The Archivist

I've spent the last couple days on vacation organizing boxes of handwritten music scores and partial manuscripts. In corporate terms, we would call this the management of "Organizational Process Assets": how can we take a look back to see how we did things before? Many of this music and writing date to my middle school years at Saint Thomas Choir School. In contrast to a previous blog post, "Why No Digital Office", I might be considered a convert, since one of my initiatives is to digitalize much of these scores and manuscripts. I also got some ptractice in dating manuscripts based on the quality of handwriting: coarse to fine, and back to coarse- as I gained access to digital music writing software. While cataloging the works was important, one area I did not broach was assigning "opus numbers" to my work. Perhaps the fear of falling short of perfection- to make a mistake in dating works- held me back. In past centuries, these numbers asigned by scholars to composers like Bach and Mozart, were rarely sequential anyway. Yet I put together opus numbers for a couple friends who are no longer writing music- as the third-party observer it was easier to date their body of published works. Music composition may be a hobby and not a career for me, but reviewing the past is useful to predict my future.

Do Leaders Get a Break?

I've been busy over the past week, wrapping up things onboard my ship. My relief is onboard, and I have brought him up to speed on how to do rounds of the engine room and how to log water test results. When I was a Third Enigneer, there was a certain finality to this occasion: detachment from the vessel, and 30 to 60 days of uninterrupted time off. At the First Engineer level, there is a new cross-current of talking to peers- and to the "marine placement specialists" or detailer. The result being alternatives to the 30-to-60 day off routine. So I have to learn to embrace the ambiguity of when I'll get called back to a ship, and when I'll be assigned to Navy Reserve duty. And for the other First Engineers wondering when I'll be available to cover their time off, I can honestly say, "It'll happen when it happens". Happy Easter Season to all!