Although my posts tend to be more of the upbeat, positive variety, it has been a challenging few weeks. Two weeks ago this evening, my Uncle Tango passed away--my father's brother. It was tough on all of us to see a great guy leave us way too early, and his funeral gave us all a chance to honor a great man and reflect on how important family is; in both good times and bad.
Uncle Tango had a great heart and a genuine passion for helping everyone who crossed his path. He and I spent many of our hours together talking about our beloved bears/bulls, our careers, and our travel odysseys. Fortunately, I had a chance to see Uncle T plenty since moving back to Chicago and he will always serve a reminder that I should keep my mind active and curious while helping those around me in some way, shape or form. Uncle Tango did those things better than most I know, and those are two ways I'd like to be described someday.
Where I seem to be doing most of my helping these days is at work. For those not keeping score at home, I'm working for a large clinical lab in Quality Management, where I work with the folks who do the testing (and their leaders) to deliver a positive experience for the patients (and docs) who rely on their work. In the simplest terms, I help teams get better at serving their customers.
I've been involved with this type of work for the past few years and I really enjoy it--I get to work on behalf of the voice of the patient to ensure they get what they need, and I also get to work with teams to examine their work and improve through the use of a framework called Lean. It can be challenging work at times, and things have been very busy of late as I acclimate myself to the intricate world of the laboratory, while figuring out how I can help the organization using Lean principles. Everyone I work with has been great, and I enjoy the work, its just taken a lot out of me over the past few weeks.
Speaking of work, I promised a three part series on Jobs, which brings us to Part II; the college and after years. It is Sunday night, and I am looking at a long week, so I'm only going to write about one of my college jobs. And frankly, I don't think you're going to find it interesting to read about me as a bus boy working in a restaurant.
For those not familiar with my academic transcript, High School was not a strength for me. I am frequently described by my mother as the kind of kid "with all the brains in the world who never applied himself." She's probably right to a degree--I think I could have probably figured out most of what it took to get good grades, but it wasn't important to me back then. So when I left high school for college I took a flier on a small school in Tampa; the University of Tampa.
I had been used to working, and when I arrived at UT I looked in to ways I could make a few extra bucks to pay for Ramen Noodles and the occasional concert ticket. I came across some fliers during "new student orientation" related to the radio station and figured what better way to make a few bucks than to play music and hear myself talk over the radio? I had my choice of shift, based on my musical preference (mine was Heavy Metal at the time) and ended up in the 9 - 11 slot on Sunday Night; broadcasting solo over the airwaves of the University of Tampa.
Before you get all excited looking for archival footage recorded by one of my fans, you have to realize there were more kids at my high school than the University of Tampa, my program aired on shortwave radio through the university (and cafeteria), and ABSOLUTELY NO ONE LISTENED TO IT. So I had plenty of fun with my two hours on the radio--I'd play some random Megadeth tunes, sprinkle in some Pantera, and have visions of the school loving what I was playing. And when I got done with listening to my own music, I'd pick up the phone and call people on the air for no reason. I'd call my buddies at other schools in the Midwest (who obviously weren't listening), my roommate, and anyone else to kill two hours of time. As you might expect, my radio career was short lived, but it was one of the funnier jobs I've had and I actually like the idea of being on the radio.
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