What is your REAL job?

[checkerboardflyer]

I am retired now. In 1966 I was drafted into the Army. Was sent to VietNam. Served one year as a machine gunner in an Army Recon Platoon; wounded twice, non life threatening. Did two years, then got out and went to school under the G.I. Bill. Received undergraduate and graduate degrees. Taught fine Art, then became a school administrator. After that, when schools were adopting computer networks I took a job as Director of Technology. Needed to learn about computer networks so I took classes in a local Junior College. I was in my 40’s. Most of my classmates had recently graduated High School. After retirement I became bored and applied for a job with Apple Computer. Got hired and worked at one of their retail stores, first in sales, then as a One-To-One trainer for about 5 years. Now my main job is doing my blog. See some of my handiwork on my blog at: https://foamboardflyers.com

 

[TooJung2Die]

I am retired now. In 1966 I was drafted into the Army. Was sent to VietNam. Served one year as a machine gunner in an Army Recon Platoon; wounded twice, non life threatening. Did two years, then got out and went to school under the G.I. Bill. Received undergraduate and graduate degrees. Taught fine Art, then became a school administrator. After that, when schools were adopting computer networks I took a job as Director of Technology. Needed to learn about computer networks so I took classes in a local Junior College. I was in my 40’s. Most of my classmates had recently graduated High School. After retirement I became bored and applied for a job with Apple Computer. Got hired and worked at one of their retail stores, first in sales, then as a One-To-One trainer for about 5 years. Now my main job is doing my blog. See some of my handiwork on my blog at: https://foamboardflyers.com

Hey @checkerboardflyer, Interesting career path. I was 10 years old in '66 so I avoided the Vietnam war. I still have my draft card though. How did you like working for Apple? I worked for Apple during the '90's as as field service engineer. I loved that gig going to businesses, schools and people's homes to repair their Macs. I met the most interesting Apple users and became long time friends with a few. I also moonlighted as an Apple retail rep for a while demonstrating the new Macs in computer stores. That was fun too. I got paid for it but probably would've done it for free. When I worked for IBM I had the impression that Macs were toys for kids. Boy was I wrong. I soon learned that Apple made the best PC on the market for those that could afford them. Funny, since I left Apple I haven't touched a Mac keyboard in over 20 years.

I retired in March, 2021. My only regret is I didn't retire sooner. Bored? Heck no, I'm busier than ever. Work was interfering with my play time.

Jon

 

[Piotrsko]

I retired in March, 2021. My only regret is I didn't retire sooner. Bored? Heck no, I'm busier than ever. Work was interfering with my play time.

Jon

Where do you get play time when you're retired? We were going to travel, but Covid messed that up.

 

[checkerboardflyer]

Hey @checkerboardflyer, Interesting career path. I was 10 years old in '66 so I avoided the Vietnam war. I still have my draft card though. How did you like working for Apple? I worked for Apple during the '90's as as field service engineer. I loved that gig going to businesses, schools and people's homes to repair their Macs. I met the most interesting Apple users and became long time friends with a few. I also moonlighted as an Apple retail rep for a while demonstrating the new Macs in computer stores. That was fun too. I got paid for it but probably would've done it for free. When I worked for IBM I had the impression that Macs were toys for kids. Boy was I wrong. I soon learned that Apple made the best PC on the market for those that could afford them. Funny, since I left Apple I haven't touched a Mac keyboard in over 20 years.

I retired in March, 2021. My only regret is I didn't retire sooner. Bored? Heck no, I'm busier than ever. Work was interfering with my play time.

Jon

Hey TooJung, Working at Apple I learned what really good customer service is. It begins with under promise, then over deliver. Every day at work I saw examples of that. One of the techniques that I learned was that when a customer comes in with a problem, take their side. Say things like "That must be difficult to get your work done with that problem on your computer. We need to get that fixed as soon as possible."

You may remember years ago people wearing wrist bands with the letters WWJD, What Would Jesus Do. I took some training at Apple headquarters in Cupertino. We went out to lunch one day. On the way back we were walking through the Apple employee parking lot. I like to read license plates, and I saw one WWSJD, What Would Steve Jobs Do. Had to laugh. Jobs was Apple CEO at the time.

My first Mac was an SE 30. Bought it new with an ImageWriter dot matrix printer. Think I paid about $1,500 for the bundle. Always had Macs since then although I did work a few years as an IBM network admin in a school district. Novell / Token Ring. So I had a Windows 3.1 computer during that time. Also became fairly proficient with DOS. Thanks for the note.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Where do you get play time when you're retired? We were going to travel, but Covid messed that up.

I know what you mean. Somehow I get the chores done and still find time to play. After all, everyday is Saturday! 😁

I did work a few years as an IBM network admin in a school district.

Token Ring? Windows 3.1?!? Boy does that all bring back memories. Remember WordPerfect and AppleTalk networks?

 

[Monte.C]

I know what you mean. Somehow I get the chores done and still find time to play. After all, everyday is Saturday! 😁


Token Ring? Windows 3.1?!? Boy does that all bring back memories. Remember WordPerfect and AppleTalk networks?

WordPerfect!

 

[Matthewdupreez]

Pictureperfect 👍.. windows 97... Imo runs way better than XP or Vista 😂

WordPerfect!

 

[L Edge]

Where do you get play time when you're retired? We were going to travel, but Covid messed that up.

I retired, wife didn't want to, took up skateboarding and "dropping in" off an 8 ft vert, then went to snowboarding since it is the same as skateboarding, got professional instructor rating 2 rank(thanks to skateboarding) and snowboarded free at resort weekdays teaching. Some days no adults showed up, boarded all day. Then came windsurfing, mountain biking were days I came home bloody, learn to kitesurf when it first came out and as usual did design work on my Rc's. Had sports for every season. Weekends were for the wife.

 

[checkerboardflyer]

I know what you mean. Somehow I get the chores done and still find time to play. After all, everyday is Saturday! 😁


Token Ring? Windows 3.1?!? Boy does that all bring back memories. Remember WordPerfect and AppleTalk networks?

I do remember those. I also remember using about 5-6 floppy disks to load the OS on Macs before CDs became a standard.

 

[dap35]

I do remember those. I also remember using about 5-6 floppy disks to load the OS on Macs before CDs became a standard.

Only 5-6 floppy disks? When OS/2 2.x came out and took over 20 disks, I used that as excuse to by a SCSI CDROM drive for my PC. Ahh, those were the days.

 

[Piotrsko]

Wordstar 2.0 is the ultimate on an okidata printer under dos 3.3.2 with a color monitor. Bulletproof as you can get but you need to memorize keyboard commands.

I have all the time I need, but the planing of the sticking door means a 50 mile round trip to Carson city to get the knife replaced, the belt sander needs a new fine belt which is the other direction and the orange store is out of stock, someone female used my wood chisels for scraping paint off the cement patio and the custom oil based paint we painted the house with has solidified in the can.

Other than that I have nothing to do except cook and make beer. Id fly my stuff, but school is in session and the teachers get annoyed during session.

 

[TooJung2Die]

Wordstar? Now you're predating WordPerfect. My first word processor was IBM Write.

I have all the time I need, but the planing of the sticking door means a 50 mile round trip to Carson city to get the knife replaced, the belt sander needs a new fine belt which is the other direction and the orange store is out of stock, someone female used my wood chisels for scraping paint off the cement patio and the custom oil based paint we painted the house with has solidified in the can.

🤣 Just spray some WD40 on it so it doesn't stick. That's what the rest of the world does. If it's stuck, WD40. If it's loose, duct tape. Problem solved. 🤣

 

[skymaster]

wow everyone in here saw the beginning of the computer age. I thought i was the only one, my first computer was a tandy by radio shack. then in high school they got one of the best computers ever the comodore 64. any one ever played a game called equestrian. it was about a donkey and a bee. but before i could play the game i had to write it to the computer it took me about a week. cause it was all 01.01.001.01 about 5 pages, i got it working but it kept crashing. but it was fun.

 

[rcbigtirepilot]

wow everyone in here saw the beginning of the computer age. I thought i was the only one, my first computer was a tandy by radio shack. then in high school they got one of the best computers ever the comodore 64. any one ever played a game called equestrian. it was about a donkey and a bee. but before i could play the game i had to write it to the computer it took me about a week. cause it was all 01.01.001.01 about 5 pages, i got it working but it kept crashing. but it was fun.

I didn't, born in 2007

 

[TooJung2Die]

Which brand provides the best keyboard experience? Your opinion.

20 years ago I would've given the win to Macintosh. Today? I don't know. Back then I couldn't afford a decent Mac and you can't build your own Mac from spare parts like you can with a PC.

 

[Piotrsko]

Just spray some WD40 on it so it doesn't stick. That's what the rest of the world does. If it's stuck, WD40. If it's loose, duct tape. Problem solved. 🤣

Wd40, pb blaster, 10-30W, whatever, doesn't work on a jamb that wasn't installed plumb in the first place and removing and then fixing the jam might mean replacing the whole house. Who said 70 year old wood won't warp? Changing a window pane in my "sunroom" made me rebuild the whole breezeway addition, since there was "just a little dry rot" .. my new favorite fastener is a 8 ga 4" construction screw with a fender washer. Oh yeah ,spacing 16" centers is odd when you use real 2 x4 wood

 

[L Edge]

wow everyone in here saw the beginning of the computer age. I thought i was the only one, my first computer was a tandy by radio shack. then in high school they got one of the best computers ever the comodore 64. any one ever played a game called equestrian. it was about a donkey and a bee. but before i could play the game i had to write it to the computer it took me about a week. cause it was all 01.01.001.01 about 5 pages, i got it working but it kept crashing. but it was fun.

My first computer was a Sinclair. 1kb was all you had for programming. Used the Commodore pet to learn to program in Assembly language to get the speaker to say the letter I. I even had a Apple cassette tape(yes) used for the earlier Apple before the floppy disk came out.

 

[Whistlinginthedark]

I'm a Dentist. Yep, everyone hates me and I'm okay with it since I'm used to feeling [filling] down in the mouth.

 

[Matthewdupreez]

I'm a Dentist. Yep, everyone hates me and I'm okay with it since I'm used to feeling [filling] down in the mouth.

Sorry to differ with you... But I quite like the dentist's.
Its just that I don't like going... Because Normally that means I haven't been looking after my teeth properly 🤣..

 

[Piotrsko]

I'm a Dentist. Yep, everyone hates me and I'm okay with it since I'm used to feeling [filling] down in the mouth.

They say dentists and hygienic assistants make the best natural RC flyers because the have learned to not move automatically but by response. Bet you didn't have a problem with flying at yourself.