Things are Happening in Sector 5

I have been getting a few concerned messages from some elves in Sector 5. I want to assure you that even though we don’t yet have our Regional Tracking Center finalized for Sector 5 things are indeed happening.

I think as the month of August comes around next week all tracker elves in every sector will see communication coming from their Elf Supervisor, me included. Just because we’re homeless, so to speak, that doesn’t mean we’re not working. For me, I may be working from a cell phone in my car, but I’ll still be working.

Now, to answer your questions: no, I don’t really know what the hold up with. I just know that we have several cities that can host us and the powers that be are talking to all of them still. We’re going to have a Regional Tracking Center, I just don’t know where yet. It has long been out of my hands and I don’t actually get involved in the contract talks. So I cannot really tell you what is going on and what the problem is.

And, like you, I should not focus on that. Things are happening in our sector and we need to focus.

The test flights were over our area this past week for just a day or two. They’ll be back for an extended run some time later.

One of our first goals as a sector will be to see if we can see it when they are over us. Sleigh sightings are a huge part of being a tracker elf and I think we can use the practice. So keep an eye on the Santa tracker map.

Many are asking about reports and when we can start. Our lack of a Regional Tracking Center will mean we will depend upon you for reports more, not less. So be ready. Flight command is not yet asking for anything in particular yet. But I think that will change right around the middle of August with weather reports.

Of course, with the weather, the most important thing you can report is what you actually see. I know a lot of elves check in with local news stations or even the weather service where they are and that’s fine. But your big value is your observation of where you are. Don’t forget that. I know some trackers put a lot of apps on their phones or bookmark websites to check for when Flight Command asks about weather. That’s great. But don’t forget to look out the window.

Since we don’t have a Regional Tracking Center yet I’m going to ask you to hold off on inspections for a while. I’m going to meet with Elf Roger this week to get his ideas about how to handle that while we wait for our assignment. It does not make a lot of sense to have our tracker elves sending in reports we cannot process. We need to solve this problem of no Regional Tracking Center soon.

So hang in there, Elves. We’ll get it together!

About this Elf: Elf Pinky

Elf Pinky was recruited from the U.S. Air Force Academy in 1992 and has since served as an instructor in sleigh flight theory at the North Pole Institute of Aviation. She worked very hard to earn her elf credentials, working a second shift first as a tool repair technician in Santa’s workshop and then as an engineer in the Wrapping Department designing wrapping machines. Pinky in recent years was a recruiter and trainer of sleigh test pilots and flies under the call sign Barracuda. Last year she served as a Flight Operations Director and demonstrated outstanding judgment and maturity in her duties supervising more than 400 elves, pilots, reindeer handlers and sleigh freighters.