Good Stuff

Sunday 18 February 2007
1930

Good stuff is happening. Things are shaping up at work, and some things I’ve been working on are paying off.

As an example, recently we had a temporary outage of some kind in our 110V power systems, but I was able quickly to recover because I had taken the time to learn how to reset our UPS units. When I got here there was no documentation of any kind, and nobody really knew how they worked. But now I have user manuals as well as notes about how ours are configured and how to recover from outages. Part of my task over the next month is to make sure that this knowledge is recorded in such a way that anyone can find and read it, not just me.

So that’s a good thing.

I also had kind of a fun thing happen last night. I got my first challenge coin from a general officer.

We had a request to help hang some plasma TV screens on the wall of a conference room. Naturally it was a short-notice requirement – they wanted it done *right now* for an important video teleconference. We usually tell people that this is a self-help item, because we just don’t have the manpower to do these kinds of jobs ourselves. But when generals are involved it changes things – you need to step up to the plate and get done whatever needs to get done. So we gathered our tools and went over there at about 1730.

We expected it to take a couple hours. Put a piece of plywood on the wall using wall anchors, and then attach the TV mounting brackets to that with wood screws. No big deal.

It shouldn’t have been too hard, but these are really heavy screens (I estimated 40-45 lb.), and they didn’t have the proper mounting hardware. The section had acquired some so-called “universal mounts” that weren’t very universal – none of the holes lined up with the back of the TV sets. They also had two of them, so they not only had to be level, they had to be lined up with each other or they wouldn’t look right.

We did some pretty creative engineering to get the brackets attached to the TV sets. We didn’t even get to the wall mounting part of the job until fairly late into the evening. But it was interesting and kind of fun. I enjoy doing jobs like that once I get into them, and I don’t get to do them much anymore – most of my work is administrative in nature. So there was a certain satisfaction in overcoming each successive challenge and making it work with what we had.

“Do the best you can, with what you have, where you are.”
- Teddy Roosevelt

It ended up taking us until almost midnight. But when we got done it was a really good job – I mean *perfect*. They are perfectly level, and they line up with each other perfectly as well. So I felt that glow of satisfaction you get from a job well done.

The fun part came when the General came by to see how her conference room was shaping up. She was pleased with our work, and came back later to give us each one of her challenge coins.

This is a tradition in the Army that I have heard of but never experienced personally before. High ranking officers will have a custom coin made for their unit or activity, or according to their personal preferences. When they encounter some activity (training, support, or whatever) that they feel merits recognition, they will give the soldier(s) involved one of their coins. The tradition goes that you are supposed to keep it with you at all times, and if challenged you must produce it or else pay for drinks. :-) It is for this reason they are called “challenge coins”.

So she came in and showed us her coin, explained the symbols on it, and then handed one to each of us via a handshake, with the coin held in the palm of her hand. I didn’t know about that part of the tradition, and I thought it was cool.

It’s the first challenge coin I have ever received in my military career, so it was kind of neat. I never really understood what the big deal was with coins and why people were so fascinated by them, but now that I’ve received one, I can see why. It’s nice to be recognized.

“It is with such baubles that men are led.”
- Napoleon Bonaparte

Here is my bauble. It will be a nice memento of my service here:


070217 Challenge Coin 1
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

070217 Challenge Coin 2
Originally uploaded by hkp7fan.

That’s about it. I’m continuing to work daily to make incremental improvements in our operations, while dealing with the normal day-to-day stuff that gets in the way (the proverbial Clausewitzian Friction).

As in the song playing on my iPod right now –

“You live, you learn,
You love, you learn,
You cry, you learn,
You lose, you learn,
You bleed, you learn,
You scream, you learn.
I recommend biting off more than you can chew to anyone - yes I do…
You breathe, you learn,
You choke, you learn,
You laugh, you learn,
You pray, you learn,
You live, you learn…”

Mood: Happy
Music: Alanis Morrissette – “Jagged Little Pill”