If he's not at his desk, the phone answering machine
tells you to leave a voice message for (begin ponderous tones)
"Kenneth (pause) McGill".
I know Ken cause he's also research lead at the NASA IV&V facility and handles the day-to-day
admin of NASA's software assurance research program
(the SARP)- which makes him my boss on the NASA side.
Ken is a
man who truly loves his cookies.
Ken's just your basic middle-aged balding ex-cold-war-warrior Mormon samurai.
A
graduate of Nuke'em High
(gosh darn tree-hugging democrat-smoking
bed-wetting liberals are ruining the country).
A gentle man who is also a gentleman
and
who
trains his kids in the best use of knives and guns- go figure.
A man who
walks the suburbs of Fairmont with mace (an anti-dog device)
and the the hills of WV with a half-length samurai sword
(an
anti-bear device).
Ken hobby is flight.
In the past
he flew planes for the Navy for about two weeks
(flew them real well; landing them?- that's another story).
These days, his flight plans have changed and now
he spends his free time making incredibly detailed replicas
of historical aircraft.
From flash planes to old trucks: Ken likes both.
People talk some about my "stamp" on the SARP for (something to do
with cabaret and fabulous dancers and bad jokes). Folks don't talk
enough about
Ken's stamp on the program cause he makes its so gently. NASA
sometimes does not understand how to deal with research folk.
Ken's life is to toil in the garden such that the paths are clear
so that others can run around. Most folks don't notice the absence of weeds
cause they are running by too fast and its hard to see something that
isn't there.
But I see the weeds since, all-to-often, I am a
hapless and helpless spectator to Ken attacking some
new undergrowth that threatens us all. Like a
tangled knot of Medusa's hair, the weeds want to choke us or turn us
into stone. Either way, without Ken, we'd be immobilized.