I would love to hear about people's occupations. What do you do for a living? (With a poll)

And the guy even thinks up great marketing techniques!!

Any suggestions on how to fix my red/pink hands caused by polyurethane based auto paint?

Gojo. or go to a automotive parts store and get an equivalent grease remover I.E. goo gone

Hey Merle, can I say, as a political brawler, that I love the fact that you do your best to fill NV with non political discussions?

Seconded. And I'm a lawyer, who works for a Judge. I love it.

yes, use lacquer thinner, it will take off most anything, especially auto paint!

Any suggestions on how to fix my red/pink hands caused by polyurethane based auto paint?

Yes lacquer thinnr will work best.. but let me give you fair warning, it burns especially if your hands are already dry and it will dry out your skin..:)

Would acetone work? I know I've used it to get wood stain off of my hands...

A red and pink lunch truck? hmmmm

Decorate them.

Hmm, a red and pink lunch truck --

That sounds more like an ice cream truck, to me.

Whats a joiner?

Woodworker. Timber Frame. Custom furniture. Finish. Architectural carving. That sorta stuff.......

Umm great job Tex- you work with your hands and are also frm Texas?? Great combo.

Kathy:

Why, thank you kindly. I have a degree in Fine Arts and always approached the working of wood as an art form. Sadly, that seems to be far too old school for modern America these days.

Gotta admit. I'm not from Texas. I have blood roots there. I have lived there and do love the place. How I got my name is a long story.

best atcha

Tex... it is not too old school for all of America... you have to sell your wares in a new venue.

Take the old school and put it on the Web. See if you can get a Web site or start with Ebay.

Never give up on what moves your soul =)

A dear friend of mine, mother of four, takes on-line classes to continue her education. I don't know how she does it, but she says, "You know me, I like to stay busy." Perhaps that's available to you for the next two years?

I'm too busy thinking up things to cook in the kitchen, and then cooking them... plus I spend like a lot of hours playing with kid.... I'll get there eventually.

Fat is where it's at. Hard to beat fresh baked goods with a stick. I'm getting a jones. Dang. I miss the bakeries in Pootland, Oregon......

ahhh yeah! I've been to Portland a few times, and there are some great bakeries up there, and some fantastic artisan bread.

Artiedabaker:

Tell me about it. They are 3 thousand miles away at the moment.

Actually there are a couple of fine local bakeries here in the NC mountains as well. Just not as much variation on a theme......

baking can be healthy and tasty. just has to be done right.

Almost all food and ingredients in it's natural form is healthy, or at the very least not unhealthy. It's when the food is either processed to the point of it not being a food, or when their is over consumption, is the point that it becomes unhealthy.

"Yeah! Carbs are what provides us with the energy to do things and I have no idea why some people dis them. Fat is also an important component of diet. Without it a person will die."

Everything in moderation.

Everything in moderation.

agree completely!

as an Exec. Chef and Restaurateur (ret.) it's not what you eat, it's how you eat. creating food can be one of The most rewarding and enjoyable (downright fun) jobs you could want.

creating food can be one of The most rewarding and enjoyable (downright fun) jobs you could want

Agree totally - I was loving my job until I made the mistake of moving into the corporate foodservice world 4 years ago. It beat the passion right out of me.

dennis i bet it did.

cooking is my creative outlet. i made a new soup yesterday and another one today. no recipe just the one in my head the cooking ingredients talk to me.

As far as baking goes, I'm a 1st generation Italian-American who can't make bread and is ashamed to admit it, (we're keeping the personal information confidential, right Merle T?).

I'm a recently retired 32 year USAF veteran, (E-8)...who is happily unemployed. Worked in the Education & Training field and loved helping fellow service members earn their degrees. Planning to pursue a Masters in Education with the goal of academic and career counseling for adult students.

Pastry chef and baker.... Living in a time where so many are moving more towards "healthy eating,"

Hey, I eat a strict, healthy vegan diet...but you have to have something decadent once in a while!! I'm on vacation this week and I'm going to the local vegan cupcake shop for a yummy fat-and-sugar laden cupcake! I work out 5-6 days a week and eat my veggies....a cupcake once every couple of months won't kill me!

I am a lot pickier about my sweets though. Since I don't have many I expect them to be fabulous and I'm willing ot pay more at a nice bakery to get a quality product. No dry supermarket crap for me. I happily pay $3.50 per cupcake...and they aren't very big! But it is worth it for a few bites of heaven!!

Hey, I eat a strict, healthy vegan diet

One of my first jobs was at a natural food bakery, and I was just completely enlightened as to the "ins and outs" of gluten free, vegan, and no sugar baking. I'm a die hard butter and fat kind of guy, but I was really amazed at the quality of specifically the vegan products we would make, it was all really good.

Chocolate cupcakes with chocolate icing. Yummmmmmm!!! Where have you been all of my life Artie, LOL.

tex you had to go and mention Portland bakeries. boo hoo hoo crying my eyes out i miss them so. specially pastaworks cannolis OMG freaking good.

cookin mama:

Technically not a bakery but I miss Justa Pasta over in the NW. My daughter and I used to frequent that spot often.

I'm gettin hungry......

Merle T -

What an engaging discussing this is! I'm interested in what people do for a living too...and it's great when it matches our passion in life. I've found that love for what you do is almost NEVER is about salary. You really knocked it out of the park with this article!

I'm lucky enough to still live in Portland, am a fiend for good bread, and am taking notes..

Where in Japan?

Fukuoka, on the north coast of Kyushu. It's great that it's starting to get cooler.

Ah!

konnichiwa! Juuichi ni, watashi wa nihon ga ikimasu!

lol! I can't wait to go and practice my japanglish. ;)

So you're going in November? You didn't have a counter on that, you just said "11."

Newsvine doesn't like my Japanese kana. Oh well, where are you going?

Are you there with JET? My brother and sister-in-law were in Fukuoka with Jet for a year, and totally loved it.

No, I'm doing a study abroad with a Japanese university here. I'm planning on doing JET when I graduate though.

Do it! It's totally bitchin'. I almost did, but my older brother went first, and I didn't want to be the little brother following his big brother around (so, instead, I make video games and travel around the world playing them).

Rsather,

lol! juiichiGATSU (or getsu??).

See, thats my japanglish going to work :D

I used to speak and write it much better, but I've lost it since undergrad. hopefully I'll be able to regain much of what I lost when I go.

Anyway, I'm going to okinawa with a group of friends, I hear its pretty nice. Have you been

Gatsu would be correct. You only use getsu when you're saying something like raigetsu.

I haven't been to Okinawa, this trip is my first time off Honshu in fact.

VISIT Okinawa! I was stationed at Kadena AB for two years back in the 80's and loved every minute of it. Only regret was never learning to speak Japanese.

rsather- I used to have a friend from honshu. I hope you have fun on your trip!

btw Are you majoring in foreign language, or are you studying something else there?

Caterina-

my aunt was stationed over there as well for two years, she absolutely loved it!

Well the classes that I take are pretty set.

My major is technically Humanities for Teaching, but at this point I think I'm going to drop the "teaching" part of that for the moment.

Don't know anyone it didn't scare....Scared me, too, which is good. Scare me and I'm the picture of composure and assurance. Smoke and mirrors but it works. :)

I especially hated getting flown around on little bitty planes and driven to and from airports by wild eyed legal secretaries who would drive me at 80 mph.

I recall a cardiologist friend - a tough as nails WW II vet with confidence to spare - and another doc - a calm, steady shrink - having kittens as they prepared for court.

I do wonder if folks like Michael Baden and his ilk ever get scared. I'd love to know.

To Merle

One of my greatest Jury duty events was when I was being questioned on a illegal Alien drug resist arrests. by the time the defence attorney was done questioning me the prosecutor requested my dismissal. Based upon my hostility to the defendants lawyer, and my hostility to law enforcement.

I found out about three hours later that the defendant plead guilty based upon a deportation to Mexico because of my interaction with his lawyer. I have since avoided jury duty by mailing a copy of my book "The Unholy Church" in response to my jury summons, I have yet to be called to jury duty since.

Thank you. After 30 years it all becomes just another job. I have seen many awesome things, marine mammals,bald eagles four feet tall, and volcanoes on the islands spewing ash and smoke. Also many things, weather, ice on the boat, hurricane force winds, and saddest lost quite a few friends in boat sinkings and falling overboard. Thank God only a few broken bones, concussions and all my fingers being broken and one shorter than the rest. All in all a good life. Soon to be fully retired and back into the mountains of the Pacific Northwest.

deepwater don,

You have to have the coolest job on earth. I could listen to fishermen talk about their work all day.

Dangerous Job Don! Wow! I fish here considerably and have met "Long liners" here with fingers missing, holes in their hands from baiting the long line reels...holy crap!

And you do all that in some of the nastiest weather...My!

don thank you for risking your life to catch those fishies for me to eat.

Thanks from me too! Love them fishies! :)

Everytime you have a McD fishburger it was caught in the Bering Sea and delivered in Dutch Harbor.

i know i should not like those but they remind me of being a kid. When you got change back from your dollar. And when you paid with that weird green stuff and those hard round things I think they called it cash and coins in the dark ages.

McD fishburger

For real? That's made with fish? Get out!

I've met my share of commercial fishermen in my (now defunct) airport bookstore. They are a special breed (and always good customers), and I admired them long before those TV shows made them fashionable.

Hi Don -

I come from a family of watermen - some commercial fishermen (including catching crabs, and tonging for oysters in that) - a and hauling freight. I did it for a while when I was young, but didn't see any future in it (at least, on the Chesapeake) - so I left and went to school. Some of my friends still work on the water. I really miss working on the water, and I'd do it again in a heartbeat if I thought I could make a living at it.

My sister-in-law owns the second(?) largest fishing company in Alaska.

My favorite show+"Deadliest Catch". Family was in the seafood business (also on the Chesapeake) when I was a child- but MUCH smaller scale.

Love the show deepwater Don. Once salt water is in your veins it is there to stay I think. I miss it too rls8r.

My knowledge of crabbing on the Chesapeake (now remember this was back in the late 60's, so I'm sure things have changed):

All us children (that's the cousins, my brother and myself) sitting on the end of a pier jutting out into the Chesapeake. A string tied around our wrist, the other end tied around some raw chicken, and thrown into the bay. Being told to stay quiet, or we'd scare the crabs away.

Parents sitting up under the tree (in the shade) at the picnic table, drinking beer and wine, playing cards, laughing, occasionally (about every half hour to an hour) one of them would come down, pull up the string, take the crabs off the chicken and put them in the barrel behind us, throwing the chicken back in the water, and going back up to the picnic table.

Hi Shroggle -

I think I saw you! That was you?!!

When I crabbed (mid-'60s), I had about 250 pots in the Potomac laid off Wakefield, and as far down as Westmoreland Shores. I'd fish my pots in the morning - starting out about 4:30 a.m. or so - so I'd be done before the heat of the day set in - and I'd be completely done by noon. If the crabs were in, I'd sometimes run my 150-yd trot line in the afternoon. Good times. I'm glad you folks left me some!

Not sure. Again, this was back in the late 60's (I was about 8 or 9 years old at the time).

Dad was stationed at the Patuxtant River Naval Air station, and I'm pretty certain we were at a park/boat ramp/recreational area somewhere on the base.

And my parents were NEVER up that early, for a day at the "beach" on the bay. Actually, we'd be down there around 10 or 11, and stay till 2 or 3....had to get back in time for us to cook and eat the crabs we caught, before the rest of the family (aunts, uncles, cousins) had to leave to get back home.

There is a beautiful rec area not too far from the base- been there with friends who were in the military. There is a LONG pier that juts out over the water. The funniest thing I saw was a crab pushing an entire quarter piece of a chicken up through the water- it was bigger then the crab x 2.

We never used chicken. Eels or bull lip if we used line or pots. But mostly we crabbed with a net. My Dad could see a crab on a cloudy day. He was from a small town in Dorchester County. That is how they crabbed back when he was a boy. Worked on a Skipjack- the whole thing. What I would give for those days again.

There are a few rec areas around Pax River - and you can go on down to Point Lookout State Park (there's an old Civil War prison there that many claim is haunted).

I've seen folks use about everything for recreational crabbing - including chicken, eels and bull lips. We used eels for the trot line and 'bughead' fish (alewifes) for the pots.

In the latter part of the summer crabs would come up the pilings on piers and wharves so kids would walk around with a net getting those. They were often 'doublers' that is a male on top of a female. The female is called a 'peeler' - and it's ready to shed. When it sheds, and is soft, the male then mates with her. Then, kids started damaging things - so now you see 'No Trespassing' signs everywhere. Not so when I was a kid.

Another great place to get crabs (recreationally) in the late summer was along the hedging of a pound net. Seaweed would grow on the hedging netting - and crabs would rest in it. You had to be quick though - it took a bit of skill. Fishermen frowned on 'novices' doing that because they'd get the net caught in their outboard motors and then they would cut the motor loose. Of course, that would leave a gaping hole in the net, so you can understand why the fishermen would discourage 'newbies' from working their nets.

We really had a lot to deal with when the recreational folks came down. I recall seeing a station wagon full of my crab pots pulled into a gas station. When I asked the two little ol' ladies why they had my crab pots - they told me that they had 'found' them in the river!

LOL that is hilarious!! Found them in the river! Once when I was out crabbing with my Dad we had been crabbing behind this guy all day. He kept throwing the crabs back in so we'd grab them. The guy came along side of us and asked my Dad "where do you get the orange ones"? My father pointed him in the direction of the crab house on shore that steamed them and after the guy was out of ear shot we roared laughing. We caught 22 dozen soft crabs that day and a boat full of other crabs; busters and peelers, hard crabs. The last we had it that good. Hurricane Agnes came through and the Chesapeake has not been the same since. Great memories we have. BTW- that Rec center was for military families only so I think it is with the Navy Military District or something. It is still there as far as I know.

Yeah, my dad did P-3 ops out of Jacksonville, did a Jacksonville-Rota run regularly. :)

It's all good. Brown shoes or no, we were still on the same team.

My previous job was as a Reactor Operator on submarines for the Navy (based out of Pearl Harbor, HI).

If we turn out the lights, do you glow faintly?

Faintly was after the first year...

Now, that's not Las Vegas you see lighting up the night sky. It's Shroggle. On the bright side, he's a renewable resource!

I can neither confirm nor deny if exposure to low levels of radiation make me glow...you'd just have to "join me in a dark room" to find out.

I can tell you, the amount of radiation I recieved from the reactors, over my entire 20 year time frame, is less than you recieve from a couple of xrays to your teeth every time you go to the dentist.

I can also say, if I had ever gotten a barium enema (nice diagnostic tool for GI problems), I couldn't go to work for a week, cause I would set off all the radiation monitors as I walked by them. :)

When i first read this I was shocked. I never thought about what is in those contrasts we have to take for these tests. Woo- bet I will be asking more questions in the future.

LOL

It's not just the medical tests either. If you go to the beach, or a park, or wherever, and you get a sunburn, you still received more radiation in the timeframe it took you to get that sunburn, than I did in a couple of years worth of working on the sub. :)

I am not a sun person but I fully understand.

Wasn't always my pleasure, but you are welcome.

Pretty much like the show as far as the work. Little less drama thanyou see, but they like to have "story lines" throughout the season. 40-50 hour work between naps and you are just to tired to argue,grumble,and be in a tiff over anything.And that includes the skippers.They have to stay awake too, the only difference is they are dry,warm, and have a cup of coffee.

Good for you!

ditto.

Verbal, great point, workers have seen a huge shift in company "ethics" or the lack of them more pointedly in the past decade or so. The good old days of family run business that takes care of a worker and it's customer are gone for the most part. Also it seems that this generation wil not be a life long employee anywhere, there is no incentive for it and they have to go where the jobs are or get transfered to when possible. Glad you got to experience a long career with a comapny before they got slimy!

Enjoy your retirement, you earned it!

My brother is one of those rare business owners, he has been is business since he was 18 he is goin to be ahem 58.

customer service as a disguise for schilling for the company and trying to sell services the customer didn't need or want. That's when I retired early.

And that is why I had to get out of CS. I'm supposed to be helping the customer with their account questions, not trying to sell them something even I wouldn't buy. EVERYTHING is a scam these days.

Well I've done many things that somehow or other melded together, never had what you'd call a "career". Latest jobs:

1. Logistics for a Winery group
2. Photographer/Graphic Designer for a Winery

Laid-off at last job (2006) b/c of a hostile take-over by the world largest wine company. Laid-off our entire marketing department. Been looking ever since. Yes I'm one of the long term unemployed.

And that is why I had to get out of CS. I'm supposed to be helping the customer with their account questions, not trying to sell them something even I wouldn't buy. EVERYTHING is a scam these days.

Being a trust officer used to be wonderful. It was a combination of banker, bookkeeper, friend and social worker, very heavy on helping the customer. You took care of the accounts for the customer (we had a separate investment department, thank God - I hated the investment side), moved money around for them, paid their bills, arranged for their taxes to get done every year, even did things like take them to the doctor if they didn't have a way to get their, take them shopping, arranged in-home care if the needed it. When they passed away, you handled their estates, worked with their families, got the federal estate tax filed and passed everything out. There were also court accounts where you handled assets for those who couldn't take care of themelves and worked with guardians, attorneys and judges regarding the annual court accountings and what was best for the customer.

Then, they decided to move brokerage in with trust and let brokerage management get involved on the trust side - brought in hard-sell management and the whole job changed. What I had been trained to do wasn't enough - taking care of the customer was switched from customer service to "taking care" of them by selling them more and more products, like insurance and brokerage products (deregulation was responsible for that fiasco). Then they decided it wasn't enough to have dedicated trust sales staffs, the trust officers had to start bringing in new accounts. Sales quotas ensued and it got worse every year. Bastards.

It got really bad the last year I was there and I just said "the hell with it". I had a sister pass away at 62, 7 months before I retired. That made me realize I didn't want to work at a job I didn't love anymore, or work until I keeled over. So, I retired at 59 1/2. Went in for my annual review in March and told my (new, and really hard-line re sales) manager that I had no intention of hanging around. I gave my notice that day that I was gone the end of May. I am pleased to say he was totally shocked.

Sorry for the rant. It still pisses me off when I think about it. =0/

Man I hope to visit your restaurant one day! I love travelling through Europe and I haven't really explored Spain yet (but want to!). I really want to move to southern France when I retire, or at least have a second home there! :-D

I kind of like the sound of the second description.Maybe wordy, but descriptive.

To merle

If you are a social worker then koodoos to you. Looking out for the health and well beings of others is the greatest gift that one can bestow upon an other.

Where is my warp drive!!!??

Seriously.....reading up on different Aircraft/other propulsion systems is a fun hobby of mine. I have no idea the technicalities of them, but it is interesting to read. Subs with Magnetic "force fields" that travel through the water by pushing water away, pulse jet engines (the Aura I believe is one that conspiracy theorists love), Charged ions through a magnetic field........

Can you tell us something you are working on??

Where is my warp drive!!!??

Physics is a bitch.

Subs with Magnetic "force fields" that travel through the water by pushing water away

Magnetohydrodynamics (MHD). Never dealt with watercraft, but have played with plasma jets, pulsed plasma thrusters, ion engines, Hall effect thrusters, and other electric propulsion systems. Also chemical rockets of all kinds.

pulse jet engines (the Aura I believe is one that conspiracy theorists love)

Pulsed detonation engines. Ran those before. Messy when they fail to ignite, then subsequently belch a fireball on the next pulse.

Charged ions through a magnetic field........

You mean ion engines and Hall effect thrusters. Stuff dates back to the 50s. We use it, though, and it works well. Now the push is for more power. Messy trying to test that, though.

Can you tell us something you are working on??

Nope. :)

Can you tell us something you are working on??

Nope. :)

Must be something good like matter/anti-matter....can you tell i watch star trek....lol

Sounds really interesting to be on teh forefront of a field like that....I can't wait to see what comes out. Some of the stuff is probably already being used, but we will have to wait 50 years like we did for the F-117. I'm prior AF which is probably why I'm interested in it.

any work on Pulse detonation wave engine. Just curious I'm in the aviation Field and those engines theories amaze me.

Buckeye -

An old friend of mine is a laser physicist at Rensselaer University. He once explained to me how 'flying saucers' may work with a spinning disk with ram jets on the perimeter and a laser heating the aft-facing containers. Interesting, but pretty weird.

My daughter wants to be a chef. I taught her all I know and have started sending her to cooking classes in the summer. She's ten and prepares one meal per month for our family (plans the meal, buys the groceries, and prepares it). I don't know what else I can do to help her prepare for such a vocation.

Then again, she still vacillates between being a fashion designer and a veterinarian, so who knows.

i think that is awesome that she wants to be a chef, and i hope she goes after it.

ummmm......phys ed? :-)

OK - that's just freaky, Merle. GET OUT OF MY HEAD!!!!!

health/sex ed? lol

High school teacher. You'll have to guess the subject.

Hmmmmm.....ScienceGuy....teacher....subject.... Must be Comparative Religion!!

Civics and Comtempory World Problems.High school level.

Home Ec, for sure.

i loved home ec my best subject straight a's all 4 years.

Cookin mama, I won the Betty Crocker award my senior year of high school. I have the engraved silver pie server to prove it. I'm a cookin mama, too!

yea

Chemistry, which is kind of like cooking, except that we don't get to dine on the end products of our efforts during labs. Lead chromate quiche or potassium permanganate pot pie, anyone?

ScienceGuy - i'll that the potassium permanganate pot pie tonight. Chemistry is fun. When I was in undergrad, I could never figure out why I neded a full year of Organic for medical school. Now I understand, it's not so much the chemistry (though some of it is used), but rather the logic and thought processes involved. Also, they use it as a weeding class - if you can't pass Organic w/ at least a B, you probably won't do so well in med school (though there are always exceptions).

There's a LOT of chemistry in cooking. I think it would be interesting to give a lecture on the chemistry of baking a cake - or why eggs change composition when they are heated - after all, a hard-boiled egg is a lot different from a raw one. One of my favorite books in the past was The Flying Circus of Physics by Jearl Walker. Learning physics and chemistry from everyday stuff - fascinating.

Science Guy,

I had a college Chemistry teacher tell me, That a good Chemist is like a good cook, they know exactly how much to add to make everything turn out right. That is why I love Alton Brown, he brings chemisty into cooking together. Besides, I like the beakers and stuff that he has for measuring his ingredients.

My 1st degree was in Chemisty, my 2nd was in Nursing.

I first heard of molecular gastronomy on the show Top Chef. One of the contestants specialized in this type of cooking and he was totally ridiculed for it, (although he did make it to the finals). interesting stuff.

potassium permanganate pot pie

Yummy... just don't eat it after taking your nitroglycerin pills!

Two words.....

Alton Brown.

alexab-

Bankruptcy paralegal & full time student

pretty good job security I suppose. What are you studying?

I'm working towards my B.A. in Paralegal Studies.

TEABAG eradication and disposal.

...snicker....

Isn't that a little messy, what with the drips and all?

RAC 1029.....Best laugh out loud with ha-ha chuckle in days.

Just keep it from leaking into the groundwater. Too many crazies out there as it is.

so much for not going political... ; )

so much for not going political... ; )

I thought it meant he was a castration technician.

That could also mean Rocky Mountain Oyster Specialist. :)

Especially battered fried and maple syrup.

blackjack,

Are you from Severance CO, by any chance?

I used to ride there on the weekends - it was the only time I saw RMO served that way.

Somehow my tracker wasn't following this thread. Hmmm - ain't technology grand.

TEABAG eradication and disposal.

...snicker....

Isn't that a little messy, what with the drips and all?

Yeah - it's a lonely dirty job but someone has to do it.

RAC 1029.....Best laugh out loud with ha-ha chuckle in days.

Hey! Your talking about my livelihood here! /sarc

so much for not going political... ; )

Teabaggers say it isn't about politics. It is about changing the culture of America and how they fundamentally think. They are a self-described decentralized headless group that has no interest in becoming a part of the establishment that controls the government but to reduce the government to a much smaller size by changing society and how they think about government.

And if you believe that I have several bridges and swamps for sale.

I thought it meant he was a castration technician.

Ewwwww - such a vulgar mind! 8^)

That could also mean Rocky Mountain Oyster Specialist. :)

Especially battered fried and maple syrup.

Brrrrpppp blech! Threw up in my mouth a little. Just can't get my mind (or mouth) around that!

I see a couple of Teabaggers slipped through the cracks yesterday. Don't worry. They can run but they can't hide. We'll get 'em by Nov.

No Physicist-retired, I went to my buddies ranch up in Mountain City, NV, back in my youth for a brandin' (sp) and after castrating the yearlings, his mom cooked them up that way. The thought made me gag but they were actually really good. I never worked so hard, ate so much and drank so much beer, in a 3 bar town, in my life. Those days were good. :)

My sister became an RN after working as a ward secretary, eventually worked in the surgical department. I want to say she was a scrub nurse, but she says no, not really. All I know is, all the patients were unconscious by the time they got to her. She didn't like direct patient care but loved the job she had. Yes, nurses are overworked and underpaid and she tells me there is a severe nursing shortage. There's also a shortage of teachers and nursing schools, so it's unlikely the situation is going to change anytime soon. She is now retired but continues to work on-call.

Kool! have a friend working at NOAA at Woods Hole.

Woods Hole is a great place. USGS and WHOI are right there too.

I think Robert Ballard's Atlantis II is still there? Where do you work?

My friend also lived in a lighthouse on Buzzards Bay. What a charmed life!

Ah, the Cape. My favorite place. Lucky people.

caterina -

An old graduate student friend of mine is now at Woods Hole - Hugh Ducklow - does your friend know him?

I'm sure she does. She makes it a point to know everyone, that's how she got to live in a lighthouse! : )

I'll ask her.

What is NOC? Probably dumb question.

Network Operations Coordinator =)

DragonWoman-

at home....peacemaker,housekeeper,cook,cleaning.......

me too...all except the cooking part, (see #5.11)

Apparently I can take pretty good blows from crazy neighborhood mommy too.... Ugggh.. that is what I meant about peace maker... doesn't always work out for the best.

do you mean she HIT you??? What kind of neighborhood do you LIVE in DragonWoman???

Not a good one... too many kids... too few parents watching them. Her son lied and said my brother swung at him. He yelled at him, cause he was up on the porch going after his cat. I was down there trying to talk sense to this woman and she was searching for a weapon. She found a metal hoe and beat me with it.

I am ok and nothing broken... just bruised up and down my arm and my side. Sore. Certainly it is ugly looking.

She did this in front of her son, so he felt he could come up on the porch after my brother and started wailing on his face. I had to push both of us back into the house and have him call the police. She now has charges on her. She and her son apologized the next day.

I think I have finally had it with this neighborhood. Waiting on mom's retirement next year. Get everyone out... Perhaps then I may be able to live for myself rather than everyone else...

Ya know ;)

As far as baking goes, I'm a 1st generation Italian-American who can't make bread and is ashamed to admit it, (we're keeping the personal information confidential, right Merle T?).

Don't be ashamed.... mom taught me how to bake bread back when I was 13 (now 43) I have not baked it alone since then. I figure I could..... but really.... why?

Well that first slice .... smothered with butter.... Yummy

holy sh!t...that's just scary. I would have lost it. Glad you're ok.

Perhaps then I may be able to live for myself rather than everyone else..

Absolutely. And the sooner the better Woman!

Take care of yourself.

Yeah, I am fine... my left thumb hurts the most. Xrays said not broken... maybe sprung... hurts like hell. I keep working it to keep from stiffness.

I did an expert witness thing once. Not interested in a repeat.

I did an expert witness testimony once. I was found to be innocent.

I'm in EMS/Fire right now and a full time student. I still say Fire b/c i plan on getting into somewhere around here where i just moved. I'm actually thinking of applying to Med school next year if my MCAT is high enough. Did you enjoy the transition Steph? Also, did you end up back at the Hospital you were working as a nurse? That could be interesting.