The Directive


"A wise man gets more use from his enemies that a fool does from his friends"
~Baltasar Gracian  


There is more truth to the above statement than I would like to admit. I first off want to apologize to my loyal followers for my abrupt abandonment of my blog. It was with a great deal of personal anguish that I had to quit blogging at the request of my now former employer. If you remember back to my last post I had mentioned about how my job provided me with the opportunity to watch trains but soon the skies would darken not physically, but metaphorically speaking the storm was on the horizon and it didn't look good.  Shortly after my last blog post my new manager called me into the office and had me write down exactly what I did and once I did that, a new directive was written this included for me to stop all social media, train, ham radio, and other activities not related to work as it was a distraction to my work in his eyes.

One of the few Auto racks I was able to photograph 
So I decided it would be best to try and not stir the pot, I continued to watch and photograph trains in the morning but soon would be written up for not following his directive. Enter in this little tantrum from him and my one co-worker who wanted to see me fail and continued to tail me and tell on everything I did, I began a downward spiral and for months my camera sat in a bag in my car. I continued to watch trains and then right before Thanksgiving I almost lost my best friend ( a later blog post about this) and to and from the hospital for a little over a month put the crimp on my trains. Once that was over  and the holidays had passed, my hours at my job were cut even more so less trains and time to enjoy my hobby. The final straw came right before Christmas I was given a three day suspension for doing what I love and that is watching trains and ham radio, I had enough, I set out with a directive of my own. I applied for another job at this point I didn't even care about trains,
I just wanted to get away and to come back to a semi normal life of what I knew before this madness. The beginning of this year my new job has given me a lot more hours so I haven't made it back trackside, but that should change shortly now that we are getting into better weather and more daylight I hope you can find it in your heart to come back to my blog here as it will be an exciting summer season to come.
Thanks everyone I look forward to hearing back from you.


Check me out on the following:







 

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

A touch of insanity

Image
           I know it has been a while since my last post, to be honest with you I just have been busy with work and other things that has kept me from the tracks. During my unwanted sabbatical I managed to get a few minutes in with the trains. The first being when I went on a fishing trip with our family ( this was a wanted trip by the way, not to be included in the unwanted sabbatical) during that trip we crossed a set of tracks belonging to the Wheeling and Lake Erie and I heard a train on the scanner as we packed up to head home. I figured that the train would be by us by the time we got to the crossing, but that would prove me wrong as I approached the crossing I looked out the window and saw the train about a quarter of a mile away. Stopping the van on the other side of the tracks I grabbed my camera and ran  back toward the tracks (this has been a little easier since I have been walking and losing some poundage) with only se...
Read more

It never hurts Part 1

Image
Over the years I have had enjoyed the hobby of trains and over the past couple of years I have taken more interest in the photography of trains. While this hobby is rewarding and has afforded me a few opportunities it has many hidden dangers I will be cover in this two part series called it never hurts.         While I can relate to some of the railfans wanting to get the shot, or if you are a photography person creating the epic shots or trying to please the clients request or demands you could be putting yourself at danger and you might not know you are. The first thing I want to cover is the railfan end of the spectrum many of times we see the no trespassing signs near grade crossings or on trestles and there is a reason  they are there, It isn't because the railroad hates railfans but it is because it mainly is to protect them and you from the dangers that maybe around. Well I am safe or nothing ever happens you may or you say I know wha...
Read more

Drown and out

Image
               To say the least the past couple of weeks have not been my favorite, in my last blog I talked about how my new year was off to a great start and how I expected great weather, well my friends that just has not happened yet. Almost every day this month including my birthday it has rained, only the first week in Jan did we have some snow and very little did we have, before the nice heat wave that came along with this wet weather. Shooting in the rain in the winter months is a challenge in itself, low sun angle coupled with a thick cloud deck only adds to ones lighting sorrows. The only time the light is good is between the hours of 1:00 and 3:00 the rest of the time it is too dark and having a lack of trains during suitable daylight hours creates its own problems. Along with this weather my work schedule has not been kind either to my passion and had lead to me being depressed and down. However today I p...
Read more