Typical Day
It's 7:00AM, and Ken is just finishing breakfast. He's a bit groggy, having gotten up to take care of Jake (his six month old son) at 3:00AM. But if that's the worst that will happen that day, he'll take it.
He kisses his sleepy wife, Helen, goodbye and heads out the door. A former adrenaline junkie, Ken is happy to now have an eight-to-five gig, not missing those awful shifts he had to take as a paramedic. He likes the relatively quiet days as well as being home by 6:00PM most evenings.
Ken arrives at the office, where he works as an emergency planning specialist for the state. He checks his planner and sees that it's mostly clear—he'll have plenty of time to review those county emergency plans that have been sitting on the corner of his desk since last week. He sees that he has to give a training session at a PTA meeting at a nearby elementary school at 7:00PM. He makes a note to call his wife later that morning to remind her he won't be home for dinner. Not all of his days are quiet.
"Ken-do!" Ken's boss and director of emergency management, Susan, appears in his office with a handful of folders. She gave him that nickname due to his willingness to take on all the oddball assignments she needs to pass along.
His versatility, however, has been a double-edged sword—sure, it keeps the days busy and has him on Susan's good side, but it seems like not a week goes by that she doesn't surprise him with yet another "fun" new assignment. "Have time to review a few grant requests?" she asks. "It seems the city boys can't quite grasp all the intricacies, and I've had a few sent my way for our help."
"Always time for you, boss," Ken answers with a weak smile.
"That's the Ken-do spirit!" Susan chirps. She leans in. "You know I really appreciate all you do. And hey—experience is gold in this business. Here's your next assignment."
"Cha-ching," Ken says, as he accepts the folders from her.
The county emergency plan will have to wait. Ken knows to make Susan's requests top priority. Grant requests are no fun, but he's shown a flair for persuasive writing over the past year and is able to make some edits and suggestions so the requests are more likely to result in some kind of funding.
Ken is just about to leave for lunch when he spots his notes on the social media training manual he's been working on. "Great," Ken thinks. "I need to get this on Susan's desk today! So much for lunch...again."
Ken sighs and opens the file on his computer. He thinks back to how he got roped into the social media project—an innocent conversation with Fred about how little is said about social media being the way people seek information. He knows people turn to social media for info even more so than television and radio, especially young people.
"Somebody needs to develop some training for hospitals, utilities, and other critical businesses so they know how to get word out to the general public on what's going on and when service can be restored," he remembers commenting. Why? Why did he do that? His bright idea got around to Susan and she knew just the guy to develop it—Mr. Ken-do himself. "Cha-ching," Ken thinks, as he started typing.
3:00PM rolls around, and Ken shuts down his computer and gathers his things. He pops his head into Susan's office. "I'm heading downtown for the CERT training," he says. "Have fun," Susan answers as Ken heads out the door. CERT is the Community Emergency Response Team program, composed largely of volunteers who need to be trained in what their roles are when called into duty.
Ken is one of the presenters, and his job there is partly to train and partly to be the face of the state's emergency management office.
As he drives to the training, he mentally calculates what time he needs to leave the training in order to make it back across town for the 7:00PM PTA meeting and thinks about what he'll do for dinner in between. "Dinner!" Ken shouts as he slaps the steering wheel.
At the next light he calls his wife. "See you around 8:30PM or so," he says, adding, "I hope. Love you." The light turns green and Ken hangs up and accelerates. They better have pizza at that PTA meeting—he has a mad case of the hangries brewing.