I spent my shift in my favorite tractor last night. You know, she's like a favorite old T-Shirt really...we're simpatico, and a great team. This is our fourth season together...she's got 6100 trouble-free hours on the clock now...that's a couple of megatons of corduroy and plowing!
No weather last night to speak of, clear roads, and a whole bunch of projects needed to be done for the Mountain's New Years Eve Festivities. There's just something about Fireworks over a Ski Resort that really says: Happy New Year!
These festivities are bittersweet for me now because I used to get to work early enough on New Years Eve to warm up a machine and head uphill to a Prime Viewing Location, where I'd tune in the Live Radio Broadcast of the Grateful Dead's New Years Eve Show on the stereo, and watch the pyrotechnic display...always a peak event. Godspeed Jerry...sadly, these days I just step outside the Groomer's Locker Room, and watch the show from the parking lot...next to the fuel dock...sans tunes...sigh...
On the bright side, the skiers just keep coming this month! Yesterday it was howling when we finished our shift...Overcast and very windy, There was nary a car in the parking lot when we headed home at 10AM. I was shocked to learn that 3500 guests braved those winds to buy Lift Tickets! Last night on the 10 O'Clock News, they did a story on the Ski Resorts Heavy Business Levels...while citing the Soft Economy, and High Gas Prices...several Resort Marketing People gushed about the good numbers they were seeing...My Boss said we probably won't make 40,000 Skier Visits for December, but close enough for another New Grooming Machine this year! Woo-Hoo!
This looks like it's going to be a Bang-Up Season for my Groomers...Two New Machines! Now that we're an All-BR350 Fleet, we get to re-prioritize Everything! I have to learn a new paradigm...I have to reset my internal alarm system, so I can turn on my rethink response in time to salvage the best result from the worst circumstances. This could be a part of the uneasiness I felt yesterday morning...I'm good at my job, but I don't know how I know when to make adjustments, and because I don't know consciously how I know, I can't teach my methods...unsettling? You bet!
It's a "Seat Of The Pants" world I inhabit...more Art than Science really, but Science enough to keep everything on the Up and Up. I'll just keep on "keepin' on"...perhaps I'll finally be able to quantify what I do, though I'm not holding my breath...somehow I understand that it will still be The Magic...It's what I do, and it's what I am...pay no attention to that man behind the curtain...
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