What is your expertise??

[cajunpen]

Wow, you people are all very accomplished in your lives. Very impressive.

I'm afraid I don't have such a list of accomplishments to present. I spent my life married...now widowed, raising 5 wonderful children and supporting my husband in his various enterprises...ranching, horseshoeing, contract mail route, plus a million other things.

I now have 7 fantastic grandchildren to spoil utterly rotten and time to do some things I want to do.

Hanna, your accomplishments are outstanding - wife, raised 5 children and spoiling 7 grandchildren - that is certainly an outstanding accomplishment. I applaud you. My wife and I will celebrate our 40th this coming January - whatever little I have accomplished would not have been possible without her supporting me. Carve away and have fun

[Jon Jantz]

Well, I guess I'll go next... *clearing throat*

I'm kinda like some have said, a jack of all trades, master of none....

I started working on the crew of my dad's steel building business when I was 17... so I learned to weld, construct things out of steel, and what it feels like to be cooked alive.. (try putting on a shiny tin roof in Pensacola, FL when it's 103 with 98% humidity) Since I have no fear of heights, and would always volunteer for the job that required running around on steel that's not bolted down 30-40 ft. in the air, it's probably good I quit doing that work after about 5 years.

From there, like Jeff, I went to school for Industrial Electronics. During this time I worked at Audio Plus, a home alarm and car audio store... so I know how to run wires in walls, install home entertainment and alarms systems, install car audio systems, and a lot of other stuff I probably won't ever use much again in my life...

After completing IE school, I started working for a company that owned a sign shop and also a video wall company... Video walls are those big video displays you see that are constructed from stacking a bunch of rear-projection units together. The bezels on the sides of the screens are very thin so it makes a near seamless picture... anyway, you can program them to do all sorts of cool things, and I worked as a technician, travelling all over to set these things up and program them...

This was a fun job, because we rented it to all kinds of clients... tradeshows, sporting events, sales meetings etc. A few of the fun jobs... CMT Music Awards, Anheuser-Busch booth at the Inter-Bev trade shows, Internet World Show booth, set it up for Carolina Panthers games in Charlotte probably 20 times, Childrens Miracle Network Telethon, the Olympics in Atlanta, GA, plus a whole bunch of other cool places, like sales meetings in resorts, etc.

When I wasn't on the road, I would work in the sign shop, where I learned the finer points of CorelDraw, signmaking, and graphics design. After a few years, the Video Wall/Sign Shop company went out of business from trying to get too big too fast... and one of the other workers there and myself started a sign shop, Snappy Signs and Graphics.

For equipment we had a vinyl cutter, vinyl printer, color laser copier, dye sublimation printer, id card printer, laser engraver, screen printing equipment including screen making machine, large conveyor dryer, 6 station screen printing machine and other various equipment. We did vinyl signs, fleet, police, and race-car graphics, large lighted signs, banners, business card and brochure printing, screen printed signs, screen printed shirts, heat pressed shirts and various other items, plaques, trophies, and about a million other odds and ends...

I could write a book on having a business with a partner, and most of it would be negative so I won't go into all that here... suffice it to say that after about 5 years of doing most of the work, while he went out and got a second job that led to him very seldom showing up at the sign shop, but still taking money out..... I finally tired of it, and we sold it out...

From there I went to work at a computer sales and installation as a network technician, computer tech and sales person... enjoyed this work but after Hurricane Ivan hit Pensacola head-on, my dad called begged me to come back to work for his company, since he was in dire need of help. So I returned to Triple A Steel, and began to do all the CAD work. Currently that is where I work and I draw all the blueprints, pull the permits, help with the estimating, as well as manage a few of the projects. I love it and wish I'd come back to work here a long time ago. I still have a sign business on the side, Snappysign.com, and actually do quite a bit of sign work.

And in the midst of these jobs, I've managed to pick up a few hobbies. I've raced dirt track cars and karts for a few years, worked on a pit crew as a tire changer for a regional Nascar race team for a year and a half (travelled all over the South to racetracks on the weekends), took up kiteboarding, played league softball, flown R/C airplanes for about 15 years, got quite a few hours of training in towards my Private Pilot license, and the most time-consuming of them all!!! MY CARVEWRIGHT MACHINE!!

/wasn't planning on writing a book
//don't blame you for skipping it

[DDV]

Hanna, your accomplishments are outstanding - wife, raised 5 children and spoiling 7 grandchildren - that is certainly an outstanding accomplishment. I applaud you. My wife and I will celebrate our 40th this coming January - whatever little I have accomplished would not have been possible without her supporting me. Carve away and have fun

Could Not have said it better!!

DDV

[eagle1]

Hanna,
That is what I CALL A FULL TIME ROUND THE CLOCK JOB. Qute an accomplishment if you ask me. Glad you are having fun with this forum and enjoying your CW machine.

[benluz]

Hello....okay here is the condensed version.When about twenty I took a job as an inspector working for Link simulation's systems division of the Singer company ,where we built nuclear power plant simulators as well military simulators for subs and aircraft.While working there I started attending a local college with a major computer science.To decrease the commute and to get away from a relationship gone bad I took a job at a local millwork company while attending college.While working for this company I gained knowledge of fabricating double hung custom window ,exterior wood doors arch casings and jambs and all types of radius work.I met a cabinetmaker while working there and we decided to go into business.I quite school and soon I was up to my neck in custom kitchen work as well a raised panel wall system's for hi-end offices, many late nights and I was loving it.Later that year I got married to my one and only wife Sandi. A few years went by and I added a woodmizer sawmill and kilns to my operation. Now about this time my wife became pregnant with my son and a family was born a few years later a daughter was also born.By this time custom kitchens had became the main focus, but the long hours, coupled with the need for family time was taking it's toll......it was time to cut back.Always fascinated with figured lumber I turned to that as my main focus already armed a with a kiln and sawmill, I milled the most unusual stock I could find and found a niche with guitar makers or luthiers as they were called, life was good once again,business was booming .It is during this time that I discovered a carvewright through one of my customers ,I rushed to get one .Very impressed with the quality,My mind began to wonder.... what a large machine could do for the cabinet side of the business ??? so as I write this I'm a week away for delivery of a full size CNC with a tool changer ,4th axis and a digitizer.With so many ideas ...there's no telling which direction I'll go next ,there are so many possibilities with this machine.I will continue doing custom commercial cabinets, because there is where the money lies, but there are so many other avenues to explore as I go forward on this new endeavor.I will keep you posted !
Ben

[Julie Coffey]

I started life as a respite caregiver for my father who had cancer so my mom could work. That was at the age of 13, from there I moved onto my grandma and various seniors in need in the parish/neighborhood. My specialty was hospice care.

At the age of 18 I married a USAF airman we moved to the UK, where I apprenticed under a Master Woodworker for 3 years learning hand carving. Four children later on our return to the states and after 13 yrs of being 'in' Gramm-Rudman sent us on our merry way. Adjusting to civilian life didn't go well and we divorced I got the kids and the mortgage he took our 20k shop worth of tools (1990's $). He married again and decided that he didn't need to support us so I opened a licensed Adult Family Home that allowed me to be at home with the children and still keep us off of welfare.

I remarried years later had my fifth child and slowly rebuilt my shop to where it is now. I am a 30 yr wood/leather worker and have just begun my new life in metal. I have a passion for Medieval Ecclesiastical Art and recently became the official metalworker for the Celtic Episcopal Church of North America. A multi-media artist I'm also a apprentice blade smith in the ABS I'm working towards passing my performance test. I also raise Imported Great Danes and am a licensed skunk breeder (for pets), and LIVE to catfish.

I'm a PROUD mom of five happy, productive and loving children and about 26 'adopteds'. A first time grandma::BIG SMILE:: I've had an 'eventful' but blessed life. My way of looking at it life is like metalwork it takes 'heat' and 'beatings' to create something special.

Next....

[poteetjr]

Well... I am an instructor/teacher in the USAF; I teach young guys how to refuel other airplanes in mid air (like on the movie "Airforce one" without the fire ball). I have degrees in aviation operations and military science. I have been doing this for 8 years now and love it. I got the Compucarve to help pass the time on the weekends when I have nothing to do. With the help of Jon Jantz I have used the system to make some military patches for myself and friends. When I am not flying or woodworking, I spend time with my wife at two daughters enjoying my time stateside before I head back over to the sandbox in a year when I finish my time teaching.

[rjustice]

poteetjr,

Welcome to our forum, and thank you for your service to our country! Everyone is eager to be of help if you ever need it.

Happy carving!

Ron

[leesheridan]

Well my first love was flying. And after being accepted in ROTC at San Francisco State to start in the fall of 1970 I thought I was set for choppers and Vietnam. But something about ROTC, San Francisco, and 1970 just wasn’t going together so the hippies got the program cancelled. Well my number on the draft was 17 and they were going to 125 that year. So, I went Air Force. Computer programming is were they put me, so I would look out the window at the Buff’s, KC135’s and T29’s and the occasional Black Bird that didn’t really exist at the time. After that I managed a lumber/hardware business. I am now retired from the Dept. of the Navy where I worked with every branch of the military and have worked on about all of the missiles in the Navy arsenal today including the Tomahawk. I have also worked with several other types of explosives. Ever since I was 15 I have worked construction on the side. I had my own bath/ kitchen remodel business for several years in central California but let it go due to not enough time in the day. After retirement in southern California I kept looking at the bear property we had in northern California with the thought of building a home on but I got tired of the left wing California tax robbers and settled on Oregon. So we cashed out of California and bought an 80-ac ranch in Oregon. The first thing we did was sign a contract for a 30x40 shop to be built for my toys and a place for me to hide. I raise cattle on the side to keep my blood pressure down and red meat intake up. I hunt, fish, shoot, and make stuff for the grand kids, wife and church. And a small upscale gift shop in town that wants all I can give them that I make in wood. I am currently enjoying growing older accept for all the new pains. I now find my time consumed by the lathe and the CC. And I would like to think all that have helped me here in this forum when I have had questions.
Next?!?

[Vashon]

Unless you consider driving a bus expertise...

Needed a job, and started driving a transit. Thought I'd do it for a year or two, and here it is 27 years later.

The problem with my job is, it's pretty darn pleasant and well-paid. State of the art $200K vehicle. Indoors in crummy weather, outdoors in nice. Great view out my office window, cushy $2K Recaro seat. Lots of nice passengers to goof with. Haven't even seen my boss in years. No good reason to quit.

Except now, my pension maxes out in 3-4 years. Still not necessarily a good reason to quit. If I wanted, I could drive for another 20 years, but... I'm starting to think it would fun to segue into something different at long last.

So looking ahead, I've built myself a nice shop full of tools, not so much for the income potential as for the activity and creative exercise. The CW is intended to spice up my otherwise mundane projects.