We Lost Two Staff Members

Downsizing has hit the election office.

Oh, I've already pointed out that we have the same number of staff members we had 20 years ago.  We are spread very thin and an employee health crisis away from an election crisis.

The downsizing I'm speaking to is a good thing, in line with crisis prevention.

As I lament my fractured ankle that's keeping me from running, possibly from two half marathons last fall but more likely because of the very large man who ran over my ankle playing soccer on Dec. 1, two of our employees ran their very first 5k race Saturday. 

It was cold, a definite treadmill day.  One of our employees ran with her husband, so maybe that counts as their first 10k.  Another employee ran his first 5k race last month.

Take a look around our office and people are smaller than they were two years ago.  In pure weight loss, our department is down the equivalent of two people over the last 18 months.

It really has nothing to do with the county's Wellness focus, but the Wellness program has made it easier with discounted fitness center rates.  We've even purchased two treadmills and converted a rather spooky looking cement vault into a fitness room:

Pretty creepy, right?  This was a storage area with an iron door. 
We called it the vault and when we removed shelves, it revealed
these battery cables.  They were installed by the building's first
tenant, Cookbook Publishing, to ground materials to prevent a fire.
   The room, now home to two treadmills (below), looks much fresher
 thanks to the county's facility group.

Those of us with previous presidential election experience know the toll it takes physically.  I don't know if that's behind each person's fitness focus, but it's been a factor.

Two key things I tested as true in 2008:  manage with numbers and maintain fitness regiments.

The numbers concept will play out in posts this year.  The fitness concept is probably as much about maintaining internal control than anything. There were plenty of days I ran at 10 p.m. in 2008 to maintain some sort of routine.  It's a lot easier to manage chaos if there is no internal chaos. 

And, yes.  Chaos is coming.