Lately I have been overwhelmed. Overwhelmed in a good way. Overwhelmed with the amount of blessings that I am currently on the receiving end of. There seems to be a break from the "buzzard luck" that I've had off and on over the past six months. Well, that was more blessing than buzzard luck, as that the surgery worked well, I'm working locally, and I get to sleep in my own bed with my own lady.
The job itself is intense. I am constantly busy from the moment I arrive to the moment it's time to close up shop and go home. I get going, and I look at my watch, and I think, has two hours gone by already? There is some pressure at the client company. In the past they've suffered from turnover as engineers have left to find something less frantic so that they can have their nights and their weekends off. I have noticed that everyone is going home at 5:00ish. They also have a new policy. If the managers ask for their people to come in over the weekend, then they have to come in too.
In my case they have to pay me overtime if I come in, as that I'm on a contract with the client company. I could use some extra shillings to catch up on some bills, but I'm not going to volunteer for it. My projects are being done on time and yes, I have to be innovative to keep them on time. I'm allowed pretty much to do things the way that I feel they should be done, but I also have to adapt to changing priorities as the design of the equipment gets under way and matures. Working on hardware intended for commercial aviation is new to me and interesting. Yes, it would be great to go back to satellite engineering, I'll admit that, but I would have to relocate to do that and if I have my way I'm staying in Tucson.
Aside from work, I have been active in ham radio and having a lot of fun in spite of the low sunspot numbers affecting propagation on the higher frequency bands. Most of the other hams I talk to are stateside or in Canada, but I get the occasional "DX", which means Caribbean, Oceania, Asia, Europe, or South America. I was able to talk to France a few weeks back. Yesterday I QSO'd Curacao. QSL cards from foreign countries have also arrived. I got a really neat card from Costa Rica last week. I'm saving the envelopes for these. I'm not a stamp collector, but these foreign stamps can be and are, artwork.
I think at this point I'm going to sign now. I have a long intense week ahead of me that starts tomorrow. But the best part of that is being home with Sheila seven nights a week.
