I touched down last Saturday, 2 April 2011 @ JFK at 2:40 PM EST. That was the easy part...
My turtle was shipped as Priority Parcel Post; my 92 lb lab as part of my luggage. I payed as much for the turtle as I did for my luggage: $200 each.
I had to first go get my luggage to the rental car place via the Air Train, then go get my turtle and lab: two neurotic pets that did not like the plane ride or the monorail at all...trust, me: the turtle (as turtles go) wasn't herself; the dog got car sick -- probably an extension of the plane trip -- on the way upstate.
Map Quest or Google Maps cannot tell me it's 1.5 - 2 hours from JFK...given traffic, juggling luggage, pets and my own naivete, I got where I was going by 10:15 PM.
Thank God for the GPS on my phone -- brought to us all courtesy of "The Photoelectric Effect" and a bit of quantum mechanics (of course, I had to say that...).
*****
I was deeply moved by the affection extended to me by the staff and students at Manor High School:
- I received a drawing by a student of a Mustang (the car, and so happens the school mascot). It could have been a magazine cover. I plan to have it framed and placed in my office.
- I took photos of all the students in my 1st - 7th period classes, that will go into an electronic frame: I plan to look at them daily.
- My martial arts students put on a party for me in which they made an "Oreo cake": essentially, they stacked oreos in the shape of a cake, and brought Doritos and popcorn.
- My 2nd and 4th period physics classes each had a party with food - 4th with pizza they'd ordered. I was probably 5 lbs heavier by the day's end.
- Since my last Friday was April 1st, I was accused by some as playing a cruel "April Fool's" joke.
It was not, and I apologize to those whom this move was upsetting.
Again, I'm touched that I'd affected so many young lives and made friends with so many talented teachers. It's nice to know that one's life has significance in other's lives as well. It is what makes us altogether human and adds value to our brief existence...
*****
Centura...CMP...Endura...EPI...FEP...Producer...
My reintroduction to semiconductors as an operations manager: I admit to the dilemma reported in "The E-Myth": my love of being the "technician." That's when you like being the "fix it" person; the guy/gal that turns the screw; designs the experiment & analyzes the data. I have to let go and empower others to do the same.
Once I can let go, I feel I can do so much more. I, like a lot of physics graduates, romanticize Einstein as the wild-haired loner genius: the Munich patent office -- though he thought it defeating -- allowed him to ponder the universe deeply. In the pre-relativity world, life probably moved at a much slower pace.
My thanks to my lovely wife, family, friends and New Light Church for believing in me.
My thanks to my students for allowing me to impact their lives positively for a short time.
My thanks to Mark and Alicia Raizen for inspiring someone selling security services -- my own "patent office" experience -- to have the courage to pursue once again a career in science. I am in debt for their friendship.
Lastly, my thanks for having been blessed to have parents that saw beyond their circumstances in east Winston-Salem, NC to inspire my sister and I to build lives of purpose and significance:
Robert H. Goodwin Mildred D. Goodwin
Sunrise: June 19, 1925 (1) September 15, 1925
Sunset: August 26, 1999 (2) May 7, 2009 (3)
1. My father and sister were both born on Juneteenth, celebrated in Texas as the day the former slaves learned of their emancipation.
2. My layoff from high tech occurred August 26, 2003: 4 years to the day after my father's death.
3. My mother expired two days before Mother's Day, and a day before the recent Star Trek reboot, at the time a sad coincidence that Mr. Spock lost his mother (I'm sure by the third movie, she and the rest of the original plot line will be back...)
My turtle was shipped as Priority Parcel Post; my 92 lb lab as part of my luggage. I payed as much for the turtle as I did for my luggage: $200 each.
I had to first go get my luggage to the rental car place via the Air Train, then go get my turtle and lab: two neurotic pets that did not like the plane ride or the monorail at all...trust, me: the turtle (as turtles go) wasn't herself; the dog got car sick -- probably an extension of the plane trip -- on the way upstate.
Map Quest or Google Maps cannot tell me it's 1.5 - 2 hours from JFK...given traffic, juggling luggage, pets and my own naivete, I got where I was going by 10:15 PM.
Thank God for the GPS on my phone -- brought to us all courtesy of "The Photoelectric Effect" and a bit of quantum mechanics (of course, I had to say that...).
*****
I was deeply moved by the affection extended to me by the staff and students at Manor High School:
- I received a drawing by a student of a Mustang (the car, and so happens the school mascot). It could have been a magazine cover. I plan to have it framed and placed in my office.
- I took photos of all the students in my 1st - 7th period classes, that will go into an electronic frame: I plan to look at them daily.
- My martial arts students put on a party for me in which they made an "Oreo cake": essentially, they stacked oreos in the shape of a cake, and brought Doritos and popcorn.
- My 2nd and 4th period physics classes each had a party with food - 4th with pizza they'd ordered. I was probably 5 lbs heavier by the day's end.
- Since my last Friday was April 1st, I was accused by some as playing a cruel "April Fool's" joke.
It was not, and I apologize to those whom this move was upsetting.
Again, I'm touched that I'd affected so many young lives and made friends with so many talented teachers. It's nice to know that one's life has significance in other's lives as well. It is what makes us altogether human and adds value to our brief existence...
*****
Centura...CMP...Endura...EPI...FEP...Producer...
My reintroduction to semiconductors as an operations manager: I admit to the dilemma reported in "The E-Myth": my love of being the "technician." That's when you like being the "fix it" person; the guy/gal that turns the screw; designs the experiment & analyzes the data. I have to let go and empower others to do the same.
Once I can let go, I feel I can do so much more. I, like a lot of physics graduates, romanticize Einstein as the wild-haired loner genius: the Munich patent office -- though he thought it defeating -- allowed him to ponder the universe deeply. In the pre-relativity world, life probably moved at a much slower pace.
My thanks to my lovely wife, family, friends and New Light Church for believing in me.
My thanks to my students for allowing me to impact their lives positively for a short time.
My thanks to Mark and Alicia Raizen for inspiring someone selling security services -- my own "patent office" experience -- to have the courage to pursue once again a career in science. I am in debt for their friendship.
Lastly, my thanks for having been blessed to have parents that saw beyond their circumstances in east Winston-Salem, NC to inspire my sister and I to build lives of purpose and significance:
Robert H. Goodwin Mildred D. Goodwin
Sunrise: June 19, 1925 (1) September 15, 1925
Sunset: August 26, 1999 (2) May 7, 2009 (3)
1. My father and sister were both born on Juneteenth, celebrated in Texas as the day the former slaves learned of their emancipation.
2. My layoff from high tech occurred August 26, 2003: 4 years to the day after my father's death.
3. My mother expired two days before Mother's Day, and a day before the recent Star Trek reboot, at the time a sad coincidence that Mr. Spock lost his mother (I'm sure by the third movie, she and the rest of the original plot line will be back...)
No comments:
Post a Comment