My work life summed up: I was in my room studying Plato, reading The Republic again and getting nowhere except to the opinion that Socrates would be a pain in the ass as a friend. But I have worked at studying philosophy for close to thirty years and it’s something that I can’t seem to give up.

There is a knock at the door. It’s one of my guys. He says that a piece of equipment is broken. “Hard down,” in the parlance. I put on my boots and go to investigate. They had accidentally sucked a shackle (or a clevis depending on your geographic origin) between two boom sections on a crane and now it was wedged solid. Long story short- I used a chain fall and some WD-40 to pull the shackle free. We are “back up”, in the parlance again.

And this is the sum. I’ve always been more handy than smart no matter how much I study or read. But I’ll continue trying because I’m also stubborn.