Dawes Arboretum, Ohio

On way to Milwaukee along I-86, I-70 & I-65. Staying in Lafayette, IN. I had a job here for a couple of weeks. I worked at a start-up computer company. They had a great product, but it was really hard to use. After I learned to use it, the owners called me in to ask me what I thought of the product. I told them that it was great technically but too hard to use. One of the owners told me that if people were too stupid to use the product perhaps they should not buy it.

I had taken the FS exam the year before and was waiting for my security clearance. I called the FS to find out about when they would be done. To my surprise, they told me that the clearance was done and I had been offered a job. I never got the letter. They gave me a day to decide. I took the FS the next day and quit my other job.

I do not regret leaving MDBS. It has long since gone out of business. I am sure there would have been upsides in that career, but FS was special.

My pictures are from the Dawes Arboretum, which is just off I-70 Ohio. Worth the short diversion. The first picture is a nice big beech tree. Next is a cypress swamp. Bald cypress are a southern tree, not native to Ohio and will not usually reproduce there, but they will grow and thrive. The next picture is a burl on one of the cypress. The last picture is metasequoia (dawn redwood) and bald cypress. The cypress will also grow on dry (well not too dry) land. The metasequoia is native to China. It is a relative of the redwood, but with deciduous needles, like the bald cypress. The two species looks similar but are easy to tell apart because the needles and stems are clearly different. Metasequoia likes to be near water but not in it.