A Shocking Tale…

Motor Control Centre

I became fascinated by electricity when I was a child and tried to understand it. It started with me plugging some Christmas lights that our dog had chewed up. In those days the lights were run in series and if one light went out they all went out. Full voltage and current fed through each light.

What happened was…

Our dog chewed up the string of lights. His teeth cut through the insulation and exposed the copper wire. In many places the copper connected with copper from different sections of the wire. I plugged in the string of lights and was thrown across the room by the electrical shock. The sparks from the open wiring speckled me with little black dots. The current coursing through my little body hurt.

When I was 17 I joined the Canadian Navy as a Marine Electrician. It was a fantastic career because of what I learned about electricity and because I got paid to learn. I enjoyed working on the ships. The logic of fixing and maintaining the different electrical systems was challenging.

I left the Navy after 12 years but stayed with ships and worked as an electrician in the dockyard. We were getting the last ship ready to head off to the first Gulf War. On the last day I was working in an awkward position and hurt my back. The pain of the injury was nothing like the pain of hearing the doctor say over a year later “You can’t be an electrician any more.”

I had to change careers but in all the different things I did I always felt a pull back into the electrical trade. I heard an expression once… “You can take the boy out of the trade but you can’t take the trade out of the boy.”

A few years back I had major back and neck surgery leading to another career change…

I took a course in electrical estimating. It was fantastic because it got me back into the trade. I now teach the courses I took. sudermanestimating.com

The upside of it is I get to combine my love of writing with my knowledge about estimating. I have articles published in Electrical Business Magazine in a regular column, Estimating 101. Here is an article I wrote for the May 2020 edition.
Is Your Estimator Making This Mistake

Category: career change, electricity, tradesman, writing | 2 Comments on A Shocking Tale…

Oh sh**… it’s already the middle of January 2020!

2020 calendar

First off, I hope that you have a great 2020! Thank you for taking the time to read my blog. I will be writing more frequently this year.

I am also finishing a transition in my writing. I have been copy writing for a number of years and enjoyed it but it was never my passion.

So what am I going to write?

Poems, short stories, flash stories and micro stories. I hope you take the time to drop around and read them. If you prefer a printed copy mailed to you let me know by subscribing.

Why the change?

I am tired of selling things, concepts and ideas for other people. I want to use the skills and experience I have gained to entertain rather than persuade. I like short stories, poems, novellas and novels.

I hope you enjoy what I write when you drop by. I am looking forward to seeing what flows from my mind onto my computer and out into the world.

Category: blogging, writing | LEAVE A COMMENT

Thoughtless Writing

The title expresses my feeling about more than 90% of the written communication I receive today. Email and text and crappy, boring flyers. I was speaking with a fellow poet earlier today and that started a bunch of thoughts rolling around in my brain. Here is the first draft of a poem that came from those thoughts and feelings. I think it needs work but as a guy who loves words and poetry and tries to communicate emotions and evoke a response I know it is going somewhere.

Thoughtless writing finger and smartphone

Black marks on a white background
Pixels forming the shapes of letters
Words on a screen

Slashed and pecked
Clicked and clacked
Thumbed or fingered
And click to send

Drab and boring
Unemotional
No beauty
No flow
Just click and go

The power of words
Thoughtlessly ignored
Sacrificed for speed
Just to meet the instant need
Written in haste
Thoughtless writing
A waste

No description
No emotion
Perhaps an emoticon
Click and gone
Then move on

No thought for the deed
Of writing words for others to heed
No sharing of soul
Speed the only goal

Thoughtless writing
Words on a screen
No cadence or flow
Words sent in haste
Bland and boring
(Excuse my snoring)

Category: mail, poem, writing | LEAVE A COMMENT

Are you neglecting this important social skill?

In the last few decades the speed of society and power of technology has caused millions and millions of people to abandon an important social skill. In this age of ever increasing isolation and loneliness there is one social skill that can build real and meaningful relationships with those we care about.

What social skill were many of us taught as children and which we in turn have not taught our children?
What pleasure are we denying our children because we have abandoned this skill?
What social skill have we ignored because it is inconvenient? Because it takes time? Because it costs more than an email?

As I’ve matured I have realized the many joys I have experienced and that millions of people have never experienced. One of the things that is nearest and dearest to my heart is sending and receiving letters in the mail. I was in the navy for twelve years and when I was at sea mail call was one of my favourite things. The simple pleasure of a card or letter could turn an stormy mental attitude into a sea of tranquility.

Yes, email is faster. Yes, email is cheaper. But does email evoke an emotional response? Can you put an email in your pocket to read and then reread later? (I know you can print an email but do you?)

According to Gmail I have 4,366 unread email in my inbox. Most are actually subscriptions that I never seem to get a chance to read. If they were printed I would have read them as soon as I could.

If you want to build relationships with meaning write a letter or send a card.

If you want to show someone going through a hard time write a letter or send a card.

If you want to tell someone you care write a letter or send a card.

If you want to show true gratitude send a letter or card.

Don’t let “Cost” or “Speed” or “Convenience” stop you from sending something real to someone.

I find when I write a letter I am more aware of what I am writing than when I send an email. In my mind it feels like email are relegated to work or “just the facts”. Letters allow me to share thoughts and feelings as well as facts. Receiving letters or cards is a real experience and makes people feel valued.

Sadly, I am beginning to think that writing letters is a lost social skill and believe that society is worse for the loss.

Help revive this important social skill. Help bring it back from the edge of extinction. Send someone a card or letter in the mail. Even just a few words is better than nothing.

Letter in the mail
I got a letter!

Stay tuned because I still have more to say on this topic.

Category: letters, Social Skills | LEAVE A COMMENT