Bicycling

Bicycling is my favorite hobby, sport, interest or whatever you want to call it. I love it, my bike is my freedom, my workout and a way to hang out with friends.

I started riding bikes when I was 4 or 5, and I am not even sure I had training wheels. Everyday I would get up in the morning and go outside to ride. I would ride circles in the driveway and around the house as I got better, I would ride down to the barnyard. About that time was when Evil Kenevil was big and everyone wanted to be Evil. So, being the ever brave 7 or 8 yr old, we did what we could to be our own version of Evil. Boards and bricks was all it took to get over our version of Snake River Canyon. That and a ratty old broken up sidewalk as your runway. Granted our distances were far less and the risk wasn't quite up to Evils standard, but a couple of feet of air at 7 or 8 years old became a hundred when we told the story.

I was allowed to ride my bike to my friend Donny's house. It was almost two miles exactly. With two STEEP hills on the way. The road was gravel.  We were on dirt bikes, with no gears, no helmets no pads.  Were our parents cracked? Or did they just want us out of the house that bad? Doesn't matter. It was clear, my bike was my ticket to freedom.

I rode the tires off of my dirt bike. Literally.

As a teenager, I still liked biking, but I needed more. 9 more gears to be exact. I wanted, No, I needed a 10 speed.

I had ridden 10 speed bikes before, but I finally bought my first 10 speed bike at a local garage sale. Man, I was in heaven but my accident rate increased. It took a lot of practice to get used to the two shifters and two hand brakes. Plus I had to get used to not having a coaster brake (pushing the pedals backwards to stop). With all the gears, I started riding in bike-a-thons and hospital charity rides. Again, I wanted more and I found it in another garage sale. This time in Denver, CO. I found a Fuji SJ10 in a garage sale. I begged my parents to let me get this. I had the money ($60) but we had to haul it back to Iowa, so I needed permission. Permission granted. As I look back on this trip, I spent my time riding from my Grandpa's house in Wheatridge across Wadsworth to the local park that had a bike path. Now, if you are familiar with Denver, you know about Wadsworth. It is a major thoroughfare through the city. I was 12 and riding in Denver by myself. Freedom.

A few years later, I was still riding that Fuji when I got the opportunity to ride along the Mississippi river. We were members of the Methodist church in Villisca and there was a summer camp that was 5 days of bike riding in eastern Iowa. The route roughly following the Mississippi river. Days were spent on the bike, nights were spent in church basements along the way, food was provided by the local congregations. More freedom.

As I continued through high school, I still loved bicycles. My attention even turned to the Tour de France. In the late 80's a young American named Greg LeMond was making a name for himself and for USA cycling in general. He was winning. No American had ever won the TdF before him, in fact the first American team to be invited didn't happen until 1984. I was so enamoured by the idea of professional cycling that I even took french in school. That didn't go as well as I had hoped. Apparently, I did not grasp the concept of foreign language as much as I had hoped. So much for riding in France (it never occurred to me that most professional riders were 50 lbs lighter and 5 inches shorter than me).

At one point, I was considering buying a "nice" bike. I don't remember the brand but I remember that it was going to cost me over $1000. A family member thought that it was impractical and that I was just dreaming. A car was a much better investment for me, as they said. I couldn't argue the practicality of a car over a bike and I bought my first car for $1100. It was about then that I started to lose my desire to ride. A car, a job, high school sports and a girlfriend all took my time. My bike got pushed to the back of the garage and was left there.

Flash forward 15 years or so.

I got back into cycling very slowly. I bought a mountain bike that I rode occasionally but never off road. Then a few years ago, a guy at work wanted to go mountain biking. Apparently there was a trail near our office. Why not. About 4 of us went that first time. I was hooked (for the 2nd time). From there, I started looking, dreaming and scheming of ways to get new bike stuff. Pedals, shoes, shorts, then onto newer better bikes. It can be an endless trail when you pursue the latest and greatest "thing". I started thinking about what I wanted to ride and how I ride and bought smart. I now have 2 great bikes, a Salsa El Mariachi mountain bike and a Jamis Quest road bike. Both frames are made of steel (not very common today) and have great components on them.

Now I ride 2, 3 sometimes 4 times a week. Especially now that I don't have family with me. I can come home from work and go for a ride without worrying about family responsibilities. Although I am riding more, it is at the cost of not having my family with me. It seems like nothing to go out after work and ride 15, 20 or 25 miles on the trail system here in Tulsa.

One other thing I forgot to mention about cycling. It's therapeutic. I don't think about work, I don't worry about my family, it's just me and my bike. It is my time. It's freedom from my responsibilities, if only for a short while.

If you haven't ridden a bike in a while, go out and try it. I bet you'd be surprised at how big the grin on your face is and what memories will pop into your head as you turn the pedals....

Great Day

It's not often that I have a great day, but today was one of them.

Today we had was is called a quarterly review. Basically we go over a lot of statistical information. Dollars spent, dollars earned, performance of our network etc... etc... Excel spreadsheets and Power Point presentations are not what made today great.

Each of these reviews have guests coming in from our corporate headquarters in Chicago. Our CTO, National Network Operations VP, Sr. Directors of many departments all come in for a day or so for this review. These guests are part of what made today great. As I walked into the conference room, various directors congratulated me on my new role in the company, some of them coming to me to offer me their congratulations. That feels good to have these V.I.P.'s recognize me and know about the changes in my position. This company feels like extended family.

I was asked to speak to the group today, something I have not done much of. There was about 50+ people in attendance, so there was a little pressure. Basically, I was asked to tell my story about visiting a restaurant in Baxter Springs, KS. I am a fan of the Food Network show Diners, Drive In's & Dives with Guy Fieri. Living near Omaha allowed me to visit at least 3 of the spots that the show highlighted and I loved everyone of them. As I was preparing for a drive back to Iowa, I decided to look for DDD restaurants on my way home. I found one in Baxter Springs, KS called "Cafe on the Route", the route being the famous Route 66. I was stoked, Baxter Springs was on the highway I take home. So, I stopped. The food was awesome, the desert was even better. If you watch the linked video, you will see Amy, the chef/owners wife. I met her and had a great conversation. We talked a little about Kansas City, where she and her husband had moved from. She was telling me about her problems with Sprint and I mentioned that I used to work for them. Her only question to me was "Did you like working there?". Wow! I was stunned, I had never be asked that by a stranger. I said that I liked it at first, but it was early in my career and I didn't know any better.

I went on to explain that I worked for the complete opposite of Sprint now. She asked the logical question, which was "Where do you work?" I responded US Cellular. "We love US Cellular!" was her response. I couldn't help but smile. She gushed a little more about us and I couldn't help but to think that she was what we want as a company. She wasn't a customer, she was an advocate. Which is what our newest CEO is looking for, not satisfied customers, but customers that are our advocates. I dug through my wallet looking for a card that we can hand out to customers that give them 150 minutes of use per phone. I found one and handed it to her. She read it, questioned me on it and then thanked me. She said it was the nicest thing a customer had done for her (I sure hope not) and that it was very generous of me. I told her that I was only the messenger, that it was a thank you from our company for being our customer.

That was the story I got to share to my co-workers and our corporate guests. My story was well received, the Vice President even turned around, after I sat down, and mouthed "Good Job". Nice, the day was already cast as a great day for me. I could have gone home and it was only 10:15 AM. As the day went on, many congratulated me on my story, asked me questions about that experience and overall made it feel like I had an impact.

I had many conversations today, some with peers, co-workers, managers, etc... I also had a lot of conversations with Directors of many departments in and out of the region and from the corporate office. What I realized later is how many of them remembered me from years ago, from brief contact with them in very different situations. That feels great.

So the day is almost done, it has been fantastic. It turns out that it isn't over yet.

After getting back to the apartment tonight, I got a call from a young former Marine that I had been helping with his post military career. Back in January, I sat down with him to discuss his experience in the Marine Corps, what he was doing for employment, review his resume and basically gave him some ideas on how to improve himself to gain a career in the wireless industry. Living in a small town it was going to be hard to get that job in the industry without having to move to a larger city. I spelled out some hard decisions for him and he took my advice, moved to Missouri to take a job with a wireless internet provider. He was separated from his wife, but started to learn the business of being a wireless technician. Flash forward about 4 months and my old position will be opened. I got him internally refered to US Cellular, he passed the phone interview and then made it to the face to face interview. I helped him prepare for our interview process. It is called a "behavioral interview", it has less to do with your resume and more to do with how you handle yourself in a given situation. Open ended questions designed to get a feel for the candidate. The interview was last Friday and tonight he got the call. The job offer. Sweet! I am so excited for him and his wife.

So in recap. I talked with senior leaders of my company. I shared my customer experience story with the region. I helped a young Marine gain a new career.

I feel like today was a good day.

Transistions

So if you read last nights post, you would see that I am currently in a transitional period. Transitional in many senses. Transitional in my career, transitional in my location, transitional in my life.

Part of this transition is not fun at all. I am separated from my family. I am currently living in a 2 bedroom apartment by myself in Tulsa, OK while my family is still in Iowa. I have been driving back and forth on weekends (I call it my commute) but I can't keep that up forever. In fact, last weekend was the first time I did not head back to Iowa. I had hurt my back the previous weekend and did not think that 14 hours of driving in 3 days would do me any favors. Besides, muscle relaxants, being tired and driving are not the greatest mix.

So, I spent the weekend driving around Tulsa, checking out some of the neighborhoods and just getting a feel for the city. Housing is abundant, so finding a house wont be a problem. But, I cant really begin to look until we have someone to buy our current home in Iowa.

Therein lies the rub. I feel like I am stuck in this no mans land of family, career and relocation. I will not bring my family to Tulsa until we can buy a house here. We cant buy a house here until we sell the one there. The reason I wont bring the family down here is that we would have to rent an apartment or home until we could sell the current one (cant afford two mortgages) and I wont make my son start school here, and then change neighborhoods when we can buy a home. It would be like moving him twice and I wont do it.

So here I sit. Lonely, missing my family and friends back home. I miss talking to my son about his day at school or his newest revelation about Star Wars (never thought I would miss that). I am going to miss the start of the Cub Scout year, sign up night is tonight. (I guess I should have mentioned that I was the Cubmaster for our pack. I have helped the new leadership team with ideas on getting the year off to a great start, and they have run with it and made it their own.) But mostly, I miss spending time with my wife. Phone calls don't do it for me. We are always distracted by the things going on around us and never have any meaningful conversations. Right now it just seems like we are living two separate lives, which we are.

As for the new job, things are going well. Although, I still feel like I am not accomplishing much, but my leader is happy with my progress. I have jumped in and taken on some smaller projects as way to build up my skills to full large scale projects. There is a lot to learn and I still feel like I am drinking from a fire hose most of the time, but I expected that.

I guess at then end of the day. I just want to have my family with me. I feel like I am missing 2/3rds of myself.

Here's to someone buying my house in Iowa. Funny thing is, they wont realize that they bought me a present when buying my house. They will bring my family back together again.

Career Decisions - Part 3

Time to get out of the Army. That was a hard decision. I didn't have a job to go to, we rented an apartment out of a magazine and she just graduated college. It was really difficult on both of us. We decided to move to Indianapolis, IN for the reason that it was larger than Omaha (nearest big city to where we grew up) and we had Army friends that lived near Indianapolis. Great reasons right?

Anyway, we loaded up our stuff and headed off to Indy with no jobs or income. I guess I should clarify, I did have 1 job in the area, I had signed up with the Indiana National Guard to do the same job I had on active duty. I got some contract work, basically I was working for a temp agency in "technology" jobs. The 1st place I worked, was a home alarm/home entertainment company. In a nut shell, I went into homes that were under construction and ran the wiring for alarms as well as speakers, phones and TVs. Not a bad gig, but the guy I was paired with was a stoner. In every sense of the word. He was always high, he kept a 1 hitter pipe in his clipboard and used it a lot. Needless to say, I wasn't happy with this. After this wonderful job, I worked on other contract jobs, but nothing permanent. I had been out of the Army for over 3 months, and wasn't doing any better than $9 a hour. I was considering re-enlisting in the Army. I couldn't stand the thought of failing as a civilian, but we needed to pay the bills.

Not long after talking about re-enlisting, I finally got the call I had been waiting for, Nortel. Nortel was a major player in the telecommunications market. They made switches, telephone systems, cell site equipment, etc... etc... This was my in. I was slated for an interview in late November 1996. In New Orleans. And they were paying for my expenses to get there. WHAT!? I had never heard of such a thing. So, I headed to New Orleans and had my interview and then filled out some paperwork. I made a round trip from Indy to N.O.  and back in a little over 12 hours. A few weeks later, I got the follow up call. I got the job!

I was to be part of the Nortel Installation and Commissioning team deploying cell sites for Sprint PCS. We were installing equipment based on the CDMA platform, which was new. Really new, like not all of the bugs were worked out new. I cut my teeth in Nashville, TN. Spent time in 5 other cities, but ended up at home. Indianapolis. When our deployment was over with Sprint, I was asked by the Sprint PCS manager if I wanted to work on his team. Not a hard decision, I had deployed their equipment, trained them on the workings of their equipment and was kind of a tech support for them after we turned it up for commercial service. Easy decision, no more travel, more pay and I was going to be home.

I spent 4 years with Sprint. I got two promotions, the last to be the Network Operations Supervisor. I was in charge of 7 field technicians who maintained the network in the Indianapolis area. I hired, wrote reviews, decided on pay raises and generally was responsible for all activities in the field. Most interesting was that everyone that worked for me was older than me. Anywhere from 3 to 30 years older. Some were old enough to be my father (one actually became an "adopted" father to my wife and I). 28 years old and on top of the world. Time for a wake up call.

At this point, my wife is 8 months pregnant with our son. Our admin assistant was also pregnant, but only 7 months along. Sprint was getting to be a little sketchy, at least internally. I was starting to think about looking elsewhere, but I was obviously going to wait until my son was born. Well, that didn't happen. I was called into the office and I was told (via conference call) that the company had decided to eliminate my position as a cost savings. Top of the world to the bottom of the poop pile in minutes. Now what? I have a child coming into the world and I have no job. My severance was going to cover the cost of his birth, but I still needed income.

I felt alienated, hurt and a little depressed. I went home and had to tell the Mrs. about what happened. We were both obviously upset. While talking about options, my phone rings. It was one of the tower companies we used at Sprint. The owners were on their way to Mexico to go fishing when they heard about my firing.  They wanted me to come to work for them as a project manager. What?! I was getting a job offer within 6 hours of losing my last job. While talking to them, I got a call waiting beep. Forget them, I was working on a job. I finally got around to listening to the message that had been left by the call waiting call. It was another tower company (who was in Florida at a convention) that had heard, and they were offering me a job as a project manager. What!? What!? Two job offers at the same time? Was it luck, hard work or a little divine intervention? Regardless, I could sleep that night.

I took the job with the 2nd company. I walked into a new phase of my career. From large national carrier to a company that shared its name with the owner/president. I learned a lot about tower and dirt work, but I knew it wasn't for me. The hours sucked (roughly 12 hrs a day with commute) and the stress was immense. If I didn't do well, the owner felt it in his pocket. Did I mention that he was just around the hall corner from my desk? Also, he was a BIG dude, very tall, very strong presence. About a year and 1/2 later, it was time to find something else.

My former boss from Sprint was hired by US Cellular in Missouri and he was looking for a tech in SW Iowa. He called an asked me if I was interested, knowing I was from Iowa. He didn't realize that he was hiring for my hometown & my wife's hometown.

I took it. It got us back to our parents (which was far more important since we had their first grandchild). I came back with the idea that I would be there for just a few years. I jumped into my position, learned a lot, had a great amount of responsibility. I became a great cell site technician. Not bragging, that is what was put in my reviews. After the 3rd or 4th year, I began to struggle with my career. I didn't want to do this forever. It was a great job, company truck, overtime, make your own schedule (more or less) but I was looking for something more. Even worse, was I didn't know what I wanted to do, just that I wanted to do something else. I began looking outside of the industry that had feed my family since we had been married. I looked at every ones jobs with a critical eye  and a question "would I like to do that?". It started to consume me, to add to that, my leader was pressuring me to make a decision to become a manager at US Cellular. It had been a goal early on, but now I wasn't sure. I didn't know why, but I didn't want to be a manager.

So, time goes on. My lack of direction started to affect me and my attitude. I talked with other leaders, I talked with our Vice President of Network Operations and I looked around the company. I started to lean in  the direction of our Engineering department.

This year, I did something I hadn't done in a long time. I took control of my career. If you look back over the previous jobs, I was given opportunities. I decided to join the Army Signal Corps, but that was really the last major career decision I had made.

That changed this year. I took a class on microwave engineering and spent time with our microwave engineer in Madison, WI. This was my first steps in owning my career. I wanted to be a microwave engineer. Looking back, I am not sure why I set my sites on a job where there are only 6 microwave engineers in a company of 9000. After completing my engineering class, I got a call from a friend who told me that there was going to be an opening in Tulsa, OK for a microwave engineer. This was my shot, fate stepped in and handed me the opportunity to achieve my goal of mw engineer.

Ultimately, I interviewed, got the offer and accepted the new job in Tulsa.

I finally owned my career and it feels good.

Career Decisions- Part 2

Mobile Subscriber Network Switching Systems Operator- This was the title of the job that I was going to learn in the next 4 months or so of training at Ft. Gordon. In true Army fasion, this title was given a much shorter job code, 31F (Foxtrot). This was how you described your job to others in the Army. I was a 31F, my father was 11B, 11C or 11D (infantry, mortars, tow missles) depending on what decade it was.

Esentially, I was going to be a telephone switch on wheels. I was the person that got your calls through. I was the operator (dial 0), the operator (make it work) and the repair man. When I got to Ft. Gordon, I was feeling pretty good about myself. I had made it through basic training without standing out. That was another piece of advice I took from the recruiter, keep a low profile, don't stand out. So that's what I did. By graduation, the Drill Sargent's had just learned how to pronounce my last name.

When the bus pulled into the barracks at Ft. Gordon, we got off and we were given our welcome and the basic rules. Rule #1- Don't wear boots inside the building, ever. Never ever. I don't remember the other rules, but I am sure they were important as well. As you can probably tell, I may have ignored rule #1 on a quick trip to my wall locker to retrieve something. What harm could it be to wear my boots on the floor? I ran past the Drill Sargent's office and she hollered out "Are you wearing boots on my floor soldier?"

Busted.

Now what? I sheepishly walked back to her office and answered, "Yes Drill Sargent!", time to face the music. She decided my punishment would be to put me in charge of the platoon. Crap. So much for being invisible. Now I was responsible for everyone. Double crap.

Turns out that the punishment was bigger than the crime, but I wouldn't change a thing. I learned how to be responsible, I learned about leadership, I learned a lot about myself. My role as platoon guide didn't end, I was left in charge for the whole time I was at Ft. Gordon. Most platoon guides were replaced at some point, not me, I was good at it.

After my time was up and I had graduated from AIT, I was off to Ft. Hood, TX. In fact, most of my friends from AIT went to Ft. Hood. When I got to the Hood, I was assigned to Delta Company, 57th Signal Battalion, 3rd Signal Brigade. Another lucky break for me. 57th Sig. was still full of veterans of Desert Storm. I had great leadership while there. I learned from combat veterans. I watched, studied and emulated the leaders that I admired. Not that the unit was full of great leaders, but I worked for the best. Time went on, I became very well versed at my job (31F), spent a lot of time in the field, and had a lot of fun.

Somewhere in my 3rd year of a 4 year enlistment, I was given my own team. I was the Team Chief. This was a great honor as I was not a Sargent, I was a Specialist. I was put in charge of B67 SEN team. I had 4 guys that worked for me, 3 Humvees, 2 generators and communications equipment. At 21 I was responsible for about 1.5 million dollars worth of equipment, I was writing performance reviews for 4 team members and worked as the liaison for our customers in the field.

Not bad for just being of legal age to have a beer.

Times up on my enlistment and I just did not see myself as a career soldier. I loved my time, but needed more from life than Ft. Hood, TX. I decided it was time to get out.


More to follow tomorrow....

Career Decisions

Today I start my venture into blogging (I know, I know, welcome to 2006). Please join me as I take you down my memory lane, with the tales of my life, family, friends and change. I don't know where this will take us, but Here we go...

Let me introduce myself, I am a mid-30's father of one 8 year old boy. I have been married to my wife (& mother of my son) for over 17 years (yes we were high school sweethearts) and work for a wireless communications company as a microwave engineer. I am currently in the process of moving from the Omaha area to Tulsa, OK. So I will start with this move, career change and all that is going on with it.

Communications-
When I was a teenager, I wasn't sure what I was "going to do with my life". I thought about college, but financially, I wasn't going to be able to afford it. Sure, loans, grants and etc. were available, but I just wasn't "feeling it".

As a child, I was always impressed by my father, putting on his Army uniform to go to drill on weekends and spend his 2 weeks for annual training, usually in the summer. I guess I was destined for it, to this day I am not sure how much of it was fate, destiny or decision. Doesn't matter. I met with the National Guard recruiter, started the paperwork to join my fathers unit but I was approached by the regular Army recruiter about the same time. He talked to me, showed me my options and took me to my ASVAB (Armed Services Vocational Aptitude Battery) test. Basically an IQ test. When my results came back, my recruiter was thrilled. I had scored at the top of the charts, there was no career field that the Army offered that I didn't qualify for. I could pick what I wanted to do.

As I went through my options, a few jobs caught my eye. Network Switching Systems Operator and Network Radio Systems Operator. I had no idea what they were, neither did my recruiter. Ultimately, I decided on the Network Switching Systems Operator, they had air conditioning and heaters in the description, the Radio Operator description did not mention either. So basically, I based my decision on whether or not I had air conditioning. Hard core, huh?

Turns out, that not only was I destined for Army service, but maybe even communications. My grandfather (Mother's side) had been a radio operator in the 1920's and I am in possession of his Dept. of Commerce license as radio operator as well as his training manuals.  Just to be clear, I was not aware of his history as a radio operator until I joined the Army. Maybe genetics can play a role in your future career.

So, as excited as I was about my choice, there was an equal and opposite reaction. My girlfriend (to become my wife later) was not happy about my decision. She knew I was going to join, but she thought I was only going to be in for 2 years. Turns out, the US government wants their more technical soldiers to commit to a longer term. I guess they wanted some return for their time spent training us. So, two years was out. Four was the only way to go.

At 18 years old, 4 years is at least a lifetime, if not more.

In family tradition, my first commercial flight was to Army BCT (basic combat training) at Fort Jackson, SC. This tradition was established by my father in 1962, carried on by me in 1992 and recently my cousins' daughter as she took her first flight to Annapolis as a Sea Cadet.

Basic Training was awesome! I loved it even when I hated it. I look back on the experience and remember it very fondly. Name are slipping now (its been 18 years) but the memories are not. I took all kinds of advice before going, but none more important than to just do what you are told. Sounds simple, but as an 18 year old male, not many people knew more than me (at least that's what I thought).  2 months later, I emerged a stronger, more self aware person. I grew up a lot in 2 months.

Next up was AIT (advanced individual training), this was to take place at Ft. Gordon, GA, just outside Augusta, GA. Here was where I was to learn how to be a Network Switching Systems Operator.

That's enough for now. I will "carry on" tomorrow.