Label: Delays, persistence and the Mother of all storms

Hello everyone in blog world. Some of you may not be aware that this blog is posted on Tuesdays at six am Pacific time. However, this week the post will occur by 1 pm CDT. Frankly, your omscaler did not have one ready to post earlier. So, this week we are a little late. I actually was working at night this past weekend. I normally do this to make ends meet. At the workplace I have access to the internet. So, starting Friday evening, I began hurricane monitoring. I do not live in Florida, but some of my family has family in Fort Lauderdale. The the people in Florida are too elderly to travel. Hence the personal connection. Also, a lady at my workplace had a niece in Miami. This person did not leave in time to avoid road closures.  All things being equal, I did give a sigh of relief when the storm went more westerly. However, I feel that what saved some people was going to endanger others. This was a dangerous storm. All in all, I was somewhat distracted, worried and a little apprehensive. I should try not to worry. It does not help anything. Anyway, after a successful locomotive test, the pressing need became trackage. Yep, that's right. Nowhere to run. Plenty of places to hide but no where to run. How did this sorry state of affairs come to be. Well, my erstwhile supplier may have become less erstwhile. After an initial success with boxcar production, I was informed that track could be done as well. Such turned out not to be. Delay after delay. Furthermore I took a little time away from design and building to push the locomotive test forward. So there I was. Achieving some success and poised to move forward. Some weeks went by. The supplier had internet problems, design problems, miss-communication. Now I am in the process of designing a solution myself. One way or another, we will move forward. Other solutions have presented themselves as well. Or maybe the supplier will be able to meet the need. My hopes and my best to all affected by severe weather in Texas and Florida. Until next time, an optimistic omscaler