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Fourteenth Job of Bob - Park and Rec Part XIII - conferences and panels
This entry was posted on 2/7/2008 1:53 AM and is filed under Jobs of Bob.
Something I did miss after leaving the City of Dallas Park Department was a conference I went to every year in Oklahoma. The Southwest Park and Recreation Training Institute put together a three to four day conference every February. It was held at the Lake Texoma Lodge. Oklahoma has a nice state park system and Lake Texoma is no exception. The conference covered a gamut of subjects concerning parks and recreation. It is a huge industry and the subjects are endless. There were sessions on irrigation, turf, golf courses, chemicals, fertilizers, playgrounds, special events, lakes, forestry, urban parks, rural parks, swimming pools, tennis, basketball, rugby, and on and on.
The thing I miss most about those conferences was the good Oklahoma buffet meals. There was breakfast, lunch, and supper. Also, people came from several surrounding states to attend. There were folks from Colorado, Louisiana, Arkansas, Oklahoma, as well as others. Oklahoma has strange drinking laws. We all had to bring our own liquor to the bar. It was considered a private club then and we could drink what we wanted as long as we paid the dollar membership and brought our own hard liquor.
There was a task I found myself doing as a supervisor with the City that I also rather enjoyed. Once I was asked to sit in on the Injury Review Board to fill in for another supervisor. Soon I was put on the fill-in list. But, as I soon found out, I was called to sit in for each meeting. It became apparent no one enjoyed the task. A panel of supervisors would sit and listen to people tell stories of how they were hurt on the job. We were then to try and come up with a suggestion for the Department that would help avoid a future similar injury. I, unlike the rest of the panel, found the experience fascinating.
Once a fellow came in who had been gored and impaled through the chest by a gazelle at the zoo. "You see," he said, "You have to hold them manually for their vaccinations. Them exotic animals will thrash around and be a'kill'n themselves if you put them in a head device."
Another fellow I happened to work with came in to explain how he had impaled his groin while climbing over the side of the litter truck. The crew always stuck their litter sticks in the side panels of the truck as they moved down the street. One of the crew stuck the stick on the side of the truck with pointed nail-end up. When my colleague explained how he stretched his leg over the side rail to climb in and tamp down the garbage, well....you can imagine the faces on the male panel members when he got to the part about the litter stick in the groin.
In the same vein as the Injury Review Panel, I soon found myself on a job interview panel. And again, no one seemed to want to do the task. Remember, the Park Department had over 2000 employees in its own right. Positions were always needing to be filled. I learned a great deal by sitting on the other side of many interviews. Number one - when you are being interviewed you got to talk. You got to sell yourself. I sat in on so many interviews where the interviewee simply gave one-word answers. Its your big chance - your 15 minutes of fame - go nuts, tell us about yourself. But so many people would just sit politely and nod or give "yes" or "no" answers. Jeese!
An odd thing to us all now, but not back in the 1980s, was that like many government entities in those days, the City of Dallas allowed you to opt out of Social Security. So for eight years during the time I worked for Dallas, no status appears on my printout I get periodically from the Social Security folks. We all get those printouts now days that remind us of our work history. I don't believe one is allowed to opt out of Social Security any more. I sometimes imagine working to age 120 and trying to explain to some bureaucrat in the year 2076 why I did not pay Social Security for eight year in the 1980s.
Stupid pop culture, media-complex, distraction-from-reality story
I am thinking, each day I should jot down the stupidest news story that is foist upon us by the big-media-complex as a distraction from the reality that has become America. So here we go - welcome to today's "Stupid Pop Culture, Media-complex, Distraction-from-reality Story."
Here is another gem that fits nicely into the Wisconsin-logic category. Wisconsinites try to vote on super-duper Tuesday, problem is...our primary is not for a couple more weeks. And, just when we thought we could no longer get people to participate and vote. Now there is some real God damned news!
Wisconsin military service person of the week
This week's Wisconsin military service person to remember is Captain Benjamin D. Jansky, 28 of the Fox Valley city of Oshkosh. Captain Jansky died in a vehicle crash in Al Taqaddum, Iraq, on July 27, 2005. Ben graduated from the ROTC program at UW-Oshkosh. He was in Headquarters Company, 983rd Engineer Battalion, Army Reserve. He lead a maintenance crew that maintained military vehicles. Jansky is survived by his wife Kate, and two daughters, Emma, 3, and Reyna, 1. The Milwaukee Journal Sentinel mentioned Ben and Kate Jansky worked to establish a ministry program for UW-Oshkosh students. His unit was activated in October of 2004. The Journal Sentinel went on to mention he was originally from northern Illinois. Captain Benjamin Jansky was the 43rd Wisconsin service member to be killed in Iraq since the spring of 2003.
3,948 Americans have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
478 Americans have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
306 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
275 Coalition soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
29,092 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
1,868 U.S. troops have been wounded in action in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
86 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
10 Wisconsin soldiers have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
125 journalists (several nationalities) have been killed in Iraq since Spring, 2003.
14 journalists (various nationalities) have been killed in Afghanistan since October, 2001.
Soldier of the week, military casualty, and journalist casualty information sources: Committee to Protect Journalists; cnn.com; Milwaukee Journal Sentinel; washingtonpost.com; thehighground.org; Wisconsin Department of Veterans Affairs; and, icasualties.org.
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