"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u773vf$5ag3$1@dont-email.me...
...
Bob La Londe
...Not a real machinist
----------------------------
You can figure out how to get the job done. To me that defines a Real Machinist.
On 6/24/2023 10:08 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u773vf$5ag3$1@dont-email.me...
...
Bob La Londe
...Not a real machinist
----------------------------
You can figure out how to get the job done. To me that defines a Real
Machinist.
Oh, I am not a "real" machinist. I'm a maker, builder, and shade tree mechanic, except where I grew I didn't have a shade tree. Instead I had
a rusty A frame made out of old well casing and scrap metal. Where
"real" shade tree mechanics had to throw a cover on the carb to keep out leaves I had to stuff an old sock in it to keep out sand.
And, yes I know proffessional is misspelled. It was an accident at
first, but now its on purpose.
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u773vf$5ag3$1@dont-email.me...
...
Bob La Londe
...Not a real machinist
----------------------------
You can figure out how to get the job done. To me that defines a Real Machinist.
On 6/26/2023 1:50 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u7ciqd$11415$1@dont-email.me...
On 6/24/2023 10:08 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u773vf$5ag3$1@dont-email.me...
...
Bob La Londe
...Not a real machinist
----------------------------
You can figure out how to get the job done. To me that defines a Real
Machinist.
Oh, I am not a "real" machinist. I'm a maker, builder, and shade tree
mechanic, except where I grew I didn't have a shade tree. Instead I had
a rusty A frame made out of old well casing and scrap metal. Where
"real" shade tree mechanics had to throw a cover on the carb to keep out
leaves I had to stuff an old sock in it to keep out sand.
And, yes I know proffessional is misspelled. It was an accident at
first, but now its on purpose.
Bob La Londe
-------------------
I was lucky enough to have a nice shade tree, behind the garage and
out of sight, and a big flat-ish rock for a workbench, plus permission
to use the table saw from age 8 so I wouldn't be pestering Dad. He did
a lot of remodeling so I had plenty of scrap lumber and pipe, and
bricks for the forge. I was in heaven, building stuff that mostly
headed that way.
I may have provoked UFO sightings by launching ultra-light parachutes
on thermals. From below they were clear and barely visible, viewed
from a low angle they reflected the sky and clouds and appeared
silvery. I was in college pulling other pranks during the 1965 Exeter
NH incident but I immediately recognized its description as a tissue
paper hot air balloon, made from a pattern in Boy's Life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_incident
People can't judge the size of or distance to an unknown object in the
sky and ground-level wind is very erratic around trees and buildings.
Helium balloons behave differently because they quickly rise above the
turbulence. I would have lit it with tiny flashing Christmas bulbs
powered by cells removed from a 9V battery to save weight. Road flare
powder would make the lifting flame bright red.
I didn't have credentials for most of what I did, from designer and
project manager for industrial test equipment to building digital
radios for the USAF and FAA. In fact I took a ham license course to
learn how radios worked. I picked up analog and digital circuit design
in the Army, on-the-job and in night school, and had to apply as a
tech and prove I could do much more at each new job. I got into Segway
by showing them a bag of small parts and tools I had machined at home.
R&D jobs (and companies) usually aren't permanent.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/tech/segway-pt-shut-down/index.html
As soon as development ended some of the tech staff quit and moved
west, they said to develop autonomous electric vehicles or something.
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/people/doug-field.html
"He was the first employee and vice president, Design and Engineering,
at Segway."
He moves around too.
Except for having a couple contractor's licenses (expired) for 23 years
and a couple self taught certifications so I could buy particular brands
of product I have no certification for any skill I have. 117 college credits (and a good GPA) and no degree either. Not even an AAS. My son made up for it though. He just did his first college graduation and got three (2 AAs and an AAS) degrees and a certificate in something. He
also got his pharmacy tech license which is how he's surviving through college. He wants a BA in engineering specializing in "material science" eventually. I guess that means lots more physics and chemistry for him.
I once had a boss tell me I should lie my way into something good, and
then learn how to do it. That's just not me.
There were hard times. At one point I applied for a job washing dishes
and the restaurant told me they wouldn't hire me because I was going to school and they wanted me to be on demand when THEY needed me. Another
time I applied for a job with county government doing menial computer
service work, doing data backups, etc. I made the mistake of listing my computer experience and education in computers a little to thoroughly in
my information. I mentioned one (JUST ONE) class in systems analysis
and design. The interviewer said he wasn't going to hire me because he wanted me to apply for a job in a couple months as a systems analyst. A
job I was clearly not qualified for. I didn't need a job in a couple
months so I wound up tutoring part time at college and terminating
telephone cable for a communication contractor part time. I don't know
if that analyst job ever came open. I never looked for it.
I even got into contracting kind of by mistake. A former employer
didn't pay me for all the contracting jobs I had sold for them, and one
of them contacted me through a mutual friend. I was doing computer
service and minor upgrades on legacy systems at the time. *** The customer told me the former employer totally changed the job from what
they wanted and and tried to get them to sign a new contract. Obviously
to cover their asses if I sued for unpaid commissions. They asked me if
I would do the job myself the way they actually wanted it. I borrowed
some money from my girlfriend (now my wife of 29 years) and a contractor
was born.
*** At the time I was doing computer service for all the guys who had
older systems the computer stores didn't want to work on. They just
wanted to sell them a new 386. Some kid couldn't afford a couple grand
for a new 386, but he could afford 50 bucks for a second hard drive or
an RLL (or MFM -A) card to increase the capacity of their drive. A
buddy of mine who had a computer store sold me all his old PC/XT cards
for pennies on the dollar. I could drop a card that literally cost me a dollar into somebody's old XT, almost double their drive storage and
make $49 for my labor. For an extra $10 (drives were small back then)
I'd use a home made parallel laplink cable to copy all their files onto
one of my drives, and restore them after the upgrade making sure their machine booted and files were verified before it left my living room. Evenings and weekends I delivered pizza.
Back then the Computer Shopper was a real resource instead of a joke. I started buying second generation new AT parts that were being closed out
as new stuff came on the market. I had a small but decent group of customers who were always looking for a deal on a small upgrade. I'd
post XX meg SIMMs limited availability on a local bulletin board, and I
have a half dozen calls before the end of the day to see if I had any
left. During that time I used a cobbled together 8088 with a 5meg MFM
drive running at 9meg with an MFM-A card to access bulletin boards.
Had one kid back then get really mad at me. He brought me a PC (a real
PC) for a second drive. I opened it up and discovered it was an 8086
with the old board that has no dip switches to set for a second drive. I could mechanically install the drive, but the machine wouldn't address
it. I told him I could drop a bigger drive in it or install a card to increase the size of his existing drive and copy his data, but he just
called me a liar and a crook and brought his dad to come get his
computer back. A year or two later he ran into me and acted all
friendly like we should be buddies because we knew who each other was.
****
**** Had the same thing happen years later with a one day employee. I
got tired of him just not doing the basic things I told him to do. We
went out side to talk about it, and he put up his fists and asked if I
wanted to fight. I just told him to get in the truck. I took him to
the office, wrote him a check, walked him out to his vehicle and said,
"Now to be clear you are no longer my employee and you are trespassed
from this property. If you want to fight take a swing at me now." Years later I ran into him in K-Mart and he did the same thing. Acted all friendly and acted like we should be buddies because we recognized each other. Morons. The both of them.
That's probably way to much of nothing anybody wants to read. I still
feel today like I am fighting to survive sometimes.
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u7ciqd$11415$1@dont-email.me...
On 6/24/2023 10:08 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u773vf$5ag3$1@dont-email.me...
...
Bob La Londe
...Not a real machinist
----------------------------
You can figure out how to get the job done. To me that defines a Real
Machinist.
Oh, I am not a "real" machinist. I'm a maker, builder, and shade tree mechanic, except where I grew I didn't have a shade tree. Instead I had
a rusty A frame made out of old well casing and scrap metal. Where
"real" shade tree mechanics had to throw a cover on the carb to keep out leaves I had to stuff an old sock in it to keep out sand.
And, yes I know proffessional is misspelled. It was an accident at
first, but now its on purpose.
Bob La Londe
-------------------
I was lucky enough to have a nice shade tree, behind the garage and out
of sight, and a big flat-ish rock for a workbench, plus permission to
use the table saw from age 8 so I wouldn't be pestering Dad. He did a
lot of remodeling so I had plenty of scrap lumber and pipe, and bricks
for the forge. I was in heaven, building stuff that mostly headed that way.
I may have provoked UFO sightings by launching ultra-light parachutes on thermals. From below they were clear and barely visible, viewed from a
low angle they reflected the sky and clouds and appeared silvery. I was
in college pulling other pranks during the 1965 Exeter NH incident but I immediately recognized its description as a tissue paper hot air
balloon, made from a pattern in Boy's Life. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_incident
People can't judge the size of or distance to an unknown object in the
sky and ground-level wind is very erratic around trees and buildings.
Helium balloons behave differently because they quickly rise above the turbulence. I would have lit it with tiny flashing Christmas bulbs
powered by cells removed from a 9V battery to save weight. Road flare
powder would make the lifting flame bright red.
I didn't have credentials for most of what I did, from designer and
project manager for industrial test equipment to building digital radios
for the USAF and FAA. In fact I took a ham license course to learn how
radios worked. I picked up analog and digital circuit design in the
Army, on-the-job and in night school, and had to apply as a tech and
prove I could do much more at each new job. I got into Segway by showing
them a bag of small parts and tools I had machined at home. R&D jobs
(and companies) usually aren't permanent.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/tech/segway-pt-shut-down/index.html
As soon as development ended some of the tech staff quit and moved west,
they said to develop autonomous electric vehicles or something. https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/people/doug-field.html
"He was the first employee and vice president, Design and Engineering,
at Segway."
He moves around too.
...
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u7fcan$1ficj$2@dont-email.me...
If I get tired of fighting you know what all of that ability gets me if
I want to just give up and work a 9-5 for somebody else? Nothing. I'm over qualified to be a WalMart greeter and I don't have disposition for it.
---------------------
In R&D the hours could be 8AM until midnight. When I was hacking up
office computers to do something never intended such as Hot Swap no one bothered me lest I try to explain it to them. The problem with R&D is
finding a new job after the current one is finished. I'd cut firewood
and fix things in the interim, then sign on somewhere as a lab tech and
work my way up again. You can't just ask if they have any secret projects.
Did you write the program for parallel port Laplink?
Ethernet was being developed I wrote a program to communicate with the
PoE controller IC from an LPT port reconfigured as serial I2C, so an unmodified lab computer could talk to the application board.
On 6/26/2023 1:50 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u7ciqd$11415$1@dont-email.me...
On 6/24/2023 10:08 AM, Jim Wilkins wrote:
"Bob La Londe" wrote in message news:u773vf$5ag3$1@dont-email.me...
...
Bob La Londe
...Not a real machinist
----------------------------
You can figure out how to get the job done. To me that defines a Real
Machinist.
Oh, I am not a "real" machinist. I'm a maker, builder, and shade tree
mechanic, except where I grew I didn't have a shade tree. Instead I had
a rusty A frame made out of old well casing and scrap metal. Where
"real" shade tree mechanics had to throw a cover on the carb to keep out
leaves I had to stuff an old sock in it to keep out sand.
And, yes I know proffessional is misspelled. It was an accident at
first, but now its on purpose.
Bob La Londe
-------------------
I was lucky enough to have a nice shade tree, behind the garage and
out of sight, and a big flat-ish rock for a workbench, plus permission
to use the table saw from age 8 so I wouldn't be pestering Dad. He did
a lot of remodeling so I had plenty of scrap lumber and pipe, and
bricks for the forge. I was in heaven, building stuff that mostly
headed that way.
I may have provoked UFO sightings by launching ultra-light parachutes
on thermals. From below they were clear and barely visible, viewed
from a low angle they reflected the sky and clouds and appeared
silvery. I was in college pulling other pranks during the 1965 Exeter
NH incident but I immediately recognized its description as a tissue
paper hot air balloon, made from a pattern in Boy's Life.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Exeter_incident
People can't judge the size of or distance to an unknown object in the
sky and ground-level wind is very erratic around trees and buildings.
Helium balloons behave differently because they quickly rise above the
turbulence. I would have lit it with tiny flashing Christmas bulbs
powered by cells removed from a 9V battery to save weight. Road flare
powder would make the lifting flame bright red.
I didn't have credentials for most of what I did, from designer and
project manager for industrial test equipment to building digital
radios for the USAF and FAA. In fact I took a ham license course to
learn how radios worked. I picked up analog and digital circuit design
in the Army, on-the-job and in night school, and had to apply as a
tech and prove I could do much more at each new job. I got into Segway
by showing them a bag of small parts and tools I had machined at home.
R&D jobs (and companies) usually aren't permanent.
https://www.cnn.com/2020/06/23/tech/segway-pt-shut-down/index.html
As soon as development ended some of the tech staff quit and moved
west, they said to develop autonomous electric vehicles or something.
https://media.ford.com/content/fordmedia/fna/us/en/people/doug-field.html
"He was the first employee and vice president, Design and Engineering,
at Segway."
He moves around too.
Except for having a couple contractor's licenses (expired) for 23 years
and a couple self taught certifications so I could buy particular brands
of product I have no certification for any skill I have. 117 college credits (and a good GPA) and no degree either. Not even an AAS. My son made up for it though. He just did his first college graduation and got three (2 AAs and an AAS) degrees and a certificate in something. He
also got his pharmacy tech license which is how he's surviving through college. He wants a BA in engineering specializing in "material science" eventually. I guess that means lots more physics and chemistry for him.
I once had a boss tell me I should lie my way into something good, and
then learn how to do it. That's just not me.
There were hard times. At one point I applied for a job washing dishes
and the restaurant told me they wouldn't hire me because I was going to school and they wanted me to be on demand when THEY needed me. Another
time I applied for a job with county government doing menial computer
service work, doing data backups, etc. I made the mistake of listing my computer experience and education in computers a little to thoroughly in
my information. I mentioned one (JUST ONE) class in systems analysis
and design. The interviewer said he wasn't going to hire me because he wanted me to apply for a job in a couple months as a systems analyst. A
job I was clearly not qualified for. I didn't need a job in a couple
months so I wound up tutoring part time at college and terminating
telephone cable for a communication contractor part time. I don't know
if that analyst job ever came open. I never looked for it.
I even got into contracting kind of by mistake. A former employer
didn't pay me for all the contracting jobs I had sold for them, and one
of them contacted me through a mutual friend. I was doing computer
service and minor upgrades on legacy systems at the time. *** The customer told me the former employer totally changed the job from what
they wanted and and tried to get them to sign a new contract. Obviously
to cover their asses if I sued for unpaid commissions. They asked me if
I would do the job myself the way they actually wanted it. I borrowed
some money from my girlfriend (now my wife of 29 years) and a contractor
was born.
*** At the time I was doing computer service for all the guys who had
older systems the computer stores didn't want to work on. They just
wanted to sell them a new 386. Some kid couldn't afford a couple grand
for a new 386, but he could afford 50 bucks for a second hard drive or
an RLL (or MFM -A) card to increase the capacity of their drive. A
buddy of mine who had a computer store sold me all his old PC/XT cards
for pennies on the dollar. I could drop a card that literally cost me a dollar into somebody's old XT, almost double their drive storage and
make $49 for my labor. For an extra $10 (drives were small back then)
I'd use a home made parallel laplink cable to copy all their files onto
one of my drives, and restore them after the upgrade making sure their machine booted and files were verified before it left my living room. Evenings and weekends I delivered pizza.
Back then the Computer Shopper was a real resource instead of a joke. I started buying second generation new AT parts that were being closed out
as new stuff came on the market. I had a small but decent group of customers who were always looking for a deal on a small upgrade. I'd
post XX meg SIMMs limited availability on a local bulletin board, and I
have a half dozen calls before the end of the day to see if I had any
left. During that time I used a cobbled together 8088 with a 5meg MFM
drive running at 9meg with an MFM-A card to access bulletin boards.
Had one kid back then get really mad at me. He brought me a PC (a real
PC) for a second drive. I opened it up and discovered it was an 8086
with the old board that has no dip switches to set for a second drive. I could mechanically install the drive, but the machine wouldn't address
it. I told him I could drop a bigger drive in it or install a card to increase the size of his existing drive and copy his data, but he just
called me a liar and a crook and brought his dad to come get his
computer back. A year or two later he ran into me and acted all
friendly like we should be buddies because we knew who each other was.
****
**** Had the same thing happen years later with a one day employee. I
got tired of him just not doing the basic things I told him to do. We
went out side to talk about it, and he put up his fists and asked if I
wanted to fight. I just told him to get in the truck. I took him to
the office, wrote him a check, walked him out to his vehicle and said,
"Now to be clear you are no longer my employee and you are trespassed
from this property. If you want to fight take a swing at me now." Years later I ran into him in K-Mart and he did the same thing. Acted all friendly and acted like we should be buddies because we recognized each other. Morons. The both of them.
That's probably way to much of nothing anybody wants to read. I still
feel today like I am fighting to survive sometimes.
On 6/26/2023 1:50 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:..................
"Snag" wrote in message news:u7fnbo$1gr6q$1@dont-email.me...
On 6/27/2023 2:02 PM, Bob La Londe wrote:
On 6/26/2023 1:50 PM, Jim Wilkins wrote:..................
I savored every word ... kinda the story of my life , though in
different fields . Ran a home repair or flooring install business days
before I got into cabinet making , and delivered pizza at night to make
ends meet . My wife was a stay-at-home mom (my idea, not hers), I wanted
my kids raised by us instead of daycares and a succession of babysitters .
I no longer feel driven to make ends meet ... our needs are simple , everything is paid for and between our SS and a small retirement from
the wife's teaching days we're doing all right .
Snag
-------------------
I read all of it. When other kids were learning about Dick and Jane I
was devouring biographies of adventurers and inventors, such as Roy
Chapman Andrews and Hiram Maxim. I felt very out of place giving a book report on an epic destroyer vs U-boat battle when others had read what
grade schoolers were supposed to.
Wayne Green the Byte publisher once used me at a party as a bad example
of people who don't experience real life to the extent he thought
proper, because I had taken what seemed to him a safe but boring
government job (after a gypsy summer working at a Renaissance festival).
His wife had been entertaining us with tales of bopping off to Paris for
the weekend on some errand. Hey, I had Heidelberg, a university party
town, and a French girl friend.
...I came to hate those encyclopedias as they were woefully inadequate for >any topic I was really interested in. Anyway, I knew how to read, and do >basic math when I entered the first grade.
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