What is your occupation, employment, job or profession?

[Taffy]

Well firstly I did 20yrs in DOD in Victoria Australia then 10 Yrs as a Council Building Inspector & Scaffolding Inspector, 4yrs as a Part Time instructing Building inspectors & Builders in Multi Storey Construction 5yrs in Private Practice, & yrs as a Construction Manager and finally as a Permanently Disabled Pensioner. Now I thoroughly enjoy model ship building & especially this site & all the crew members.

 

Taffy

[Yambo]

I'm retired which brings the problem that I never get a day off. Previously I worked for Lancashire County Council on the Accident Investigation and Prevention  (AIP) team. We would look for patterns at accident 'black spots' and then try to prevent similar types of accidents happening by some low cost engineering methods. Very often, with regards to traffic, if you change what people see you will change what people do and that doesn't always need millions of pounds throwing at it. Unlike other road safety methods like education and enforcement, engineering methods were more quantifiable as they were based on historical data and subsequent data. 

 

Prior to the AIP work? Well, I spent 23 years in the British Army but I'm OK now, thanks.

[Patrick Haw]

wefalk,

 

A reuben sandwich in the US is hot corned beef, swiss cheese, Thousand Island or Russian dressing, and sauerkraut on rye bread.  Delicious!

 

Patrick

[runner63]

I too could make lunch every day of a reuben sanwich, they are much better than a cheeseburger

 

runner63

 

John R

[popeye2sea]

I'm a Real Estate Agent now. Formerly in retail sales. Formerly a Protein Biochemist. Formerly in materials management/purchasing.  Also retired Navy CPO.

[jml1083]

For the last 21 years I've worked as a systems analyst for a very large multinational computer company (payroll, benefits, 401k, HCM). Before that was a pretty varied list, buckle your seat belts. Going backwards in time from my current job I was a:
 

• Cabinet maker
• Wholesaler (chemicals)
• Sign carver
• Truck driver
• Licensed steam plant operator
• US Merchant Marine (my ship litterally never came in)
• Welder
• Oil field roughneck (California)
• USN boiler tech BT3 USS COOK DE-1083
• Grave digger - it was winter, I went to the Navy recruiter and said "I want to go someplace warm". Ended up in boiler room, carefull what you ask for ;-)
• Grocery store clerk
• Student.

I earned my MBA in general management later in life. To quote The Grateful Dead, "What a long strange trip it's been".

 

Indeed.

[ccoyle]

I have been a middle school/high school science teacher for 17 years now.  Prior to that, I worked in salmon and steelhead habitat restoration in the Redwood Empire region of northern California.  I currently reside about 10 clicks west of the boundary for Yosemite National Park in the Sierra Nevada foothills.  Great scenery -- not so great for connecting locally with other modelers. 

[rameyke]

I was in the US Air Force for 4 years as a computer programmer.  I got my undergraduate degree while serving and finished my masters after I got out of the AF.  I am now a software engineer working for a small consulting firm.  I mostly work on database application development / administration, middleware and content management systems.

 

In addition to software, on the weekends and evenings during the summer, I am also a whitewater raft guide and kayak instructor.  I also lead various trips into the out doors for cycling, mountain biking, rock climbing and other outdoor adventures for the US Air Force outdoor recreation department at the Air Force Academy in Colorado.

 

Ken

Edited March 11, 2013 by rameyke

[tony]

I worked in middle management for a publishing company, made redundant when the company was takenover.Did a B A in humanities with the O U,worked in a museum and became a restorer.Did some part-time teaching in art and history worked on some digs mainly Romano-British.the last job I did before retiring was helping put together a museum for the army, where I handled material from Waterloo,Roukes Drift,and both W/Ws I even got to fire a musket the only thing was a musket is right-handed and I am left -handed.

 

  Tony

[Bettina]

I sell antique pocket watches, specialising in pieces from 1660 - 1820. Have been doing it for 20 years or so now and I have a shop in London but most of my business is done on the internet now.

[flyfisherman]

I started my working career in a small grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves.  After high school I spent 8 years in the US Army and was part of Desert Storm.  I got out of the Army in 1995 and returned to the grocery industry with Albertson's, first in the corporate office and now in a division office.  Currently, I am a Division Finance Manager.

 

Just getting in to Model Ship building and find it very relaxing and yet challenging at the same time.  The hobby suits my analytical mind perfectly.

 

Shawn

[augie]

I started my working career in a small grocery store bagging groceries and stocking shelves.  After high school I spent 8 years in the US Army and was part of Desert Storm.  I got out of the Army in 1995 and returned to the grocery industry with Albertson's, first in the corporate office and now in a division office.  Currently, I am a Division Finance Manager.

 

Just getting in to Model Ship building and find it very relaxing and yet challenging at the same time.  The hobby suits my analytical mind perfectly.

 

Shawn

Thank you for your service to our country, Shawn.  Once you're settled in I may hit you up for some flyfishing tips  

[tkay11]

The hobby suits my analytical mind perfectly.

Very interesting comment, Shawn. I've been wondering what ties people who do model ship building at this level of intensity. Certainly job, life history and so on don't indicate any common thread. However being of an analytical frame of mind might be one attribute held by many here. Please note that was an analytical thought.

 

Tony

[tkay11]

....and as a follow up to the 'analytic' thought, I've realised I should change my entire entry about occupation. What occupies me most, and has occupied me throughout my life, is the love of analysis of thoughts, objects, techniques and situations. This applies very well to model wooden ship building because it combines the analysis of technique, history, assembly, use of tools, and the different imaginative ways people apply to the same problems. This in addition to the hobby having a very satisfying aesthetic component, endless puzzle solving and pride in accomplishment and understanding when it finally arrives.

 

So thanks for the thought, Shawn!

 

Tony

[petervisser]

Hi Everybody,

 

I work fo the Canadian Coast Guard as a coxswain on the motor life boat you see in my avatar. I have been sailing for the coast guard for the last 26 years (yikes) starting as a deckhand and then sailing mostly as second mate on buoy tenders and science ships on the west coat of British Columbia. I am now stationed on the central coast at a life boat station and work a 3 week rotation which as you can imagine, allows me to devote some time to this interesting hobby. I am a very lucky individual....

 

Cheers,

 

Peter

[Salty Sea Dog]

Very cool avatar Peter! Looks like you were flying low!!

[Cuda1949]

OKay Here goes, My name is Alan and I currently live near the beach in Delaware. My current job is a Case Manager for one of the three Judges in Superior Court. Prior to that I was an environmental paralegal in Philadelphia ( Approx 10 years). I worked for a law firm and also as a in-house paralegal for a fortune 500 company. Before that I was a Philadelphia Police officer for 10 years till I was given a service connected disability pension.

[Decko]

Hi everybody,

My name is Declan also known as Decko.I come from Dublin Ireland.I worked for a well known brewery for 38 years and retired 17 years ago I have been building models most of my life (Railway+ Military )and the last few years ships mainly static models which I enjoy .I also try to play golf when weather permits.

I find this web site most infomative and look forward to reading all posts most days.

 

Cheers

Decko

[Dusty]

Hello all, my name is Dusty (to my friends) I was born in Brighton, England. Moved to the U.S. in '56.Have lived in Utah most of that time. In answer to the question is the lake really salty, yes, 27% salt. I worked as an engineer (electronics) for 42 years, I have been retired for 9 years and am enjoying it immensely. I'm working on a scratch build of the Santisima  Trinidad 1-100 scale. and have a 1-90 model of the HMS Victory on the ways.

[thomasl]

I’m self employed.  Work 6 days a week and have little free time but I like to use the time I have constructively

[overdale]

Born in London but moved abroad in my 20's after university. Worked as an industrial designer for the Irish government before finally winding up in museum design where I have been for 20 years. (Apart from a brief interlude as a commercial pilot. I spent two years training, and then found I didn't like it when I finally got a job, so I went back to design work. I still fly but just for fun.) Moved to the US 13 years ago.

I have a small studio now with a couple of employees where I design and produce exhibits for museums and collectors all over the place. Ship models make up an increasing amount of my work these days and I'm certainly not complaining! 

[AntonyUK]

Hi. 

Me and my wife have been foster parents for the last 12 years and we look after a severely disabled young person that require 24 hour care.

I am an engineer by trade(Toolmaker). Did a lot of steeple jack work when first left school then Life told me enough is enough so I quit that to do engineering.

Made my first model boat @ 12 solid hull curved and painted.

We live near Plymouth UK and there are many ships down this's end of the UK.

So modelling ships is a natural choice for my leisure time.

It's so interesting to read the about the type of people that are on MSW.

 

Regards Antony

[mikeaidanh]

My first paid work was delivering fruit and veg on a grocers bike. i then became a wallpaper trimmer at the Pearl Wallpaper shop on Kilburn High Road.

 

Eight days before my sixteenth birthday I joined the Royal Navy as a boy entrant at HMS St. Vincent. Naval aviation kept me busy for the next eleven years servicing jet aircraft on carriers and ashore.

 

Next came a three year extended "holliday" in the Chanel Islands doing various jobs including fitting auto controls in greenhouses.

 

Back in mainland UK I spent the next twenty three years as an exhibitions officer in a regional museum service.

 

Redundancy forced me into self employment. Firstly providing technical services for museums in my area, then delivering corporate cars and, finally, gardening and landscaping.

 

I eventually saw the light and have been happily "retired" ever since.

 

Mike. 

[Timmo]

I'm a journalist, currently working as chief reporter of a daily newspaper and busy website. I find ship modelling as an opportunity to leave the world behind and immerse myself in problems that I can solve with the tools I have to hand - the world that I deal with at work doesn't seem to offer up ones that are dealt with by file and saw. 

I suppose modelling offers issues that I can work on until I fell they are finished to my satisfaction, which is a contrast to my professional life which is a swirling maelstrom of priorities which change by the minute and where limited resources have to be allocated for the best, not always perfect, result. With three small children and a very nice wife (she constantly comments on me looking at 'boat porn' on MSW) modelling time is limited to Sunday arvos as I find my wife doesn't appreciate me sitting in the garage in a cloud of wood dust on the nights she's home. I'm usually to shattered to do it justice anyway.

I'm loving the hobby after two years. I started modelling with plastic military and aircraft kits with which I reached a reasonable standard of IPMS national champ placings.

I took up ship modelling after my father got into it after retiring a few years back and completed a couple of Billings kits. He's grappling with alzheimers and the whole family is convinced that having ship modelling has enabled him to keep his mind and hence faculties from deteriorating. He has built three plank on bulkhead RC tug or fishing boats and has just completed the extremely complex Robbe Valdivia Kit which I might post on here at some point.

A fascination with the 18th century helps.

After decades of going to family bach (read holiday cottage for anyone outside NZ) at Mercury Bay, NZ,  Inspiration was at hand.

A visit to the local museum, a decent James Cook biography and some research enabled a trip to a small cove across the bay where the company of HM Bark Endeavour filled the ship's water casks. That's the oldest piece of European history we have close to hand here.

Standing on the rocks where Cook once stood offered a connection that I remember every time I sand a plank on a period ship.

[bogeygolpher]

I retired in 1995 as the Chief of the Logistic Systems Integration Division, Hq USAF/LGXI, the Pentagon. We were tasked with developing policies, plans, and programs for the integration of  the different Air Force logistics computer systems in use throughout the world. I was a uniformed member of the Air Force for four years and continued to work for the Air Force for another 30 years as a civilian employee.

 

Now I build ship models, play golf, and occasionally build furniture.

[Angel]

Hi from south Africa, I originally studied dress design moved into the operations side if things. Life took some not so nice turns. Changed careers - admistrative work. Decided to study auditing, was in internal audit for a good many years. Loved the job but it was time for a change. Moved up into business process specialist for medical aid adminitrators Still loving it. Angel

[rummy]

Wow I am impressed with all the respectable jobs.

 Where do I start? Well the first time I got out of prison, for a crime I didn't commit,I worked minimun wage jobs until I thought I should get back at the one that sent me to jail.So I robbed the judges house.Man when they caught me that judge was P'O'.I tought I would never get out.Now sometimes  I write little funny stories like this    .

 Now I have your attention,The last 20 years before retirement I was a Respiratory Thearpist and worked in the NICU with premature babies that weigh less than a Big Mac.I was surrouned by 40 female nurses giving me orders and I tought the Air Force was bad.Best job I ever had.After retirement I want crazy until I found model ship building. Then I lived happily ever after

   Larry

[bhermann]

Wow I am impressed with all the respectable jobs.

 Where do I start? Well the first time I got out of prison, for a crime I didn't commit,I worked minimun wage jobs until I thought I should get back at the one that sent me to jail.So I robbed the judges house.Man when they caught me that judge was P'O'.I tought I would never get out.Now sometimes  I write little funny stories like this    .

 

   Larry

Nice April Fools, sir (I hope)! 

 

Bob

[Rich_engr]

I'd like to restate my profession, since I was just laid off today because of the sequestration and defense cuts!  So now I'm a newly-unemployed engineer, beginning the job search once again!!! 

 

(and to think my 5 year anniversary with the company would be next month...)

 

yippee~~~

[trippwj]

Dang, Rich!  I just sent you a PM.