What is your occupation, employment, job or profession?

[MrBlueJacket]

Owner, BlueJacket Shipcrafters.  no surprise there.........

 

Previously, I have always worked in the industrial automation controls business.  App Eng'r, Product manager, National Sales manager, Operations manager, and ran my own advertising business for 10 years.  I love working with people.

[Ol' Pine Tar]

Been in the trucking business for 15 years or so - chemical tanker. Got out of the business last year, but still drive a company truck 4 or 5 days a week. I like to say I'm semi-retired - instead of working all the time I just work most of the time...

[flying_dutchman2]

Occupation.

I usually do not discuss my life and where I have lived with people I work with or people I meet as many of them think I am bragging (or in Dutch - opscheppen). For many people I have come in contact with, it is too much information. So I lie and just say that I am from Amsterdam. Except others that have similar upbringing.

 

I am willing to discuss it on MSW because you are a very diverse group of people. From pretty much every corner of the globe.

 

My father went into the Diplomatic Core right after WWII. Criteria for the job was simple. Adventurous and willing to live in remote corners of the planet without any amenities. My parents lived in Indonesia in the 50's - before they had kids. My dad did code work. Encryption.

 

Besides having lived in the countries I mentioned we always visited the surrounding countries. I have so many experiences I could write a book. Here are a few.

 

Experience: Third world countries are very interesting. What Western people take for granted is a struggle and always on your mind in third world countries. Water. In Ghana (1975-1976) there was rarely any water pressure. So when there was water, we filled up every container, bathtub, you name it, we had. Then we used it sparingly. Bottled water (if there was any) was more expensive than liquor. Most of that was $5.00 a bottle - whiskey, vodka, gin, etc. Heineken - 24 in a case ($10.00). Heineken has a brewery pretty much in every country in the world.

 

We had no phone service in Ghana. Food was scarce. Diplomatic service has its privileges. We bought meat from Argentine. Airmailed in dry ice. Once a month we drove 350miles to Togo, neighboring country, and bought food. 50lbs bags of rice, flour, dried beans, wheels of cheese, fresh veggies, the basic staples in life and toilet paper (3 women in the family, gotta have toilet paper). We loaded our station wagon to the max.

 

Bribery was an everyday occurrence. White people had more money than the locals. So most of us didn't mind. My father bribed not with money but with Johnny walker, red label whiskey. White people always got stopped at road blocks and they chatted a bit until you gave them something. So my dad’s arm went behind his seat and pulled out a bottle or two.

 

As I mentioned, food was scarce. It was depressing when you went to the supermarket. 60% empty shelves and lots of times they would have 20% of one item, like peaches in heavy syrup. That meant a container had been unloaded on the docks. This country needed the basics. Rice, beans, meat and vegetable. Infrastructure wasn't there and all the foreign aid went into the pockets of governmental officials so they could send their kids to college in the USA. (NO joke).

 

Some of the foods that were sometimes available and locally grown were; tomatoes, green beans, cassava (starchy roots), and peanuts. So we did eat a lot of that, when it was available. We weren't starving it was just always available. Other foreigners spent a fortune on canned goods imported from the home country.

 

When the family went on leave to Amsterdam, it was something to get used to. Everything was available. We used to turn on the faucet and stare at the water running out. We went to the supermarket and I got overwhelmed, turned around and left. They had everything, not an empty shelf insight.

 

When we lived in Ghana, my dad took road trips to the Dutch missionaries that lived in Northern Ghana, Burkina Faso (Upper Volta in the 70's) and Ivory Coast. Lots of fun. Lots of driving through wild life areas. We stayed at a Holiday Inn in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso. It was blazingly hot so my sister and I wanted to go for a swim. Lots of locals in the pool and the water was somewhat green. So I went anyway. I just got in the water and I got bitten several time. We got out. Looked very closely what the black 4 inch long things that were swimming on the surface of the pool at times. Big water beetles. The kind that eat small fish and tad poles and your skin. Poor country, chlorine was not available.

 

Last story. Health Care, and hospitals. Hospitals were pretty much empty and there were rarely any supplies. So if there was an accident you just hoped you would get some basic medical help. The embassies kept basic supplies (bandages, sutures, hardware, etc.) at the office. Kids get mishaps. I did all the time. I fell and got a 4 inch deep cut below the left knee. My dad (grabbed bottles of vodka) & I, in the car and went to the embassy, got the medical supplies, went to a hospital and got a doctor to help us. The disinfectant was the vodka. Cleaned the wound and the doctor stitch me up, without anesthesia (not available). More alcohol and put a bandage on. Gave the Doctor the other bottle of vodka.

 

Trinidad & Tobago - West Indies another story and Saudi (Gulf War, as I was there) as well.

Not sure if MSW members are interested and don't want to waste your time.

 

Marc

[mrjimmy]

 

Spent most of my career in logistics (shipping, receiving, warehousing, distribution, packaging) and retired early, thirteen years ago.  Never looked back.

 

Si

[Intasiabox]

I started out working as a project accountant for a large construction company for 8 years. As life moved on and I got married and had two children being away from the family so much was starting to become a real problem. I ended up changing careers and became a millwright. I love my job as it usually entails coming up with some creative solutions and machining parts to keep the machines running.

[@macbride]

Oral & Maxillofacial surgeon who loves doing beautiful & challenging work with his hands

rebuilding missing bone and soft tissues to support dental implants, which restore missing

teeth & broken smiles! Repairing broken jaws or remodeling the facial skeleton via orthognathic

surgery puts a patient's teeth together & can completely change how they look and feel about

themselves. It's a hard job, but it's a privilege as well.

 

Also PhD in pharmacology, had intended to enter academic life: research, teaching, surgery.

My training, however, convinced me that patient care would be far more satisfying than the

political & egotistical world of academic dentistry/medicine. Couldn't be happier with that

decision!

 

2 back surgeries last year left me feeling beaten down & in need of a hobby that didn't involve

bending over or heavy lifting: Hello, Model Ship World!

 

Model boat building is one of several things I'm doing to achieve better balance in my life.

Thank you to all who contribute to this site!

 

Cheers!!! (& take the right turn!!)

Andy

 

 

[redeye]

I'm a chemical engineer by training, but nearly all my career has been in process control and automation (industrial control systems). I spent many years in England working on major engineering projects in oil and gas, refining, and petrochemicals. Since moving to Canada I work in metals and mining.

[Piet]

Hello doc Andy,

 

Yup, I came to quite a few forks in the road in my as well.  The new **** turned out to be not so good **** and had to make another right turn.  Right now I'm retired and live peacefully in Florida with the Admiral.  However, there is a small roadblock in the way, I was diagnosed with cancer in de bladder this morning. 

 

I'm also a doctor of sorts, airplanes that is.  I used to fix them, design repairs for them and flew them.  It was all a lot of fun till it got to be "old ****" 

 

Nice smile on the fellow in the second pic.  That reminds me of the sinus lift my dentist performed on the left upper jaw.  The bone there was only 2 mm thick and not enough for the implants.  He pumped about 3 cc of bone graft stuff in and everything came out awesome.  I'm smiling   

 

Take care of your back and happy modeling.

 

Cheers, 

[spsewell]

Such a truly diverse group of individuals.

 

I myself have served in the U. S. Coast Guard for 19 1/2 years right out of high school.  I'm a Chief Boatswain's Mate looking at my first retirement in the very near future.

 

Not really sure which direction I will go from here, but actually looking forward to working on dry land.

[Vivian Galad]

Well, I graduated as an Architect and Urbanist - while in the university, worked as an english teacher, as an english/portuguese text reviser and as a translator.  Worked for about 4 years with Architecture - 2 years as bank designer - before deciding I didn´t like to work that way. Now I have an online store and I´m very happy I let the planning behind me, well, at least that kind of planning

[@macbride]

Piet,

 

Kick that cancer out of your life so u can make good use of those 3cc of bone!!!

 

Seriously, best of luck with your treatment & recovery. I'm sure there are some great docs in

South Florida.

 

All the Best,

 

Andy

[Gabek]

Hello, everyone. I just discovered the "New Content" button and found this forum pretty much by accident! I haven't quite finished reading all the posts, but it has been really fascinating.

 

I originally hoped to become an entomologist. As life takes its twists and turns, after finishing a degree in agriculture I obviously worked for several years in the computer industry for Unisys Canada. I guess you could say I got trained in real bugs and ended up working with computer bugs. The economics of the 1980s made things tough for the computer industry and I realized that things were not looking good for big mainframe companies. So, I returned to university to get an education degree. As it turned out, I got out two months before massive cutbacks in the company. For the last 25 years I have been a teacher in the public school system here in our province. Most of this time has been teaching high school students science and technology. Although I am technically a biology and chemistry teacher, I have taught physics and computers more often than anything else! From 2012-2013 the provincial education ministry borrowed me from our school division to fill in as the science curriculum consultant. At this time I'm having a great time teaching biology, chemistry and physics.

 

I love my work...but I find that it seems to get in the way of all the hobbies! I'm really looking forward to retiring and so I can build more ship models!

 

Regards,

Gabe

[Q A's Revenge]

I'm retired now so I like to go Ten Pin bowling a couple of times a week. I'm not very good but still enjoy it and someone's got to use those lanes during the day ... ☺

[puckotred]

I'm afraid that if I told you I'd have to kill you all...

[flying_dutchman2]

I'm afraid that if I told you I'd have to kill you all...

LOL, that would be a massacre.

[mtaylor]

LOL, that would be a massacre.

 

That would also require probably a WMD* as there's almost 11,000 of us.  I guess we're no longer a small, intimate gathering?  

 

* I probably just got tagged by the NSA and/or GCHQ for that acronym. 

[HIPEXEC]

Military and airline pilot as well as a businessman.

Rich

[awanajv]

My profession - I am a Sr. Field Service Engineer for a semiconductor manufacturing company. I've been working on particle accelerators that are used in making computer chips for the past 30 years.

I started out as an electronics tech in the US Coast Guard where ironically I never worked on a boat.

I went straight into the aviation field, flying out of Cape Cod, Massachusetts 1980-84.

My dad and two uncles retired from the USCG. Dad was also in aviation and my uncles were were on ships.

 

 

[bissolaw]

I'm an attorney. I'm semi retired, but still work about a 3-4 hours a day. Before law, I was an engineer.

[md1400cs]

Very interesting thread.

 

The amazingly wide and varied breadth of careers of so many members at MSW are really impressive.

 

---------------------

 

I was born in France, so French is my first language

 

Came to the USA at the age of ten, so English is my second language

 

Moved to Mexico City at the age of thirteen so Spanish is my third language (my dad worked for Air France, and got transferred there from NYC)

 

Came back to USA at the age of fifteen (Los Angeles) and worked as petroleum distributing engineer (worked in a gas station (:-)) Stayed in that business all the way through high school and University {BA}.

 

During college I also got my pilot ratings and then worked as a flight instructor with type ratings up to Boeing 727, though I have also a lot of simulator time in DC 9, and10's as well.

 

Drove 727's for a regional carrier for a couple years in my mid-late twenties. Left that after I married a Brazilian. Spent a lot of time in Brazil, so now Portuguese is my fourth language. (With French and Spanish already fully infused into my brain, Portuguese was a "next door neighbor"). I am verbally fluent in all four, but not in the written areas of Spanish and Portuguese. Though I can read all four.

 

After leaving the airline bus. drove smaller aircraft for a charter company and simultaneously completed a Masters Degree at Pepperdine University.

 

Left aviation, again, and started teaching high school (better salary as well as much more secure employment). During that time I also taught Aeronautics at UCLA (prep. courses for pilot FAA written exam candidates [private, commercial, instrument tests] did that for five years, night classes twice a week. Loved being connected to UCLA, beautiful campus, as well as teaching HS during the day. Busy time but a lot of fun. For relaxation loved scuba diving, and skiing. Both are easily accessible from Southern California.

 

Continued in education and became a Dean of a high school, then got promoted to high school principal for the last ten years of my career in education. A wonderful business so enjoyed working with teen-agers.

 

Retired from education, and formed, with three partners, an import company. We sourced product from China for several big box stores in the US. This allowed me to travel to parts of the world that I would probably never have had the opportunity of knowing otherwise, Japan, China, Hong Kong, Singapore, Taiwan, Philippines, Thailand.

 

Ended up with just shy of one million miles on Star Alliance carriers (sitting). Now fully retired. I occasionally still drive airplanes, but just to keep my certificates current. I miss traveling a bit, but I really enjoy being fully retired. My wife still works so we don't plan too much traveling just yet.

 

Michael

Edited March 3, 2014 by md1400cs

[Chuck]

After 24 years in Publishing and Media...I was finally laid off on December 3rd.   Was with the same company all of that time.   Its a sad story where I had trained my  replacement without knowing I had one.   But in all seriousness,  I knew it was coming because the corporate culture had shifted over the last 3 years and not for the better.

 

So at the age of 47 and with full support from my wife and kids,  I have taken the plunge to become a full-time ship modeler. I am doing restoration work and am quite busy while taking on commissions.  In addition I started Syren Ship Model Company when I realized the ^$^&***  was starting to hit the fan.   It has been very rewarding so far and a huge adjustment to say the least.  At least for this old desk jockey.    I know many have said you cant support yourself as a ship modeler but I can say it is possible...although I have grown to love hot dogs and beans several time a week.....I am kidding of course.

 

Now my office is my workshop....well back to work.....my new boss is a real ball-buster.  Trying to launch new products and projects is quite fun but a real challenge....its a good thing.

 

Chuck 

[mij]

For the past 32 years I`ve worked at the same company, 27 years as a Production Manager and 5 years as a Design Engineer,

2 of those years past retirement.

As from January this year, I only work 2 days per week for the same company.

The other 5 days, my wife and I do what ever we want to do. It`s Great.

 

mij

[NMBROOK]

I had original posted back in this thread at the beginning but thought I would add an up to date post.I had worked in structural steel fabrication for twenty three years on the tools.Built many things including bridges,shopping centres,giant sculptures and the firm I worked for was responsible for all the post fire structural work to Cutty Sark,including jacking up and supporting it, in it's current position.

Last summer I was diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome and carpal tunnel.I was told that continuing to use abrasive tools at those levels of exposure would result in complete loss of use of my hands.Despite having this I have over time adapted the way I work to allow me to continue to model.The only big change is I have to use two hands to do carvings.

Having been presented with this news and given that I don't really know anything else other than building model ships,with the help of a government enterprise initiative I decided to take the decision to build these full time.The business is still in the 'fledgling' stage at the moment,but I am fully aware that a reputation is something that is not built overnight.I am eternally grateful though for my wife's fabulous level of support and she has even said that should the need is arise in the future,she will help with the administrative side of things and leave me to concentrate on building.

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[mij]

Hi Nigel

 

I hope everything works out for you and your family.

 

Kind Regards

 

mij

[flying_dutchman2]

Last summer I was diagnosed with hand arm vibration syndrome and carpal tunnel.

Nigel

I had both my carpal tunnel operated on and I am a new person. I did the damage through programming and lots of pruning of plants. It took me forever with ship modeling. Now it is all a breeze.

Marc

[NMBROOK]

Hi Nigel

 

I hope everything works out for you and your family.

 

Kind Regards

 

mij

Thank you very much indeed mij

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[NMBROOK]

I had both my carpal tunnel operated on and I am a new person. I did the damage through programming and lots of pruning of plants. It took me forever with ship modeling. Now it is all a breeze.

Marc

Unfortunately Marc,the HAVS has caused irreparable damage to the nervous system in both hands.The carpal tunnel is both wrists and both elbows.The specialist said the elbow operations are massive unlike the wrists.I was told that because of this nerve damage,it is highly likely I will not see much improvement from the wrist operations.

 

Kind Regards

 

Nigel

[kiwimodeller]

I  AM A QUALIFIED MOTOR MECHANIC AND WORKED IN THE INDUSTRY FOR 59 YEARS. DURING THAT TIME I SPENT 8 YEARS IN THE NEW ZEALAND AIRFORCE, SERVED TIME IN THAILAND. THE LAST 20 YEARS OF I TAUGHT AUTOMOTIVE ENGINEERING AT A LOCAL POLYTECH. BEEN RETIRED FOR ONLY 6 MONTHS AND AM ENJOYING EVERY MINUTE OF IT.

[Cannon Fodder]

I am a Nurse Practitioner and work in the specialty of Epilepsy currently.

[mtaylor]

Hmm.... I guess I need to update... Retired as of November 1, 2013.   Now doing whatever I feel like doing and whatever the Admiral wants  and also what Her Majesty - the dog says...