detasseling involves removing the tassel at the very top of the corn plant, mechanically and by hand, to prevent unwanted pollination. This job is only listed from ages 12 to 15, but I did supplement my income several years during college by pulling two jobs; farm fields and the fast food industry.
As an adult, I went full circle after some unwanted work force reductions in 2015 when I was ‘downsized’ twice in one calendar year. My first ‘real’ job out of college was quality control, my first job after being let go twice in 2015 was quality assurance. Other repeat jobs in different eras was Production Supervisor. I supervised production crews in my 30s at 3M and then again in my 50s at Hubbell.
Sales was by far my best earning years. 7 years selling 3M safety products then an additional 10 years selling safety products for Honeywell. Now I have a sales related job managing the Customer Service department for Hubbell at their Gleason Reel facility in Mayville, Wisconsin. My hope is to finish my career in this position prior to retirement.
One interesting side note. My summer at the beef packing plant had a celebrity working in my brother’s department. Marg Helgenberger was also a summer temp there between semesters at acting school. Marg later went on to star in many TV shows including; CSI, CSI Vegas, ER, China Beach, Under The Dome, plus soap opera Ryan’s Hope and a handful of movies. Side note to the side note. Marg’s mom and my mom graduate from the same class in North Bend, Nebraska.
A timeline of my jobs since the summer of 1973 when at the tender age of 12 I went to work in the corn fields of Nebraska.
Job history:
Age 12 – 15 Detassel Corn
Age 15 – 16 Soft Serve Ice Cream Shop – Zesto
Age 16 – 18 McDonald’s Grill Kid
Age 19 – Summer Temp at Beef Packing Plant in Schuyler, Nebraska
Age 20 – 22 Night Shift Crew Leader, Little King Deli
Age 23 – 29 Quality Assurance, 3M Valley Plant
Age 30 – 32 Supplier Coordinator. 3M Valley Plant
Age 33 – 35 Production Control Analyst, 3M Valley Plant
Age 36 – 38 Production Supervisor, 3M Valley Plant
Age 39 – 43 Sales Manager, 3M Safety Products
Age 44 – 53 Sales Manager, Honeywell Safety Products
Age 53 (6 months) Project Manager, SESCO Fall Protection
Age 54 – 55 Quality Assurance Engineer, Hubbell Mayville Plant
Age 56 – 59 Production Supervisor, Hubbell Mayville Plant
Age 60 – Present Customer Service Manager, Hubbell Mayville Plant
Do I practice religion? The practice has changed over the years. It may be more accurate to say active in religion for a lifetime.
R Dub has been an active Christian at one level or another for a lifetime. Baptized as an infant, Sunday school every week from the age of 5 until being confirmed in 9th grade, High School Youth group evenings in the late 1970s, tech booth operator in middle school and high school mid to late 1970s and then again in my 50s, usher 3 months per year in my 20s and 30s and video tech for shut ins during the other 9 months of the year, choir member in my 50s.
That’s good for activity, now for that actual practice part. Adult bible studies off and on my entire adult life. Most sessions at a physical church building. Which is a misnomer, the church is not the building, it is the people. But I digress. Studying the bible and interpretations is crux of practicing religion. Beth and I now study in our reading room…well, that and actually being a good person by the tenants of your specific religion. I think Beth and I do a good job of practicing that part of our religions, but that will be judged at the pearly gates…
R Dub was a Deacon at his church for two terms, that’s 6 years in the early 2000s. What does a Deacon do? By definition a Deacon is steward of the church. Ie, the members of the church. Remember that the church is the people, not the building. We prepared and served communion and baptisms, we prepared the sanctuary for each change in the Christian calendar, we made sure that shut in members received audio copies of each service to listen to at home. Basically Deacons care for the members to the best of their abilities.
So do I practice a religion? Yes, practice. Sadly our religious activity has been limited since the pandemic lock downs forced us out of sanctuaries and after the pandemic we just never really went back except for funerals and weddings. Unfortunately more funerals than weddings lately. We practice at home now, not at the buildings we used to help finance.
To wrap up, we have done better practicing our religions. We can do better with very little effort.
What does “having it all” mean to you? Is it attainable?