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Greetings
from the SFBS President, Sandeep Karkal
As I sit, mouse in hand, picking away at my keyboard, trying to come up with yet another version of this monthly missive, my mind muses, meanders, is thrown off on a tangent, and conjures up the sights and sounds of summer…picnics, backyard barbeques, cold beer, and the great American pastime, baseball. Ah, summer…time for shorts and shortstops, the crack of bat on ball; time to kick back in the trusty hammock, nurse a cold beer, swat lazily at flies, and dream of vacations, soothingly imminent or regrettably just past. And then thoughts of you, dear reader, bring me back with a bump, to….well, reality. What, I imagine you enquiring with puzzled frown or exasperated sigh, does this have to do with the San Francisco Bay Section?
Nothing really. But, I respond cleverly, it’s a not-so-bad way of burning up a few sentences from my monthly allotment without causing needless worry, sowing confusion, or performing sundry other forms of entertainment. And well, actually, there is a point to all my talk of summer (ah-hah, knew I’d find it). I will now proceed to talk about the summer goings-on in the Section.
Life in the Section is seemingly mellow on the surface. We have outwardly slowed down the Section’s activities so that our members may partake of all the joys of summer. But beneath the surface, things are still humming, and our Section volunteers are working away as industriously as ever. Upcoming events include an August tour of Alcatraz, with dinner at the Franciscan restaurant; a tour of the Mt. View Sanitary District by the Plant O&M Committee on Thursday, August 7, and a seminar on Asset Management hosted by the Professional Development Committee. Check them all out at
www.cwea.org/sfb. In addition, the Section is also a joint sponsor of the Northern Regional Training Conference (NRTC) at South Lake Tahoe (September 7 - 9) along with the Sierra and Northern San Joaquin Sections, and our Section volunteers are spending a lot of effort to make sure that it’s a successful event for all.
Also, on Thursday, July 10th, we took time out of our schedules to say a big thank-you to all the dedicated volunteers that make this Section what it is, day-after-day, month-after-month, year-upon-year. Our dedicated Program Chair, Paul Louis, arranged for the various volunteer committee members to be recognized and feted at a lunchtime event at Hs Lordships in Berkeley. Thank you Paul. And thank you to all of the almost 30 people who showed up at Hs Lordships, for all of your hard work and efforts to make sure that the Section continues to provide a great forum for training, technology transfer, and general camaraderie. All I have left to say is “Keep up the good work”.
And here’s something else to keep in the forefront of your mind. Our Section’s annual awards program is kicking into full gear this month. Award packets are already available from the CWEA office in Oakland (hard copy or on disk), and at their website (www.cwea.org). Note that CWEA expects our Section to use the awards nomination forms generated by CWEA for our Section awards as well, no exceptions. I’m sure there are a lot of folks out there in our Section that deserve the recognition of being nominated for a Section Award by their fellow Bay Section members. So people, please get out there, whip yourself into a nominating fury, and start nominating as if your very careers depend on it.
On that note, I have reached the end of this month’s epistle, and have now transitioned into the afore-mentioned hammock. As yet another cold one slides down the old hatch, I lazily watch a hawk circle the sky above me, and muse on the depredations of a critter of the mole family on my backyard vegetation. Suddenly, and out of the blue, a not entirely original thought comes to mind…sure, eagles may soar, but weasels don’t get sucked into jet engines. I take your leave to ponder on that thought.
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Musing
from the Editor
As our dear President, Mr. Karkal, so eloquently puts it… there continues to be many machinations occurring behind the scenes by our robust volunteers at the San Francisco Bay Section. Someone said to me, after my last ‘musing’, that whet he read in my words was: “what goes around, comes around.” So true! What we put out will, inevitably, come back to us.
Whether one believes in ‘karma’ or not, on some level and in some way, what we put out
into the world, we will get in return.
So, back to volunteerism. For some, volunteerism is a deep-set need. It’s either in your blood or it’s not. I’ve often wondered why I have a need to volunteer. I think the reasons are different for different people. Some may
feel a responsibility to give to the society in which they live. Some may do so in return for improvements in their own lives garnered from other volunteers. Some may have a need to control people and situations. Some, as a way to feel powerful. Some may just be problem solver types who recognize a need and step in to fill that need.
To me, the reasons do make a difference. I would hope that each of us would ask ourselves about the motives behind any of our actions. If we could each recognize the motives behind the things we do and then work towards understanding the motives… oh my, can you imagine how much clearer and cleaner our communications would be????? I often ‘muse’ about the possibilities open to us if we each could actually take the steps towards accepting responsibility for our actions rather than ‘blaming’ others and playing the victim role or ‘controlling’ others and playing the oppressor role. I have been amongst many
people who volunteer and, at times, wonder at their motives. Volunteering can be a deeply satisfying endeavor IF we are clear on our motives and if those motives come from a true and authentic place in ourselves.
Simple in concept. Difficult to accomplish.
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Collections
Committee Annual Golf Tournament & Picnic - A Huge Success!!
Thanks to all those stalwart volunteers who worked so hard to
put on this annual event...
And to the participants, both golfers and picnic-ers alike.
Click here for photos! (PDF
format)
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