Off the Bookshelf

From this day forward, I will blog about each book that I take from my overfilled bookshelves and read. These are books that have been waiting to be read for years, many years. It's time that I start taking a good look at the books I've chosen, read them and give them some thought. It's going to be a great journey through my bookshelves. Then, if I like the book, I will decide whether to keep it or sell it back to a bookstore. Occassionally, I may pick up a book from the library, and if so, I'll add it to this blog. This blog will give me a reason to get through my bookshelf and maybe read a few good books along the way.

So the first book is "The Book of Yaak," By Rick Bass. It was a great way to begin this project. From the first line, I was drawn to his images of the woods of Montana, and the creatures who live there. The book gave a voice to the forest that was about to be logged. Later, Bass states that one valley was saved, but the rest were goners. I would like to visit this Yaak Valley, this place seperated from the world outside, the world that is trying to extinguish it. This book has affirmed the fact that a little relentlessness can be a very important thing to have in this world. Where would we be with out people who are relentlessly fighting for what they believe in, for those are the people with passion. Those are the people who can add something to the world and enrich lives. I am proud to be one of those people. I want to be relentless like Bass, like all the other Basses in the world. I may not fight for a forest, but I can fight for streams. So the Yaak, a great story in a great place and a book that will stay on my shelf. Yaak, save the woods, save the creatures, save what should not be squandered and spent. The problem is that there a whole section of the population, decision makers, who don't care about saving woods, who just want what they can get from it. I met one of these folks recently and have been trying to avoid him since. A few weeks ago, he became unavoidable, picked a fight with me and then acted like it was all my fault. He could not see the value of the stream and until the stream is no longer, he will not rest. He has thumped me off the site, he thinks he has found an easier target, but he will not get around, he will not get what he wants. Greed never wins. They didn't win in the Yaak, even if they got all the trees, they only got a short term win. Their greed will be the end of them. I can't wait to read about the Yaak again.

Relentless

Today my boss handed me a letter that was intercepted before reaching the big boss. In it was a fabrication of a site visit in which I used one profane word in the following sentence "That's F---ing unfair." This sentence was used after I was harrassed, threatened and insulted by a man who dislikes having a woman in a place of authority. He insulted me personally. It's been the same everytime I met with him, he always trying to put me down and undo me, insult me or my expertise. He was always looking for a fight and that day, he got one. He is an evil person, a person who wants to control women, a man with a bad case of little man syndrome. The only way the episode would have been avoided was to have brought someone with me. The intercepted letter was full of lies and with the exception of the profane word, I did nothing wrong. I stood my ground because I had to. Is it my fault that some men can't respect women? Why is this my problem? Why do I have a letter written about me, when the problem was his? It was like I was set up to go out there and look at a stream, getting set up to have this guy under my skin, then to threaten to go over my head and work with my boss, exactly what I told him he was welcome to do. The letter is his having a say, a last word. Like that proves that he is right. The letter took 2 weeks to write and not a word of it was true. So, then my boss says that I'm relentless. At first that may sound like an insult and maybe he was just trying to politely tell me that I should back down, but honestly, smart women do not back down. Smart women take chances and tell the truth, even if others can't bear to hearit. There are those who respect my guts and determination and passion. Then there are those that would like to me go away. Sorry to the second group, sorry to the weaklings who can't stick up for themselves, I'm not like you. I say what needs to be said, I don't quiver behind whispers and tell lies to people's faces. I sit up and tell it like it is. I am proud to be relentless, when it matters. I will always be relentless when it matters. I will always stand my ground, show my passion and stick up for myself. No one gets to shove me around with manipulation and lies. Thank goodness I never have to work that man again. I don't have to take that abuse from anyone. He's a piddly engineer who thinks he owns the world. I wish he would go away. But he won't. He's just one of those people that now I get to avoid for the rest of my life. I honesty don't think I did anything wrong. It was just a site visit, it was just a discussion. There was no confrontation, no unwillingness. He wanted to push my around, I wouldn't let him. He got mad and wrote a nasty letter. So what. I hope he feels better now that he got the last word. Well, not really. I got the last word, right here. Ha.