Two weeks ago, we were at CONSTRUCT. Once a year, CSINext gets together under the CSI badge and celebrates everything we have in common. The common goal is to strive to make the construction industry a better place. This is obvious if you look at the CSI tag line “Building Knowledge Improving Project Delivery”. What is the best way to improve the project delivery, that’s right open up the lines of communication and build the professional network.
As I peel back this onion of life. One of the keys is friendship. Though out Elementary school, I’m sure we all had that best friend. Someone we could share our secrets with, but the real reason they were our best friend was what we had in common. In high school, I had several ‘best’ friends, there were four of us that hung out together. Were all four of us there all the time, not always, but at any moment we would be. During College, there would be even larger groups hanging out together, but my roommate of 3 years is a very dear friend. Most of our ’down’ time was spent together. Finally work and my coworkers. This was different, while we had much in common and would hang out during the week, work was slowly replaced by family. I’m sure this looks familiar to many of us out there. If I’m the only one, then please let me know.
The connections to my past friends have dwindled. All of my elementary ‘best’ friends have passed on. My high school friends are scattered around the country. I do keep touch with my college roommate through Facebook. The connection through social media has let us pick up where we left off. I do remember when Facebook started, everyone was seeing how many friends they could make. But with out substance or connections, it is just a number. Instead of dropping Facebook, I thinned out my list to those who mean something to me.
That brings me back to why I moved to Tucson, because I needed to put family first. But I discovered a second family when I left Dallas. My CSI Family. There are several people from CSI Dallas that I consider to be very close friends. Even though I live thousand miles away, I was able to remain connected through CSI. Now the real cool part is with CSINext those relationships followed me. The CSINext group is great. Each year as our chapter grows and we get new board members, I make new friends. Like past years, we always get together on opening day of CONSTRUCT and do our photo opportunity. We then have a board meeting face to face during lunch. Business as usual with lots of laughs and good times.
CSINext is so much more than just a website. It is so much more than a portal for communication. So much more than a social virtual network. CSINext is all of these things and it is a connection to my construction family. That is to my CSI Family. I was able to have lunch and drink a beer with many of my friends. I was so glad to share in the moment of both Cynthia Belisle and Mike Young who joined the CSI Fellows. A lot of good memories and reminders why I stay involved and connected to CSI.
One last thing, last week I poked the bear. I owe some very good CSI and Ohio friends an apology. I agree that Ohio is a great place to vacation. My friends reminded me of so much to do and see. While I spent all of my time with my In-Laws, I should have made some time to see my CSI Family and had lunch or at least a cup coffee with them. I would not be where I’m at today without both my family and my CSI Family. Cheers!
…and now for something completely different.
10% of the World’s population is left handed.