What do you do?

[rmoore926]

I realize the title might seem like I have a dilema, but no.  As I enjoy reading here and getting ideas, I wonder when someone writes about a long week, a tough day at work, etc.  So I know this is not necessarily a bourbon related question (but doesn't work often drive us to drink??), wondering what your chosen profession is.  If this is too far off topic and is removed I understand.  

 

I myself am a 5th grade teacher.  It's been an interesting year for us all, but can you imagine if there was a year like this when you were a kid?  

 

Cheers!

[Harry in WashDC]

39 minutes ago, rmoore926 said:

I realize the title might seem like I have a dilema, but no.  As I enjoy reading here and getting ideas, I wonder when someone writes about a long week, a tough day at work, etc.  So I know this is not necessarily a bourbon related question (but doesn't work often drive us to drink??), wondering what your chosen profession is.  If this is too far off topic and is removed I understand.  

 

I myself am a 5th grade teacher.  It's been an interesting year for us all, but can you imagine if there was a year like this when you were a kid?  

 

Cheers!

Cannot imagine coping with this as a "young person" as it is global, not personal.  I do remember that we coped with being taught to duck and cover if we saw a bright flash, watched those black-and-white movies of A-bombs and H-bombs going off and burning houses in a hot-wind storm and realizing there was no escape, practiced diving under our desks when the sirens went off as though THAT would save us, stood in line quietly when being given sugar cubes/shots to prevent polio while classmates of ours watched us - wearing their braces and using their crutches to stand up (HEY- Wheezie, how's Todd?).  I have a vague recollection of my father going off to Korea and of the conversations when he was MIA.  I remember the cheers and tears when he reached Pusan and was allowed to tell us so.  But this was all personal, at least to me at that age.

 

We are (almost) the oldest residents on our street (been here since 1975).  We've watched several rounds of kids grow up.  During the pandemic, we have been IMPRESSED with the resilience, cleverness, stoicism, and adaptability of THE PARENTS as well as the kids.  Early on, the kids played together BUT made sure they kept "socially distanced" from us and ALWAYS asked how we were doing.  While the parents, one-on-one, would talk about the difficulties the pandemic posed, they ALWAYS did it in the context of - this is how WE are handling this - NEVER to complain.  Focus was on surviving and solving problems, not on despairing. 

 

So, yeah, this has been an interesting year (and some), but this here OLD FAHT has concluded that our Society is going to be in some pretty good hands if the parents on our street and their grade school/high school kids are typical - and I think they are because ALL those kids go to the local PUBLIC schools.

 

Yeah, I rambled.  Yeah, so what?

 

BACK ON THREAD - OH!  What I do?  I've been a junior Army officer, Vets Admin Hospital inpatient, GED teacher, bar cook during grad school, Congressional researcher during law school, national officer for a vets org, law clerk for a federal judge, federal gov't attorney, retiree for awhile, General Counsel for another Federal agency, vets nonprofit org board member.  JACK OF ALL TRADES, MASTER OF NONE AND DAMN PROUD!

[dcbt]

I'm an accounting and finance consultant (CPA by trade but people always assume 'taxes' with that term, and nothing could be further from the truth, so I usually have to qualify that).

[IBLSKeith]

I am retired now, but I was a locomotive engineer and later a Road Foreman of Engines on the railroad.

Being retired is a LOT more fun than working ever was!

 

Keith

[Clueby]

I'm director of engineering for a low voltage integration company.  Essentially an AV systems design guy with occasional programming/commissioning work as well.  Have worked on everything from small 2 person huddle rooms to stadiums.

[BigRich]

I used to be a finance executive.  Then I was a risk management executive.  Now....I think I just go to meeting professionally.  

[markandrex]

Retired at this point but for the past 40 years I was a security director/consultant.  I worked for several corporations.  They ran the spectrum from MLB team owner, commercial developer, hotel/resort developer and finished  at the Corvette plant here in KY.

[CardsandBourbon]

Retired City Planner.  

 

Harry, you were taught to duck and cover so you could kiss your ass goodbye.

[VWIndy]

Interesting question and responses.......

 

I am a biomedical engineer.  Our firm specializes in the management and maintenance of medical device inventories.  We go into hospitals and take the responsibility for medical device management (i.e. CT Scanners, MRI's, and patient scales).  We save the hospital money and give them a fixed budget.  We make our margin by training our staff and doing the work internally; not contracts with the manufacturers.  

I learned about bourbon as a bartender in college and grad school.  I could drink anything I wanted for free and bourbon is what I found was by far my favorite.

Getting close to hanging up the gloves and enjoying the good life:}

 

[mal00768]

I was a nuclear physicist and whisky aficionado.

Now I am a software engineer and whisky aficionado.

[bourbon-n00b]

I'm in the dynamic and action- packed world of IT Regulatory Compliance.  Basically, I'm a liason between internal IT Technicans and external auditors and assessors.  Making sure our folks understand and comply with requirements and policies, and that we provide acceptable evidence to comply with the assessment objectives.  

 

If you like meetings, this is the career for you! 

[fishnbowljoe]

I work in parts distribution for Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks. Well, for three more months anyway.  

 

Biba! Joe

[JakeySnakes]

Communications, marketing, and design for one of the largest, most renowned sculpture parks in the US. 

[CardsandBourbon]

2 hours ago, fishnbowljoe said:

I work in parts distribution for Peterbilt and Kenworth trucks. Well, for three more months anyway.  

 

Biba! Joe

Getting ready to retire?  I've been retired now for 3 years, 28 days, 2 hours, 56 minutes (but who's counting).  Beats working for sure.

[ebo]

I probably have the most menial job on here... I'm a Cabinet Maker. I work in the trade show industry... at least I used to. Maybe, now that things are starting to come around, I might again.  I have almost 30 years with the company I "was" with... and hopefully will retire with.

[CardsandBourbon]

23 minutes ago, ebo said:

I probably have the most menial job on here... I'm a Cabinet Maker. I work in the trade show industry... at least I used to. Maybe, now that things are starting to come around, I might again.  I have almost 30 years with the company I "was" with... and hopefully will retire with.

You realize how many of us on here WISH we were able to make cabinets.  My dad was a wood worker as a hobby and I would love to be able to make some of the things he did.  Unfortunately I didn't inherit that gene.

[Harry in WashDC]

34 minutes ago, ebo said:

I probably have the most menial job on here... I'm a Cabinet Maker. I work in the trade show industry... at least I used to. Maybe, now that things are starting to come around, I might again.  I have almost 30 years with the company I "was" with... and hopefully will retire with.

Ebo, THAT is really cool (old faht’s word for “I am impressed!”). When I retired, wife told me to find something to do.  I joined a local “Woodworkers’ Club”.   Learned how to use all the tools, saws, etc.  I made some end tables, a mission-style coffee table out of a 4-4 birds eye maple slab - designed the table, planed and cut the 14 foot maple plank, etc., only took six months.  About that time, we redid a 30 YO kitchen with Euro cabinets (I.e., flat flush doors & drawer fronts).  Screwed up more than one bandsaw blade trying to trim some cedar table decorations.  Indents for those chrome hinges?  I had to do them by hand.  Ugh!!

 

ALSO, took up painting (pictures, not walls) and learned the business side of “selling” art at shows.  I gave all my display panels, hangers, canopies, and tables to my favorite art teacher.  I still have my custom router jigs but sold off most of my carpenters’ stuff - table saw, three routers, a drill press, and several Dremels. Your trade show work embodies ALL the problem-solving and artisan skill I wish I had.  I think it was the cabinet guy working to put cabinets around our huge fridge who convinced me to leave these jobs to PROS as his cabinet jig for putting all those little holes in the cabinet walls was North of $30,000.  
 

I sure hope you get back out there.  Your skills are crucial to getting the consumer to buy stuff.

 

 

 

Edited May 29, 2021 by Harry in WashDC
Dremels, Drexel’s, let’s call the whole thing “Warff”.

[mbroo5880i]

1 hour ago, ebo said:

I probably have the most menial job on here... I'm a Cabinet Maker. I work in the trade show industry... at least I used to. Maybe, now that things are starting to come around, I might again.  I have almost 30 years with the company I "was" with... and hopefully will retire with.

My nephew who is 47 (we are only 12 years apart in age) is a custom cabinet maker.  He has been doing this work for 20+ years and wouldn't trade it for anything.  Well, except for his burgeoning music career which he has been at even longer.  Based on how he describes his work, I view it as a cross between engineering and art.  I have the first part down.  The second part is best left to drawing stick figures, at least for me. 

[mbroo5880i]

I am an engineer with a major steel manufacturer.  I have been doing the same work in varying roles dating back to serving in the military in the early 1980s.  I have also been a soccer referee since 1994.  The former pays the bills.  The latter pays for the niceties in life...vacations, home improvements, whiskey.  

[dwg13013]

I was in the fuel distribution bidness.  Years driving a fuel truck, and decades dispatching them.  It became high stress, in a tough highly regulated field. 

A forum about Sigs was where I hung out at night.

They had several threads on bourbon and scotch, in an off topic area.    

Got me experimenting. I have been learning and taste tasting every since. About 3 or 4 years.

Came here to learn more. 

 

I am semi retired now and drive customers around for a dealership. Pleasant way to spend the day, driving a new car, and talking to strangers. I find common things to talk about come easily.

Replaced a guy who was 84, and work with a 78 year old,  so I can keep doing it a long time. 

 

I used to do a lot of photography before digital ruined it.  Landscape, nature, and unusual. 

Here is an unusual. In the red balloon is a .45acp

 

 

[GeeTen]

1 minute ago, dwg13013 said:

I was in the fuel distribution bidness.  Years driving a fuel truck, and decades dispatching them.  It became high stress, in a tough highly regulated field. 

A forum about Sigs was where I hung out at night.

They had several threads on bourbon and scotch, in an off topic area.    

Got me experimenting. I have been learning and taste tasting every since. About 3 or 4 years.

Came here to learn more. 

 

I am semi retired now and drive customers around for a dealership. Pleasant way to spend the day, driving a new car, and talking to strangers. I find common things to talk about come easily.

Replaced a guy who was 84, and work with a 78 year old,  so I can keep doing it a long time. 

 

I used to do a lot of photography before digital ruined it.  Landscape, nature, and unusual. 

Here is an unusual. In the red balloon is a .45acp

 

 

 

Doc Edgerton disciple?  MIT prof has famous photos like this.  Even has one with a young boy holding the balloon as it burst - the boy was my first flight instructor!  Great pics, thanks.   

 

[Jazzhead]

I'm an attorney specializing in employee benefits.    Unlike our esteemed Congresspersons who passed the Affordable Care Act without reading it,  I have!   

 

 

[dwg13013]

44 minutes ago, GeeTen said:

 

Doc Edgerton disciple?  MIT prof has famous photos like this.  Even has one with a young boy holding the balloon as it burst - the boy was my first flight instructor!  Great pics, thanks.   

 

That is who I learned how from.  Went to an exhibit at the local university.  Walked and thought how did he do it ?

He had a custom flashes built, and could catch rifle bullets clearly.  Rifle bullet through a playing card hooked me. 

I found my Vivitar 283s were as fast as anything on the market.   I could catch up to 1000 fpm clearly. Around 1400 good, but not as clear.  Cameras can't do it, flashes can. 

 

He was a great man, who developed the cameras for aircraft reconnaissance in WW II. 

Second pic is a .45acp inside an egg.  Made a super mess LOL. I had everything wrapped in plastic. 

[GeeTen]

Kewl.  MIT was a great place in the late 60s - besides "Doc" Edgerton in Electrical Engineering, I took my first acoustics course from Amar Bose, freshman economics from Paul Samuelson and Statistics and Probability Theory from Benjamin Cornell.  Lots of other great professors all over campus, too.  Got my BSCE, MSCE and Ph.D. in Civil Engineering there and became a Civil Engineer in Transportation Science and Environmental Studies.  Had my own consulting firm for 25+ years and spent my last 10 years, 1 month and 1 day (vested in the City Pension Plan to get medical coverage!  ) as the Transportation Directon for the City of Waltham, MA.

 

Retired and spent my waning years working for corporate retail Fine Wine and High End liquor establishments.  Now fully retired and enjoying bourbon and grandbabies.  

 

Nerd City!   

 

 

Edited May 30, 2021 by GeeTen

[Kyjd75]

Like some of the others on here, I am now blessedly retired.  But many years ago, my first job out of law school was that of Special Agent, FBI.  Although I loved the Bureau and the people I worked with, I got to the point that I just could not stand living and working in Chicago, so I left and returned to my native Kentucky.  Served 15 years as County Attorney and then 19 years as first a District and then later Circuit Judge.  Just recently returned to (non-paying) public life as a member of our county school board!!!

Edited May 30, 2021 by Kyjd75