Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge What Does Everyone Do For a Living

I am curious being new to the forum....what do we all do to sustain ourselves and pay the rent/mortgage? This forum is unique in that it is dedicated to the America/speedmaster and yet has a membership that is very international.

I live and work in Tucson , Arizona. Been here since 1977 when I was stationed at Davis Monthan AB before my last enlistment was up.

I work for Sargent Controls & Aerospace in the Marine product line as a manufacturing Master Planner. We manufacture quiet valves specifically for US Navy nuclear submarines. Our valves are curently in use in fast attack subs, and boomers of all classes ....Trident, 688 Los Angeles Class and more recently the three Seawolf subs that were built and currently the New Attack subs of the "Virginia" class. Our valves are used thruout the boats in a variety of applications from sanitary pumps (bilge) , weapons handling servo valves, bow planes, steering and diving, pneumatic throttle valves etc on and on.

Its a decent job and one that gives me a sense of accomplishement. Since 9/11 we have been a key cog in keeping the US submarine force supplied with spares and of course providing new shipsets of valves for new build.

I have a fair range of interests of which motorcylcing has always been there and was awakened when I set eyes on the Triumphs. I also like movies specifically "home theater"..
I collect DVD's and when I get time I put up a portable 92 inch wide screen and use a front projector for movies. My wife loves to dance and we typically get out once a week for that. She is not in love with motorcycles ..mores the pity.

I , like most Tucsonans am spoiled by the more or less year round great weather here. It is very hot in the Summer basically from as early as late March to late June or the first week of July and then typically we get "monsoon rain" that always comes up from the general direction of Mexico. Humidity increases although no where near what they feel in the eastern US. It rains hard in the late afternoons and evenings off and on for a month and a half and then we get dry and hot again until as late as early November.

The monsoon rains can strike at any time though in season and at times can be violent with lashing winds, lightning and microbursts. Low lying roads will flood and they can become impassable or dangeorus. I will be judging the rains as best possible and leaving the speedie at home some and take the ole truck to work during that time.

So.....what do you all do?

I'm a Rehabilitation Engineer, basically that means I work for the health board desiging electronic and mechanial aids for severely disabled people. This used to be bespoke electronics but nowadays the things we used to design are now being manufactured comercially so its more a case of adapting exisiting sysetem to suit patients needs. The mechanical aspects are mostly to do with special seating for wheelchairs and the odd prosthetic mod job.
I've been doing this since I left school, apart from a 2 year sabatical to medical physics to learn more about the ultrasound field.
I can turn out most things nowadays but the quality of my homer work does leave a fair bit to be desired...its a time thing I guess....the faster I work in lunch time the more I can eat when I'm finished lol

Webmaster, Computer Support, Network Support for Cummins Northwest. Before getting into computers, I spent 20 years painting (cars, big trucks, custom cabinets, heavy industrial, high tech basicly anything that I could use a spray gun).

Soren

I am what's considered the Cost Engineer for one of the largest privately owned construction companies in the US, J.F. Shea. I work in their tunneling division and am currently on the Manhattan portion of City Water Tunnel #3.

Currently, we're building 6-7 miles of tunneling around 600 feet underground, with 10 access shafts located throughout Manhattan. We'll finish our portion in 2009, and the tunnel will be in operation by 2020. Next stop, East Side Access.

I am a retired City Superintendent (city manager) and now a photographer and a partner in Simmer Studio. I also do some inspection work on public works projects.

Dave

hey Kevin...this is going to be an interesting thread! i enjoy finding out personal stuff about the people on here...i started a thread awhile back about the origin of peoples screen names...lots of cool stuff came out of that, too.

i teach engineering labs at our university here...i'm an instructor, not a professor (i don't have a phd), although the students have coined a phrase...lab prof...that they like to apply. my life's work experience has been very wide and varied...been a cop, soldier, truck driver, firefighter (forest AND structural), ambulance attendant, field engineer, teacher, technician, dance instructor (studied classical ballet, jazz ballet, ballroom and western...taught western), interior designer (in Hollywood/Beverly Hills in the 70's), husband and father...some of these things i was/am really good at, some i'm still working on...i was basically abandoned by my parents and dropped off for my grandparents to raise..when my father did finally take responsibility for me, he and his new wife really abused me...i got really f***ed up...booze, drugs, sex were the most important things in my life for way too many years...so i'm still working on becoming a better father and husband...i like to think i'm making progress...my wife may or may not agree...

i too like watching movies on the big screen, so i have a 72" pull down screen and a video projector for movie nights at home...we live 50 km away from the city, so movie nights at the theatre is way too expensive...

i've got a pretty young wife who puts up with me (for the most part...one of her favourite pass times is dressing me down when i need it...or when SHE thinks i need it ), a beautiful 4 year old boy who is often my main reason for keepin' on and of course Beauty, without whom, etc etc...


who's next?

Architectural Draughtsman (also called Architectural Technician over here).
My line of work is pretty specific to this country, I design and draw architectural plans for loft conversions.

I also prepare architectural plans for extensions and alterations - what you guys call remodelling.
I've also done a few new build houses from a client's brief.

I do the majority of the structural calculations (I haven't had to outsource to a structural engineer for years now) and I get the necessary approvals from the local authority (Planning Permission and Building Regulation approvals).

While in AZ last year, I spent some of my time looking at building sites (sad I know!) and I couldn't believe how simple the general building methods are.
I bought some books about US building practice ... you never know when I might need it!

Anyone on the site want any plans doing, I offer a special rate of my normal rate + VAT + 15%

I've done work for a few people off the tv and one for Roland Gift (Fine Young Canibals lead singer).

Went to measure a fantastic house yesterday and the guy was in the US, his wife says their company specialises in designing the structural foundations etc for horse stadiums over there ...
I've also done the loft conversion on a house for a guy who's company makes the steel pins in chair castors (wheels)!! His house was huge.

It's amazing what people can make money at!

Im a commissioning engineer for industrial steam turbines,working for a German branch of a large american company.
Nick

I'm a Train Manager....well thats what it says on my namebadge!
A guard, that's what the job use to be called.
I'm the muppet who checks tickets on late night trains and gets yelled at for doing my job. Despite being responsible for their safety.
I took a job on the Railway as a temporary job after failing my finals at uni, and I'm still here 7 years later. Just further up the ladder now.

Another male dominated area of life where I'm one of very few ladies...

I am a "Events Coordinator" hate the title.

I work for the Tn State Soccer Associaiton. We are the governing body of all Youth Soccer in the state of Tennessee(Club, not high school).

My main role is that I organize and run 5 state championship tournament each season, plus one indoor tournament and a fund raising golf tournament. I also administer a couple of soccer leagues. Write game schedules at tournaments and keep and update team stats. Also organize a annual soccer fair/convention.

This is actually the first real ( ) job i ever had. Before this i sold cars for a while and have done various driving jobs, from despatch riding to driving vans full of chickens for bucthers shops. Drove a CarryFast truck around London for a while, lost count of the amount of car mirrors I knocked off in that truck.

On the side, i have done some roadieing for a few bands, even ran a music club for a couple of months. Im also a part time motorcycle riding instructor for the MSF.

My real FULL TIME job is being a husband and father to a set of twins who turn Four years old this week

I work For a Fiberglass manufacturing company, we dont make fiberglass but rather fiberglass parts. We specilize in historic restoration of large commercial buildings but also are a "job shop" so I have worked on 100 plus year old buildings, as well as odd projects (like public art displays) and If you've been to Atlanta stadium theres a huge Coke bottle that we made. I do all of the design/engineering, drafting, I project manage all jobs thru the shop do some sales, and handle all shop saftey (small company means many hats) I'm fortunate that there are days when I can surf here all day, then there are times I don't remember how to get home because I've been so busy, so it works out in the end. www.durofiber.com is our web site and some photos of my work are there.

Married mt high school sweety 20 years ago and unlike most I can't/won't bash her, or marriage I love it! One son,11, who's a little me (making him a giant PITA at times) been on bikes since age 10 (ecxept for the time after the wreck)

If you can work on it with your hands it's for me, I'm a collector, and for those of you who are also you understand...for those of you who are not, if your a collector, it really doesn't matter what you collect, as long you collect, I've collected Coca Cola memrobilla, Wine, books, tools, coins, cars, bikes, and bills.

My musical tastes is broad and you should find something you like in my collection (except hip/hop rap) J. Buffet, Beatles, Black Sabath, Enya, Clasical, Toby Keith, Moody Blues, most 70's rock, and so on...I'm wicked A.D.D. so I often have 3 or 4 projects going at once as well as several books, I'm a Mason and a Shriner (thats what all those letters on my sig. are) I play Sax and a Chinese Mussett (odd sounding horn like snake charmers play)....blah blah blah...(obviously this is one of those surf all day days/weeks at the office )

Im a systems administrator for a company that makes Security X-ray sytems.

My title is LAN Engineer, but what do I do? I manage the IT department at the State mental hospital in Augusta, Ga.

me money ! immigrant from poland Came here(UK) coz I always wanted don't ask why but is no answer. Much better money in this contry .In poland my last job was as a process engineer in small furniture factory here worked as a proper joiner and now got easier job for better money in window factory.In my country would never afford to buy TBA and even now I dont know I afford to much money spending on bike but I love it. Wife in poland ,she is coming here I'm going home life not easy but now have no choice no job in Poland and really ****** about politics and don't know what to do in the future
thankfully got this site and friends I met here and it keep me going.
and my englisch still not improve

I am a government employee--I work for the Indian Health Service ordering medical supplies for Cherokee Indian Hospital here on the Qualla Boundary Indian Reservation (where I was born and raised)...great job, I love being able to help my people, but I also like the fact that I can pretty much move anywhere around the country, most reservations have at least an outpatient clinic. On the weekends, I help a friend do ceramic tile work, he has a contract with what's know as the Tsali Care Center; they build handicapped showers for our elderly and/or handicapped Tribal members (I do this to learn a trade as well as the joy of helping those in need). I also give guitar lessons to a few kids, and also DJ techno music at clubs/raves in the area. Seems like I never have enough time or money even with 4 jobs; but that's okay, I ALWAYS find time to ride the bike hahaha......

Lee

Firefighter Paramedic for Shreveport Fire Dept and Flight Medic for hospital based helicopter service.

I work for Verizon in the Custom Pricing Group for Verizon large business customers. We work with Engineering and Costing to provide special pricing deals to our largest business customers. I started with New England Telephone as a technician back in 1986 after the break up of AT&T, Became NYNEX, Became Bell Atlantic, Became Verizon. 20 Years with the company this year.

In times past, I've been a mechanic, radio/TV repairman, warrior, student, teacher, pilot, trucker, electronic engineer, software engineer, a few other things.
Currently, my job is so secret I don't even know what I'm doing Well, that's partly true anyway, I develop software for the automated dispatch system for a utility company.

architectural plans for loft conversions.

Hey Adey, what exactly are you converting them to?

I used to play architect.. drew up the mechanical blueprints for a large HVAC company. Really enjoyed that job, and was there until the company decided to pack up and move up-state. I wasn't willing to relocate at that time.

Basically, I got into computers in the late 70's when I was going to college for my EE degree. Then tookd CompSci. Have done it all from software development to network design and system administration. Last real job involved starting up an internet based company which got purchased for an obscene amount and allowed me to basically retire (this was before the so called 'internet bubble' burst). Now I dabble in real estate.. buying and selling.. to keep some income flowing. Fortunately, you only need one good deal a year to make as much as a full time job, so I have plenty of time to ride my bikes and play with my tractors

Cheers
Brad

Detective Lieutenant, Division Commander for the Special Services Division of the Morris County Sheriff's Office. This Division is made up of the Forensic Section (CSI), the Crime Lab, the K-9 Unit, and the Bomb Squad. 28 years on the job, two teenage sons, one great wife.

Sound engineer / company owner. Our company provides production services for concerts and festivals.

I am a communications Specialist working for our main communication company. I support the technicians in the field when they have a technical problem they cannot solve. Sort of a trouble shooter. I support an area of around 600 kilometer = 372.822 715 342 mile radius from where I am stationed. This means I can do a round trip of about 1 200 kilometer = 745.645 430 685 mile in a day and still sort out what ever problem might be at hand.

It’s the best job in the world I would not change it for anything. I live in a great city with all year riding weather, what’s not to like.

I'm a CNC programmer and foreman at the Hoover Company's engineering division (help ,I might be lookin' for a job soon!!)
I started out in the machine trade 30some years ago ,I can't be that old , can I??

I own the no 1 umbrella stall the uk.We need more rain!

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It can vary from a new property (couple of months old) to a 400 year old thatched cottage!

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Adey,
Are you allowed to do much to a 400 year old house. How does the Heritage stuff work when you are looking at altering old houses.

I'm Director of Support Services here:

Click Here

Most of the time I run around like a chicken without it's head.

I work for a company called Universal Vintage Tire (www.universaltire.com). We sell new tires for antique, vintage, and classic cars, trucks, and motorcycles. We are based in Hershey PA and sell and ship tires world wide. There are only 4 of us in the company so my duties range from sales to shipping to accounting to janitorial. Its a great job, where else could you talk about cars and bikes all day long, post things on BA.com forums from time to time, and get to go to some real cool auto shows. When away from work I am a bass player in a local band (www.rockdog.net) and a happily divorced father of two cool kids aged 6 (son) and 9 (daughter).

I'm a Sales Exec for Dassault Aircraft Services. I sell inspections, repairs, modifications, avionics packages, interior refurbishments, and paint jobs to owners and operators of in-service Dassault Falcon aircraft. I try to satisfy everyone and often end up satisfying no one resulting in getting yelled at for doing my job, just like Gina does. However, I do eat and travel well, and as long as the checks keep coming, I'll keep showing up for work.

"One weekend a month and two weeks out of every summer" I don my Army uniform and do my National Guard thing as the senior state air traffic controller. This means I am too senior to actually control air traffic, so I get to watch and supervise others who actually know more than I do about doing it. I say things like, "Great job, soldier. Keep up the good work." and other such positive motivational phrases as I look forward to retirement.

The list can be endless.

Gotcha.. over here that would be called an attic renovation Well, at least up north where they actually have attics. Down here in the south, we got 'crawl spaces' which sometimes aren't even big enough to crawl through.

crawling round a Victorian property through a 2'0" square access into 100+ year old dust.

Be thankful that it's just dust! As part of my HVAC work, I sometimes had to get up into the crawl spaces to see where to route the duct work, refrigerant lines, etc.. This was down in South Florida, where them crawl spaces could get upwards of 180 degrees (F) and were filled with a couple feet of fiberglass insulation.. nothing like getting hot and sweaty and rolling around in fiberglass which then sticks to every inch of your body. Don't know how many times I came home with my eyes all swollen shut from that stuff. That was definately the one part of the job that I didn't enjoy!

Cheers,
Brad

HOLY CRAP! After reading all these bios from what I can only describe as "Renaissance Men and Women" who ACTUALLY serve and benefit society(no joke...I MEAN IT)....I'm almost EMBARRASSED to say what I do for a living!!!

I've been in the Airline Industry most of my ADULT life.(note: There's STILL some question about THAT term being applied here) I've been a supervisor for about 18 of the 30 years that I've been with Northwest Airlines, and my responsibilities now include overseeing the operation of about 15 employees who inventory, move and track freight shipments in the Northwest Airlines Cargo system at our LAX(yep...we sure run a taut ship there boy) facility. We operate two 747 freighters nightly to Anchorage Alaska, which connect at our freighter hub there to many cities throughout Asia. We also move a wide variety of freight on our other domestic passenger flights.

(if you're still awake....I'll continue)

A few years back, I got tired of looking at cardboard boxes, so I transfered over to the passenger side(for a little abuse), and supervised the boarding process at LAX. That was FUN....as soon as I learned the roped, that is!(hint: When confronting an "Irate", always walk up, look 'em straight in the eye, and in your most commanding voice[and I gotta GOOD one] say..."MAY I HELP YOU?!!!". That ALWAYS brought 'em RIGHT BACK to where I could communicate with 'em...AND I think the beard on my handsome(but AGEING QUICKLY) face kind'a intimidated 'em too...in a primordial-caveman sort o' way)

Judie, my wife of 15 years, and I have no kids.(she says, "ONE ENOUGH!!!") But two muts we've rescued from the pound, kind'a make the house full anyway.

She's also worked for NWA for many years.(I'll give ya THREE GUESSES where we met!!!)

Now...she doesn't mind riding of the back of my BA, but truth be told, she's one o' them "cagers" at heart!

HOWEVER, did I mention....She's THE BEST!!!

Tennis, the occassional poker game, and eating my wife's absolutely superb meals(she's a third generation W.O.P., so YOU KNOW her little Italian-American mother taught her well the ropes in the kitchen)

I hope to retire next year at the "ripe old" age of 55, with a reduced monthly pension comin' my way, and then move permanently to our other home in the beautiful mountainous northern Arizona town of Prescott.(BTW, I soon learned from the locals there, that it's pronounced "PRES-kitt")

Well that's about IT!

HEY! WAKE UP! Somebody else wants your attention now!

Cheers,
Dwight

I am called a Senior Director of Consumer Marketing. I work for International Speedway Corporation in Daytona Beach, FL. We own 11 auto racing tracks nationwide on which the major series all compete (NASCAR Nextel Cup, Busch, Trucks, IRL, AMA, Grand Am, ARCA etc, etc). For most of the Americans or those who live in the US, I am sure we have a track near YOU!

Ride Safe

Ryan

I work for thee Department of Defence. Anniston Army Depot. I'm in the law enforcement division there. I'm also in the Army National Guard. 1/117th Field artillery, Greenville, Al.

My wife........she's a teacher. She teaches 7th grade science. She has a BA (not bonnive america, Bachelors'in arts) in biology, and Masters in education.

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we NEED to talk about BRISTOL tickets

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Ditto that.

I not much of a NASCAR fan but i would like to experience the short track at Bristol. Im told it is quite an event.

I am a mortgage loan officer for Nationwide Advantage Mortgage. We do mortgages in every state but New Jersey (Foreign Country) Anybody need a loan?

Ok - I'll pipe in.
I'm an attorney(aka lawyer aka barrister) prosecuting criminals for a living (some already know this). Been doing that since 1992 (gads am I that old?!?). I started out working for an Indian Tribe doing general practice for them, then turned to criminal (NO, not turned into a criminal ). I have worked for 3 of the tribes in Arizona (2 as the Tribal Prosecutor), and 2 counties (basically a DA except in Arizona they are County Attorneys).
I've been in Arizona since 1974, finished grew up in Tucson (tho there are some that would dispute that I've grown up at all), and lived in a number of places around the state, and now I think I'm planted in Flagstaff! Wonderful riding up here - when there's no snow!
I ride for fun and as therapy. And no I can't give out free legal advise!!
Becky