Ms. Boss and I recently took one of those personality tests from a website that we recently discovered on a podcast. My test revealed that I am a ‘maven’ – defined as someone who love learning for the sake of learning. My secondary trait is ‘scientist’ – defined as a person who lives to solve problems. Adequately intrigued with subject matter, Ms. Boss bought the book (Sparked – Discover Your Unique Imprint for Work that Makes You Come Alive by Jonathan Fields) to take a deeper drive. She discovered that mavens can get ‘lost in learning’, a phrase she – and me – found to be a very apt description of me. (For the record she is an ‘adviser’ and a ‘sage’ – no wonder I lean on her so often for good advice.)
As you might expect, the internet will consume a significant portion of my day if I let it. I clicked my way into deep, deep rabbit holes more times than I could ever possibly count even before smartphones rolled around making it so much easier. Just today I ended up clicking my way towards ever increasing knowledge about how air traffic controllers work. Even doing dishes today didn’t stop me. The miracle that is the internet brought audio from planes and controllers near my house right into my ear as I was scrubbing the mashed potato pot.
It should surprise no one that I took an interest today in listening to air traffic controllers do their work. As a radio system manager (among other things), I spend lots of time listening to the radio and always dissecting how people communicate. My father was also a pilot in the military and spent quite a bit of time flying when I was growing up. I guess you would call it a flare up of intersecting past interests.
The process of becoming a Bhuddist monk was a rabbit hole I explored earlier this week. For one particular sect that thoroughly outlined the process, I have just missed the cut off of fifty years of age. Apparently, the physical rigors are more than a man my age can handle. It’s yet another thing that I have ‘aged out’ of in my adult life. The first thing I discovered I aged out of? Being an air traffic controller – you have to be thirty or younger to start that process to guarantee mental sharpness. It was slightly soul crushing when I first found that out.
I graduated in 1993 into the weakest job market (to that point) since World War II. With the prospect of moving into my parents’ basement looming very large on the horizon, my father the pilot suggested air traffic controller as my avocation. He knew I enjoyed dispatching the police and felt I might get the same amount of thrill ‘pushing tin’ for a living. I actually thought it was a great idea. When I found out the local regional airport was having and aviation career fair, I went to explore the possibility. Dressed in a brand new suit with resume in hand I went to the fair and made a beeline for the air traffic controller recruiter when arrived. I was soon told that the likelihood of embarking on that career path in 1993 was minimal. Bill Clinton had just hired back all the controllers Ronald Regan had fired. They would not be hiring for years. The only reason they were there was to fulfill an obligation. I ended up in my parent’s basement any way until my full time career in public safety communications started three months later. Other than two small stints lasting just over a year, I’ve been there ever since.
