Back in January after we posted some Christmas pictures in the gallery of David opening his long-hoped-for train set, the boys received an unexpected package from their Uncle Scott. In it was a complete O27 train set with two engines (Engine 1110 & Engine 1130) that we later found out was Grandpop Davis’ from when he was a boy!  Talk about a big deal!

When the boys called him to say “Thank you”, Scott’s description of it included the phrase “almost an antique”. Well Scott, I hate to break it to you, but if you used to play with it when you were a kid,  that makes it an antique ;) … let alone its further family history.

In the spirit of having the boys develop their own fond memories of enjoying this gift (which wouldn’t be possible if put on a shelf) and balancing it with treating the set as the irreplaceable heirloom that it is,  Continue Reading »

When we last left this project, I had just completed soldering the coils for our Permanent Magnet Generator together in star configuration. As you can probably imagine, things started to get a little “springy” when trying to fit everything into the mold. When I’d get one coil exactly in its place relative to the magnets proposed rotational path, it would cause another one to move or pop-up. So I broke out the good ol’ duct tape and started anchoring each one in the correct position.

With each coil held securely in its place, the next order of business was Continue Reading »

Thinking back to even before our move out to Colorado from the East Coast without a job, I can’t remember a time when “uncertainty” created any undue concern; getting into car sales to support our family without previous sales experience, the Project Management with HP, moving from Colorado to California (and back again)… Well, you get the idea.

So I sometimes get bewildered when I see someone who’s obviously not suited for the particular line of work they’re in, doing something they either don’t like or something that scares them. I think their fear of life is bigger than their fear of what they’re doing to theirself. To be more precise, it is generally their fear of failure  that keeps them from true, personal success and therefore makes them want to keep others down too.

Some of these people you don’t even want to ask “Why?”, but when you do, you’ll usually get an answer that relates to “paying the bills” or “security” or some other insignificance. Not that I’m saying that being responsible enough to pay your bills is not worth doing, but I am saying that giving up a major portion of your life doing something that isn’t personally fulfilling in an effort to spend some meager portion of time (i.e. weekends, two weeks a year vacation, etc) enjoying yourself is a waste of the gift of life.

The same goes for retirement – that pot of gold at the end of the proverbial rainbow. Why someone would spend so many years in misery just to enjoy a part of life before they die is beyond me. Why not enjoy the whole thing? The kicker is that it has seemed to have become the norm and many people just think ”That’s the way life is”.

Continue Reading »

Knowledge is defined in the Oxford English Dictionary as:

expertise and skill acquired by a person through experience or education; the theoretical or practical understanding of a subject
 

But I can’t agree that knowledge is the acquisition of skill. They are two completely separate concepts. [I also strongly support the notion that a theorectical and a practical understanding are as far apart as the East is from the West, but that's another post. ]Can you think of anyone who has acquired much information of a particular subject either by reading about it or by being exposed to it yet does not have the skill to apply that knowledge?

 Let me give and example: Let’s say I did tons of research about open-heart surgery and acquired much knowledge about the subject and then your situation dictated that you needed this surgery performed immediately. Would you come to me and ask me to perform it or would you seek out someone who not only has the knowledge but who also has the necessary skill to apply their knowledge? … Me too, probably because there’s a huge difference between knowledge and skill.

The accumulation of knowledge Continue Reading »

Take a hypothetical situation of two guys working in the same place who find out that they used to work for the same employer in the past, were stationed at the same place in the military at different times, or had some other similar experience.

Most people that work with Guy #1 know he’s a slug. Although he can speak well enough about his job, when something actually needs to be done he’s always looking for someone to lead him by his nose – even after years of what should have been “experience” - not to mention that when a little defecation hits the oscillator, he panics… deer-in-the-headlights scared - panics.

Guy #2 is in a position of authority. Continue Reading »