6/27/18- My Dream Job

I had a scary dream, but with a happy ending, the other night.  Bobby, Jack and I were flying somewhere overseas (the destination I forget, but it's not relevant to the story).  We're on a 747, so it's commercial flight with 300 something passengers.  All of sudden, we have to make a crash landing on the sea.  Luckily, our pilots manage to land use on the ocean with minimal damage. Passengers have bumps and scraps, but no major injures.  And no deaths (woo miracle and woo subconscious for making that happen).

Which is great, expect we're all now drifting randomly at sea with nothing but seat cushions as flotation devices.  Thankfully the US Coast Guard shows up out of no where with a big enough boat to put 300 something people on it.  They attend to the wounded and give us blankets and water.  We are all safe and headed home.  It's a happy ending!

But the dream wasn't really about a fear of flying and crashing into the sea.  I believe the dream was about my day job.  I try to stay pretty vague on my blog about where I work to avoid getting into trouble with my company.  However, my author profile does indicate that I work on the search and rescue system for the US Coast Guard (and all my friends and family know that's the project I work on, so it'd not that big of secret).  So the fact that my family and I are rescued at sea by the US Coast Guard in my dream, that was not a coincidence.

I am proud that I work as a systems engineer on the search and rescue system for the US Coast Guard.  I have much gratification that a project I work on saves people lives (specifically, people lost or distressed at sea and require rescuing).  To me, it's a project that makes a positive impact on the world.  And I love that I provide for my family through such a positive project.  I'm pretty sure that's why I dreamed about the Coast Guard rescuing my family the other night-- there's great satisfaction that two of my ideals, providing for my family and positively impacting the word, can co-exist.

Sometimes I'm not happy with the limited work I've been relegated to, and a lot of the time, I'm not happy with some of the things my company does.  My project within my company is pretty great, but the rest of my company frustrates me. Executive leadership has done some things in the past that show that they care more about profit and shareholders than the employees that work there. They also take on some projects that I'm not sure meld with my personal values and ideals.  That is what has made the past couple of years really hard for me in terms of working there.

And while I search for what to do next, I'm going to try and focus on the good that the search and rescue system project does while I provide a good life for my family.  I think continuing to focus on the positive of my current work situation will make me a better optimist and in turn, will open up the door to my next GREAT thing. That is my dream. I wish that we may all find work that we believe in.  May we all find our dream.

That's Me (standing in front and) Sharing with Students What I Do for A Living

6/15/18- Summer Activities Revisited

Wow, what a great kick off to summer time; our trip to southern California was pretty sweet!  We only brought home 5 sets of Lego (or systems as I've learned) from Legoland, which is pretty good for 2 engineers and a toddler. Although the trip out there certainly had some low points, Jack was a bit under the weather, once there we had a good time.  We hung out with friends, rode roller coasters, cars and boats, built so many Lego systems, and of course enjoyed the 70 degree weather! Man was it nice out there, and it's kind of a let down to come back to 107 degrees!

So what are we going to do on the weekends now that it's 107 out?  Luckily, Phoenix has many great options for indoor play and a couple of outdoor options.  Below is our list of planned summer activities and places we're going to visit locally to kill sometime in this heat. I think many of the places we plan to visit this summer are in most towns and cities, but let me know if you have some suggestions for fun summer activities. I'm always interested in recommendations and trying new things!  Hope everyone has a fun, safe and playful summer!

1. Lego Discovery Center- Jack is older now and way into Lego, so I'm confident he'll enjoy the Discovery Center now vs. when he was an itty bitty toddler.  Also, we bought annual passes to Legoland, which includes the Lego Discovery Centers, so might as well capitalize on that. 
2. Local Libraries- The libraries in our area have great children's spaces, like the Tempe Library and the Scottsdale Civic Center.  It's "free" (thank you to everyone who pays city taxes!) to go there too, so might as well take advantage of that. 
3. Movie Theater- Incredible 2, I can't wait to see it! And both Harkins, AMC and Pollack Theaters do a summer movie pass for kids  Seems like a cool thing to do; literally, is there any indoor place cooler than a movie theater?
4. AZ Science Center- We have a membership, and again, best to use it before we lose it.  Jack really likes the ping pong ball exhibit and outdoor water play area.  I think in general a museum pass somewhere is a must for the summer in a hot climate area. It's probably the same for a cold climate area in the winter. 
5. Indoor Trampoline Park- For the past couple of years these indoor trampoline parks, indoor bounce house places and indoor play parks have been popping up all over the Valley of the Sun.  Some of them are only $5 for an hour or two for toddler, so pretty reasonable. 
6. Chick-fil-A/McDonald's- Ice cream cones/shakes combined with an indoor play park... sold. 
7. Splash Pads- The City of Mesa and Tempe have some large splash pads that are pretty fun for the adults.  And kids too. 
8. Swimming Pool and Water Parks- We're blessed with a swimming pool in our backyard (so is half of Phoenix; it's a thing here), but I am looking forward to taking Jack to the indoor wave pool at Kiwanis.  They do movie nights, which should be fun.  Also, there's some decent outdoor water parks here (the water park at Legoland was really cool, for the record). I fear though that he'll want to ride a water slide that he's not tall enough for, and I remember how much that sucks.  Just happened to me at Legoland. 😉
9. Butterfly World- This place has been on my list forever.  We're going to make it this summer!  I also have lofty goals of volunteering more and writing more this, so hopefully I'm not all talk about finally going here.
10. Bookstores and The Mall- We go to these places anytime of the year, (FYI B+N has a great summer reading program; kids get a free book at the end), but the air conditioning will be extra appreciated this summer.  We'll also have to see if we can leave the mall and bookstores without books and toys (I'm side eyeing myself right now as I doubt that).  

Abracadabra! It's summer!