You’re
headed where?
This is the weekend that so many make the annual
pilgrimage to The City of Holy Faith (Santa Fe) for: Indian Market. It’s a
great year to be here too. The monsoons are providing relief from higher temperatures,
and the bumper-crop of mosquitos (like no other we’ve seen here in 24-years) is
disease free: Yep, every state surrounding us has documented cases of West Nile
Virus, but not us. Looking at the national color-coded map we’re an island
surrounded by a sea of sickness. No wonder our state epidemiologist left for a
job in Wyoming in June. Heck, nothing here to do; well except for plague, hanta
virus, rabies and a host of other maladies.
Last weekend was the 85th annual Pecos
Conference, where once again the profession of practitioners doing archaeology
on the Southwest (USA) get together and tell tall-tales (aka: field reports
& papers). I thought about presenting, as Petra is in Southwest Jordan and
was part of a vast trade network, but just couldn’t make the reach to it being
a “Chaco outlier.”
Wish I could say that I’m preparing for a trip to
“Loopland” (aka: Burbank, CA) for the Sept. 8th mini-reunion and induction
of John Gaball (BHS Class of ’65) and Dave LeSueur (’67) into the BHS Athletic
Hall of Fame: http://burbankhighblog.blogspot.com/2012/08/bhs-mini-reunion-sept-8-2012.html I
won’t be though, as that is the week leading up to the WTA’s Coleman Vision and
USTA New Mexico Lobo Cup Juniors Tournament. As the tournament ref for the
latter, I expect to be busier than wasps around carrion on a warm summer day http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome_New/Tournament.aspx?T=114597
Last year having the two events at the same time in
the same town was… well… challenging for recruiting & scheduling officials.
As a “Lesson’s Learned” I informed USTA officials above me (Sectional) that
they might consider separating the events, as there is a small pool of
qualified umpires in northern New Mexico to begin with. I was informed that the
simultaneous events were to promote the juniors being able to watch the pros.
Of course, the events were at different venues and 0% of the participants or
parents I talked to went to the WTA event: no time for that. So, this year they’ve
added events. Not sure why, but many ‘ol adages keep coming to mind (since this
is rated family friendly I’ll let your imagination range-free on that).
So, some friends ask: “why do you do it; why do you
keep working with so many different undertakings?” “Why don’t you just kick
back and enjoy?” “After federal and state careers, isn’t enough… enough?” “Why
continue with tennis official, firefighter (Safety Officer), SiteWatch steward
coordination, heritage resource protection work and education, ConservAmerica,
(formerly REP), etc.?”
Part of the answer probably lies with the fact that
it is still fun and I continue to feel I’m contributing to the
“good-of-the-order.” Also, both my parents had “paying hobbies” (AKC dog show
judges) that went full-tilt-boogie when they retired. I’m just a
chip-off-the-ol’-block in that regard. But also, as my #1 top ten answer for
why I was retiring from the NPS (to take a job @ SHPO) was: “because I can.” I
hope to keep-on-keepin’-on as long as possible: I keep thinking of other
well-used adages (“use it or lose it”… “Bodies at rest tend to stay at rest”…”I’ll
sleep when I’m dead…”). For now, make your own schedule, BUT do keep up the
good works…
