Fare Thee Well, Tom

It was fifteen years ago, and the meeting conference center meeting room was standing-room only. I took one of the remaining standing spots at the back of the room. Everyone looked expectantly towards the front of room, note books and pens at the ready to write down whatever secret watershed code was to be transmitted from. . .some type of watershed guru? The person who occupied the speaking position happened to be my boss at the time – Tom Schueler. Tom’s demeanor gave me the impression that he would rather be in one of many other places (probably a wooded trail along the Patapsco River) than standing there with a crowd holding onto his every word.

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A Conversation With Task A

I glance at my to-do list full of tasks. I am glad for the list, but also feel overwhelmed. How about you?

We in the environmental biz are in it for more than a transactional relationship with individual tasks to check off. However, our everyday experience can oscillate between the higher calling and the compulsion to just get some stuff done, and the load feels like a burden. It seems lately my conversations with colleagues are imbued with this sentiment. It makes we wonder if my relationship with my to-do list is merely a transaction, or something more; something about what we want to express about ourselves in the world?

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Carousing in Karst

We donned our navy-blue coveralls, helmets, headlamps, and gloves and headed up Cave Hill on the trail. After short steep hike, the cave gaped open behind a locked gate to the right. We descended some stairs hued into the limestone rock by long-ago adventurers, and soon were in a giant room filled with various formations.

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The Grateful Dead — Troubadours of Stormwater

The turning of the new year made me nostalgic for the Grateful Dead.  This is odd, as I was never a committed Dead Head (but there was that amazing show at RFK Stadium with The Dead, Tom Petty, and Bob Dylan, along with the giant mud pit).  I think my nostalgia was fueled by the realization that The Dead were the original Troubadours of Stormwater — a little known fact, even in the water resources biz.

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