I thought it might be nice as a way to get to know each other a little better to briefly describe what we do for a living since what we do so much reflects who we are.

I work for a Midwestern Donut manufacturer, I started my baking career while still in High School, and I have been here now for 32 years. I have attended the American Institute of Baking in Manhattan Kansas. I have worked my way up through the company to now do Research and Development and Quality Assurance. My job involves checking of products and ingredients, as well as developing new products.

Here is a link to our website http://www.mel-o-cream.com/index.html .

In addition to my family, I enjoy, Stereo equipment and music, hunting, shooting, fishing, and motorcycle riding.

So, what do you do and enjoy doing?

Jim

i've been doing the firefighter thing since i went into the USAF in '79 and have been working for the same industrial fire department since '85. i decided to go back to school last fall and have been enjoying that process ... i have two finals coming up this Wednesday. the plan is to take up teaching when i transition out of the fire service.

I started a small hardware store, dealing mostly with the local farmers, in 1981. I sold mostly nuts and bolts (1/4" - 2" diameter), as well as hand tools. We bought a house and 4 acres in 1986, built a warehouse here, and moved the business here. In 1998, I sold out my hardware inventory, and now I buy and sell used equipment and government surplus.

I'm located in Tracy, Ca. - about 80 miles east of San Francisco

Howdy All!

Thanks for starting this thread Jim, looks like a great place to drop a "first post".

It is this "obsession" we call audio that of course has brought me to this place, and a bug dropped by another member.

I notice many familiar ID's here, recognizing that some are coincidence while others are not................... y'all look like a very nice crew!

I'm currently trying to resurrect a business that my older brother and i started back in the early 80's repairing/restoring automatic musical instruments and antique and reproduction lighting(coin pianos, nickelodeons, music boxes, pump organs, etc.). This was my full time gig until business partner's(bro) illness followed by my divorce and then natural disaster beginning in '04.

Music and audio have been a part of my life since i was just 5 or 6 years old. Growing up with three older siblings who were very musically gifted and motivated gave me an early start. Circa 1975(i was 11) my folks and older brother opened a radio shack franchise, also carried several other popular name brands of audio and electronics gear. We're in small town USA, so most of the demand here was for low end and middle of the road gear, a high end system in these parts was a 9090DB, CS99A's, and a PL-518 turntable (note of irony that i live 28 miles from the front door of McIntosh Laboratories).

I spent the second half of the 80's and early 90's operating my own small sound company on the side providing PA/sound reinforcement for several area rock bands. Lot of great times and experiences, educational ones too! Eventually i grew out of that scene and became more focused on the business at home, stumbling into a marriage and step kids along the way. Now happily divorced(miss my stepdaughters tho), i find myself once again obsessed with audio and surrounded by big Altecs, wives hate 'em but dates/girlfriends think they're cool.

For other "fun" i like all the typical things most small town/country guys like. I'm an avid outdoors person, love hunting, hiking, snowmobiling. I've gone back to wood heat and even processing firewood is something i find enjoyable these days.

Anyway.................... there's a peak at "me".

Tom

I was an aircraft mech. in the U.S.A.F till 80. Then I went from job to job till 87 when I went to college to become a licensed aircraft mech. I became a road whore going to the job that paid the most. I have had 3 crashes with fatallities. None were my fault. I designed and built and sold speakers for a few years.
Now I am disabled. I've got it good. I sit in an Audio store jamming all day to some very nice equipment.
Maybe I should say I was a mech for over 20 yrs.

For the last 22 years I´ve worked in packaging, specifically what we call composite cans.

Composite can are made up of a labelled paper tube main structure with tin foil caps and bottom ends. Main market is food and drinks, though lately a lot of other applications have been developped. My biggest client is now a paper toilet manufacturer exporting worldwide, mainly to America.

I left the company I worked for in 1992 and started my own small plant along with two former work colleagues. I love what I do, though I never managed to make the same kind of money I made while being an employee.

Here´s a pic of some of the composite cans we produce.

been in the Canadian Forces for almost 21yrs as a Fire Control Technician, repairing sighting equipment, angle measuring devices, compasses, missle guidance systems(not very good at that though, LOL), under 20kW generators, electrical devices etc... I specialize in Instrument Repair... tours to Bosnia and Ethiopia along the way. Here's a classroom of mine as I've just been trasferred to Army Tech School;

I'm a Junior in highschool. I plan on going to college to become an architect. as of now, my grades are good and my ACT score is OK so it should all work out.

A little about me.
Out of High School I did a stint in Uncle Sams Marine Corps as a plane captain/crew chief on H-1's and saw a good chunk of the world through a porthole.
Afterwards I kicked around for a while doing whatever Framed houses, Worked in a salvage yard, Avionics Tech,Electrician and a bunch of others and somehow ended up working for a tool,die and stamping company which has been my vocation every since.

This works well for me as my side hobby of note is cars and it helps to have access to most any kind of machining,waterjet or laser that I may need to make my own parts.
I also have an audio addiction that has eaten up a lot of side money the last couple years. I started with receivers and still have a couple biggies I kept for sentimental reasons but have graduated to separates and pro sound amps for my main listening. The system changes pretty much weekly until I find that nirvana.

Although I don't post much here I stop in pretty frequently to see whats new and recognize many of you from other boards I frequent and thought I should introduce myself a little better.
Thanks for having me.

I’m in the air conditioning, heating and refrigeration systems far more than twenty years. I do technical assistance mostly in Carrier/Toshiba units, food service equipments, industrial and residential systems. Because the company I work for has some contracts in Portugal, I’m always on the road between Spain and Portugal. Frankly I’m very tired of this situation but I have to hold on......

Two of my sons are in the HVAC trade. Pretty good jobs here in the desert.

I'm a member of RSES and i'm aware of what's happening in the US. That's indeed a great and passionate profession because we can deal with a lot of issues like electricity, electronics, mechanics, physics and quimical processes.

All the best to you and your sons.

Cool thread! It is nice to get to know you all better.

As for me... I have been in "tech" since the mid-90's when I followed a hunch that Windows NT would take over the world. I took out a loan from my in-laws and bought a better computer, a few books and Windows NT Server 3.5. I played with it until I knew NT inside and out. A few months later when NT really started to pick up momentum I was one of the few guys in the area who knew it well, and I just went along for the ride. Right place, right time... just a little lucky really.

Later I moved into network management and have been involved in various roles in this area since the late 90's. Two years ago the company I was with was bought by IBM. So today I work for the CTO of one of the divisions of IBM. I work from home and generally only travel about once per quarter. I am also lucky enough to get to pick and choose most of my own projects.

I grew up fairly poor (an empty refrigerator was very common) and had only a bad high school education and some military experience to build on (no college). So while you might think I am pretty proud of where I am today, it would be more accurate to say I am grateful. Looking back I realize that I happened to run into the right people, at the right time, in the right environment, and made a few lucky decisions along the way. There were simply too many variables outside of my control for me to get arrogant about how my life has turned out. However, if I had to pat myself on the back for one thing, it is that I never was willing to except failure as an option. I only saw setbacks to which I had to find new solutions. I think too many people miss out on achievements because basically they are, well... quitters (I hope that doesn't sound too harsh).

Outside of work my interest are widespread, but if I had to highlight a few (besides audio) they would be coaching youth sports, cars, and whatever my kids happen to be into at any given moment (modelling and photography for my daughter, basketball and guitar for my son).

Rob

Jim´s idea for this thread seems so cool, we decided to Pin it.

Cool topic.

Born in Oregon, lived on a little island in the pacific (Kwajalein) for 8 years of my childhood which was a very cool and gave me a much different outlook on life than most. Came from a very tight family and have two great parents that are still alive. Have benefited greatly from a strong family upbringing.

Graduated high school in 83 and went right into collage to learn automotive body and paint as well as frame repair. I loved cars. Did really well with that and ended up building custom cars for many years. realizing many older auto body guys were drunks partially because of the chemicals used on a daily basis I decided to go back to collage. Got a degree in computer aided drafting and design and went to work for intel documenting their computer networks. Great job. Went on to work for smaller independent .com companies in the network infrastructure design side of things and was doing really well. That was until the bottom started dropping out of the .com boom.

Was offered a design and management position at a friend of mines company designing motorcycle and down hill mountain bike parts. Had quite a knack for that and ended up with several design patents. He sold off the company and i started my own doing motorcycles parts. That went very well for 2 years until the manufacturing plant that I was partnered with went under because the boss was cheating on his wife and got sued for sexual harassment... Thanks Gary!!!!

Took the plunge and started my own company. Designed a hydraulic steering damper for motorcycles from scratch and have been selling that for 2 years now. Business is off the hook and we are doing great. I work from my house and LOVE my job. I build motorcycle parts and ride motorcycles all the time. that does not suck.

www.motosportz.com (that's me)

43, 3 kids and happily married for 16 years.