Mark Slettehaugh - My SME(Subject matter expert) - Age 60 - we call him the 'godfather' for his knowledge- if he does not know how to solve something then its unsolvable,that's how it goes.Codes assembler with his eyes closed.He was a joker in a circus company before he shifted over to technical domain.Started off as a card reader in the age old machines where in you insert the punching cards.Is an expert skier.Has skied all over the world and has supposedly competed with olympic skiers.He still ski's and i have seen him ski and its like wow!! Have had the privilege of skiing the black diamonds in Giant ridges with him.
One always wonders what or who is a 'gentleman'- you should see this guy to know what it is.He is patience personified.I almost see him as my surrogate grandfather( It seems like i am taking my eulogies to the extreme with this statement but it is not and this is no laudatory speech!)I know he is one person I will miss a lot in my life.
Nicole pettit(and Dan) - She is probably in her mid or early 30's(I can never make out her age as she looks so young ,i know she is in the 30's because of her years of experience and haven't had the courage to ask her her age- we have lot of Desi guys drooling over her).She is my business contact.very efficient.Has a photographer fiancee who reminds me of Barry gibb from Beegees with a hat on.Very cool photographer who specializes in black and white photography and is very much interested in different kinds of film processing and shooting with old cameras- I drifted away when he was talking about different kinds of film processing -mostly greek and latin to a digital guy.They plan to get married on 08/08/08.(sorry guys!! :)) His answer to my question 'So,are you a professional photographer?' - 'I have made more money in my life being a photographer but last year i made more money building houses' - he is a handy man come photographer!!I was like wow - what diverse professions!By the way his name is Dan.They were kind enough to invite me to one of his exhibitions.
Ok,I have digressed.Nicole is a triathlon runner.She competes a lot.She normally comes to office on a bicycle(She stays a long way from office)Anecdote- we had an install checkout on a sunday morning.Everyone was supposed to be at office at around 10.Most of them are there with bleary eyes and 'Oh god,its sunday and i am in office' looks on their faces.Nicole comes in chirping and everyones asks how come she is so active .Her reply - 'I am just coming from finishing a triathlon'.Her eyes are extremely expressive.
Viv Iler - Aged around 50,she is a marathon runner.She runs 2-3 hours every morning.A very moody person and straight talks a lot when in a bad mood and is awfully helpful and kind when in better moods.She acknowledges her mood swings and warns you of them. :)
Elizabeth gray - Met her at giant ridges.A very silent sort of lady around 50's and talks only when spoken to.She is a director at Amreiprise.I didn't think much about her intially.Later got to know her passion is scuba diving and she scuba dives all over the world and has done that for the last 25 years and just last year she was in India scuba diving in the andaman's.She has said she would let me know of scuba dives happening around minnesota.She talked about her experiences in india and other scuba dives she has had.She is very adventurous,she sky dives,ski's,rafting,kayaking,hiking..etc .. I am glad i ran into her and persisted on talking with her.She has really inspired me.
Sharon Mckinney - Well she is my chat buddy and business contact in office.Extremely lively and funny.She is also in her 30's with 2 extremely cute kids Kate and Cameron but doesn't appear old enough to be a mom.She looks like a college student(reminds me of some soap ad in India with that kid coming in the end saying 'mummeeeeee')
We talk about literally everything,music,movies,food,society,work,travel ... She is big time into India and asks so many questions about India and how things work there that i many times wonder how come being there i never asked these questions myself.
She is efficient - I learnt what professionalism is from her and Noah.They are extremely friendly ,but when it comes to work they mince no corners.They are extremely dedicated when it comes to work getting done,they dont crib or cringe -they attend calls at 3 AM in the morning if need be,ready to work on weekends and they dont lose cool under extreme situations,infact you find them more entertaining in extreme situations cracking jokes and one liners,they make you relax and then focus on the problem.Infact sharon is holidaying in florida now and she has carried her laptop to keep in touch.
Another thing i learnt a lot from sharon is, she does what she says otherwise she does not say it.We were talking about music one day and she said she will burn her favourites and give it to me ,i thought she was joking and i said i will give mine too in the same note.To my surprise ,two days later she gave me a CD with her favourite songs and i was stunned,i didn't think she would do it.My respect for her grew a lot that day.
Another great character in her is if she does not know something or wants something done and has absolutely no idea about how to go about ,she will not feel embarrassed to ask questions however dumb it is and in the process becomes so good at that particular thing that she very quickly is at the helm of the affair.
She has a degree in anthropology,then she was a librarian and then she did nursing and then she jumped into finance .I asked her why doesn't she do a MBA,her answer still inspires me.She said she likes helping people and each of her profession brought her that sense of helping.She is here in this company because she likes helping people save money for their difficult times,their children and to live a livelihood.An MBA served no purpose to her.She plans to go back to nursing after a few years.Her signature very proudly bears the line 'We shape financial solutions for a lifetime'.
These are just short profiles of these people .All these people have taught me a lot about life and the different dimensions it can be viewed in and lived.These are small unknown people in this world, each with a great character and integrity and each one earning a livelihood like any other and doing and pursuing what they like the most.You always dont have to look at big names and icons and their contributions and lives to get inspired - sometimes it just takes a little bit of searching around yourself and you will see something special in each person and probably get inspired.
1 comment:
Inspiring... Very..!
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