It has been a good run

My October 2016 column in this space recounted my first week on the job in December 2005. But as you read this column today, we move full circle. This is my last column for Geosynthetics magazine.

Yep, I am retiring. Well, let’s say semi-retiring. “Semi” means I will still be around a few days each week until the end of June. So please be nice to the new editor (to be determined soon), and we both look forward to seeing you at Geotechnical Frontiers in Orlando.

“Remember when” has been characterized as the cheapest form of conversation, but allow me to indulge this one time:

I remember when I turned down the initial offer to edit this magazine. Turned it down, not once, but twice. Geosynthetics? You’ve got to be kidding me! I am a history major with a master’s in journalism!

Then I remember when my good friend—and would-be boss, Susan Niemi—looked me square in the eye and with her wry smile, she said, “You know, Ron, you can do this.”

And as I wrote last October, then I remember attending the Geosynthetic Institute/North American Geosynthetics Society conference in Las Vegas. Uff da! I remember meeting dozens and dozens of engineers at this event, all of them immersed in this field called geosynthetics … and I grasped it!

I remember, usually fondly, traveling to geosynthetics conferences across the U.S. and around the world. From Long Beach to Charlotte, from Orlando to Portland; from Korea to Edinburgh, from Brazil to Berlin.

So, more than 60 times I have filled this space. But, far more importantly, together we filled the pages of Geosynthetics magazine for 11 years—totalling nearly 700 pages, all thanks to your contributions. You helped me do it.

So I bid farewell, friends, and thank you for the memories. It has been a good run for me.