Just Tooting My Own Horn

I saw this Facebook post this morning:

The brotherhood is still alive fellas. Had a low tire. Was pulling out my hoses and realized I couldn’t find my air gauge. Was gonna go in buy one at Loves. Hopper next to me said screw that use mine. Then when I returned it. Told me to keep it. Brother if you see this. Thank you again!

My response:

I’m sure he felt really good too.  Doing good things for others makes you feel good.  

A few years ago when I was driving for Knight, one the spiffs they gave us was a nice air gauge with the Knight logo on it.  

While (at a Live Load or Unload) in Las Vegas I was checking the PSI on my trailer and adding some air with the glad-hand hose.  Next to me was a truck from another large company with lots of orange trailers.  The brand new driver who had been on his own for a couple weeks started chatting with me about what I was doing.  I filled him in including Knight’s safety policies and regular training, including those on tire PSI.  He said his employer hadn’t shared any information like that during his training.  I spun around and checked the two closest tires on his trailer and found them very low.  After my trailer, we checked all of his tires and got them filled up too.   

When finished, I told him he’d need to get his own glad-hand hose, yet gifted him my Knight gauge (I had another plain gauge onboard).  He really appreciated it, but I think I was happier just helping a new driver.  

I’ve thought about him occasionally.  I hope he’s safe and doing well.

Facebook memory from 2016 | TCI memories

This popped up today on my Facebook memories, from seven years ago today.  Even then it was a look back.  It refers to my time of working at TCI  (Telecommunications, Inc. of Los Angeles County) the City of Industry (15255 Salt Lake Avenue).  Traveling from Yosemite in September 25, 2016, I was back in the area to attend a security related meeting introducing industry vendors. 

Oddly, after Aramark laid me off in July 2018, I ended up there again on September 19, 2018 for a nearby job interview at Southern California Edison (which was a waste of time).  Then on October 6, 2020 and again on February 20, 2021, Knight brought me to the neighborhood.  

……………

Musing of a security dweeb.  

This area has history for me.  Just down the road, in Diamond Bar, during the early 1980s, my father created the first Cable TV franchise in unincorporated Los Angeles County. He tried to get me to be the GM.  I turned him down.  A year later, and with a better offer, I left the Sheriff's Office to work for my dad. I spent much of the following year in the area helping to build the DB cable system.  It was a challenge--and fun.  I loved the Cable TV biz.  Especially that era.  

To be frank, actually two Franks--some 15 years later, now 20 years ago (April 1, 1996 to be exact), thanks to my cousin Frank making some introductions after my father's passing, and Frank Maldonado, the GM of TCI of Los Angeles County at the time, I started my new professional path in corporate security working at this office as their first ever Security Manager.  Frank  M. thought a guy with both a strong cable and law enforcement background was what was needed.  If TCI doesn't sound familiar to you, that's a shame.  What a dynamic company it was!  Dreaming the future of media and its delivery, and then accomplishing it.  No one thought video could be delivered digitally, but TCI did.  

We hired a crew of Auditors and fumbled our way through building a loss prevention program from the ground up.  Thanks to a lot of people, including HR wizard and my sister-friend Nadean Dickey (who set a high bar for me to measure other HR managers and directors with integrity and insight), we must have done some good.  Two promotions and a move the the Bay Area resulted.  

I was able to work cases I never could have as a Deputy.  Countless theft of service and piracy cases resulting in millions of dollars in court ordered restitution (with an average 28% immediate pay rate), multimillions recovered in an internal theft case, installers and techs being shot at while on the poles while disconnecting people, fiber cuts, a joint investigation with the FBI and IRS Criminal Investigation Unit that included at least on murder, one suicide, and six simultaneous search warrants being served in four different states, plus all the normal day-to-day "security" stuff like deploying camera and alarm systems to 50+ cable stores in three states.   And, getting to know awesome folks like Sean Duck.  

A "Dotcom Layoff" allowed me to land in Yosemite, where I thought it would be a fun job until a found a real job.  Yosemite sucked me in, like so many others.  I quickly learned to love Yosemite and it's people.  

As life does, it has brought me full circle back to this neighborhood for work.  A Yosemite patrol car parked where it all started, some 20 years ago.  And a fun few moments getting caught up with coworkers still here and getting a tour of the facility.  And, my dad's Diamond Bar system is now part of this one.  It might say Time Warner on the sign now and it was just purchased by Charter, but it's still TCI to me. 

No matter what happens in the near or far future, life has been friken grand!

………

September 19, 2018

October 6, 2020

(Rocking TCI decals on my truck.)

February 20, 2021

(Sadly, the front parking lot is now fenced.)

 

Retirement

Let’s start this off with my retirement announcement on Facebook.  

***

July 7, 2022.  It’s time.  Sooner than some.  Later than others.  

I’ve joined a handful of you who also transitioned during this past week, including my dear bride who officially retired a week ago, last Thursday, June 30. 

This will take some adjustment.  I’ve been in the work force one way or another for a long time.  

First job: Contra Costa Times, AKA “The Green Sheet” as a Carrier.  Yes, it was printed on green newspaper, and it was an early morning paper.  I often went to elementary school with green ink on my hands.  

Longest job: 1967-1996 (Sometimes part time, other times full time, and lots and lots of donated time.)  Working for my father’s cable tv company, Western Cable Enterprises, as a Laborer, Mechanic, Installer, Technician, commercial size (the really large ones) Satellte Dish Installer, and Vice President.  He also had a safety company called Action Barricade that kept us busy.  It also included a stint as a Bar Manager.  After my dad “retired,” he owned a popular bar in Ventura, California.  When he became terminal ill, I dropped out of law school and ran the bar for about a year before we sold it.  

Biggest case worked: TCI (Telecommunications, Inc.  At the time, the world’s largest cable TV provider) Nothing like taking something that started with a vehicle stop by some drug cops that turned up nothing other than a couple cable TV boxes in the trunk that looked damaged.  It eventually turned into a several month long case where I worked jointly with the FBI and the IRS Criminal Investigation Divison that resulted in six search warrants being simultaneously executed in three time zones in four different states, not to mention a questionable suicide that turned out to be a related murder.  It was intense and fun.   

Best job: Chief of Security and Fire for Delaware North in Yosemite National Park.  Awesome place and an awesome team.  

All the other jobs were fine for their time, but they just get the “Participant” ribbons.   

I’ve got a wide variety of projects lined up, so I’ll stay busy for some time to come.  Travel will happen too.  Unfortunately because of our recent lifestyle, we haven’t swung a golf club in over three years.  Nevertheless, Kari Stone has a goal to golf in every state, and we are about a third of the way through the list. 

First order of business for retirement is to dress for success so I may need to go out and buy a selection of oversized Hawaiian and bowling style shirts, short pants with plenty of cargo pockets, and the ubiquitous New Balance shoes.  

Happy trails.

The last employed tour of duty: