Being a follower

I was talking to my boss today and was getting a frustrated, not with him, but with myself. You see, he is the kind of guy (and he said this to me) that loves someone to just tell him to do something broad, like "make this accelerator work, we don't really know much about it, but just make it work." He does not like getting told specific things to do and the like at all. In fact, it seemed to me that he talked down about the kind of people who need that, because they are not motivated enough. "You need to be self motivated," he said afterwards. Now he wasn't reprimanding me, just making a statement. I agree with his assertion, however I am conflicted about his definition of "motivated". It seems to me that he defines "motivated" as "you need to be able and like to have little or no guidance in your job".

Let me digress a bit now. All around us, at graduations, at motivational speeches, in churches (in somewhat a different sense, though), and advertisements we see people pushing us to be leaders. I feel as if wherever I go, people expect me to be a leader, in fact, they expect everyone to be a leader. Being a loyal follower (not a person on a leash, but someone who follows intelligently) is looked down upon; or at least it seems that way. Is it so bad to be a follower? Obviously not everyone can be a leader, or else nothing would get done. Even leaders are rendered moot if they have no one to lead.

Back to my original story. Unlike my boss, I like being told what to do (to an extent). I find the challenge not in trying to solve an incredibly broad problem, but doing it the most efficient way possible while still doing the job better than right. I get my satisfaction by crossing things off a list, and being able to say, "I did that to the best of my ability." There are situations where I will step up and lead, but usually I will step aside if anyone else wants to lead instead, simply because I would rather follow. But I also don't follow blindly. I asses the situation, and if I feel it is not morally or ethically right, I say something.

My boss is a good man, but I don't think he understands where I come from. In a world that constantly strives to push people to be leaders, no one tells their children or those that they mentor that following is o.k., too. In movies the leader always gets the glory, not those who supported him when he was about to die. In politics the main politician gets the glory, not his advisory board that gave him sound advice. At work the team leader gets the glory, not the accountant that churned through who knows how many spreadsheets to find that bloody error. I am not saying the follower should get all the attention, but I think its important to know that, yes, we can be a follower, and still be an intelligent and hard working individual.

When I told my boss, an engineer with a PHD, that I was thinking of just going into construction (I love construction and working with wood), not dropping out, but doing construction after school, he seemed to strongly oppose it. He kept saying that I should start my own business, or be an engineer that makes a ton of money. Those are good things, but not for me. Making money isn't everything, and neither is leading.

I am sorry if this post was not really well written, I just wrote things as they came to mind.

Free steak

I decided to leave work 30 minutes early, and dropped a binder off in the Dungeon. On my way upstairs a secretary asked me if I was busy. Frankly I was terrified because I thought she was going to ask me to do something for her, probably on her computer. BUT NO! She asked if I wanted a free steak dinner. Yeah, you heard me right, FREE STEAK DINNER!!! All I had to do was walk to the D.C. Turns out that a couple of people left a workshop early and there were two free steak dinners. So Rachel and I walked over to the D.C. and ate free steak. But it was also WRAPPED IN BACON!!!! Yeah. Yes it was. It was also cooked exactly the way I like it: medium rare and seeping just the right amount of blood (don't worry its not bad, I just don't know how to describe it). Oh yeah, and we got strawberry shortcake for desert.

Good day.

Over-weighted-ness

I have recently been thinking of how there are many people that are disgustingly overweight. Don't get me wrong, I am not talking about someone with more fat than what is healthy, I am talking about people that HAVE to waddle when they walk. They sway back and forth like a palm tree hitting resonant frequency in a hurricane.

I have not always been in a healthy weight, but usually I have been close. I have usually striven (is that even a word?) to burn fat even at my laziest (pretty dang lazy). I DO NOT understand why people don't walk enough that they cannot walk without looking like a duck with two injured legs. It is one thing to be overweight in America, or the western world in general, that is understandable to an extent. But it is a completely other thing to be so sedentary that your body ceases to show any signs of a metabolism (medical reasons not included).

I am usually very happy when I see a heavier individual accepting their weight and being self confident. But when I see people with no will to become healthy when it is VERY obvious that they just need to walk more, it makes me sad. Be confident, but at least try to be healthy. Eat a salad, walk somewhere, don't eat something dripping with chemicals and grease.

In all reality this applies to people who look healthy and are not as well.

(May it be noted that I completely understand medical difficulties that bar some people from being able to do this, and I am ok with that. Its just the people who are blatantly disregarding anything healthy.)

Presentation

Well, I gave my presentation of my research today. It went well for the most part...I think. God gave me fluent enough speech that I was complimented on my "stage presence" by Dr. Bradle!

Hoo Ha Fuzzy Weasels!

Things I did yesterday

Replaced a door knob after the old one fell off, re-hung a towel rack that had fallen off the wall (put drywall sinks in the holes), and tried the 3rd drain un-clogger (the heaviest duty I could find). The first two work great now, but the drain is still clogged...bleah.

That felt good.

I worked my butt off yesterday, almost literally, (I had to re-tighten the bolts holding in on). I pretty poured concrete into cinderblocks that were over my head hight-wise, and shoveled rocks for 8 hours. Hard work, but for some reason fun. I then rode my bike home. Needless to say I was exhausted, but I stayed up until 10:30 pm before going to bed (don't worry, this is going somewhere).

This morning I woke up at 6:00, got ready for the day, and rode my bike 5 miles to Exit 59 at 7:15 am. I did this because a small group of people from Exit were going to install a wheelchair ramp for a lady in Marion. They were going to meet at 8:00 at Exit, and drive over. Well, 8:00 came and went and no one was to be seen...rain clouds were also coming over and it was getting cold (I was only wearing a t-shirt and shorts, hardly cold-and-rainy gear), and was thinking of going home. God, however had different plans and kept telling me in that still small voice that he has got it all under control...so I waited. At about 8:30 they came, and then it started raining (just in time for me to get out of the rain!).

Turns out that the lady we built the ramp for has cerebral palsy and has been stuck in her house for a year because she couldn't get down the precarious stairs. It felt great, and I felt actually useful...Yay God!

Blocking ads

So apparently Ad-Blocker (on safari) only blocks the displaying of ads, not actually loading them. I accidentally clicked on a blank space on my screen and BAM! a popup appeared.