Mileage

Whew. I don't have the years, but I've got the mileage of that truck.

Been busy. With work stuff mostly. Transitions transitions. Life changes, things come and go.
At my current company for 21 years, and soon it will be no more.

Me? I've been great. I have multiple opportunities with several options coming my way.

Don't know for sure where I'll land. Could be, somewhere north, like Madison. Could be somewhere south, like Paddock Lake, WI. Big Corp America kinda feels the same all over. So maybe this time, I pick the one that gives me the most time and freedom. Screw the money, what do I need it for?

Time, Miles. You can't buy em back.

Some days when I am on a conference call, and enduring yet again someone talking more than they are listening, or I am in a marketing meeting where we are trying to figure out what shade of gold to spray paint our turds this week, I think of this quote from Ed Abbey. That's him, above in the photo.

The only truly tragic part of this quote is that he was wrong about one thing: he didn't out-live them, he died way too soon at the age of 62. But it sure as hell didn't mean he didn't LIVE.



Quote:
Do not burn yourself out. Be as I am-a reluctant enthusiast… a part time crusader, a half-hearted fanatic. Save the other half of yourselves and your lives for pleasure and adventure. It is not enough to fight for the land; it is even more important to enjoy it. While you can. While it is still there. So get out there and mess around with your friends, ramble out yonder and explore the forests, encounter the grizz, climb the mountains. Run the rivers, breathe deep of that yet sweet and lucid air, sit quietly for a while and contemplate the precious stillness, that lovely, mysterious and awesome space. Enjoy yourselves, keep your brain in your head and your head firmly attached to your body, the body active and alive, and I promise you this much: I promise you this one sweet victory over our enemies, over those deskbound people with their hearts in a safe deposit box and their eyes hypnotized by desk calculators. I promise you this: you will outlive the bastards.”

-Edward Abbey