Good morning!!!!

[buckeyefarmer]

The trades need people. My neighbor is a plumber and has done very well, started working for his dad, now has his own company. Can’t find workers.

 

[buckeyefarmer]

Wngsprd, did the tunnel again. We did the Goshen trip last year on the steam train.
Was nice day.

 

[Buppies]

40 this morning high of 70 creek running very slow trees getting more color still a ways to go. I am tired not sleeping again

Prayers for all our Country Florida Appalachia

 

[kenmbz]

Morning all, 53 going to 74 sunny and dry.
Did some more watering, then into town to get takeout Lebanese and bother the son at work down the street.
Today, it's decorating day for Halloween.

Paul/Pogadget - like the use of light, everything looks so well laid out.

Hope you get some rest Buppies.

I tried my hand at Electrician with my at the time girlfriends families business.
The father was amazing and taught me a lot. One of the sons was decent, the other a real idiot.
After the Ison got me zapped, I stopped working with them, had enough of both sons. Would not be surprised if the family business went away after those two took over. No one else stayed with them either. Both bad at the sales side, so father had to handle most of this and "fix" some of the jobs his sons did.
That was back in high school...

Be well,

 

[newbury]

My point is Alternatives. Todays tuition is almost beyond belief.

Alternatives and chance -

You've got to know when to hold 'em
Know when to fold 'em
Know when to walk away
And know when to run
You never count your money
When you're sittin' at the table
There'll be time enough for countin'
When the dealin's done

'Nam messed up a proud generation in my view.
Prior to 'Nam I had planned on joining the Navy after college, see the world.
Then several of my "buddies" in our small high school got called up and returned in pine boxes. Even though we were close to Canada, none tried to escape via that route.
I thought I had lucked out when I pulled a 120 on the lottery. So I went to college. But fate was about to bite me in the butt, and spit me out. About November of '72 my number came up. Graduation for my 4 yr degree was to be May of '73. So I prepared to leave the frigid weather of Vermont for a "vacation" in the warm climes of South Vietnam.
Then fate stepped in. Nixon cancelled the draft two days before my free bus ride.
So I graduated. Only to find that in my field all the medics being released from 'Nam were sucking up the jobs in my field (lab technician).
So I joined the Army, saw about half of the world on the Army's payroll.

 

[m7040]

Interesting to hear about the education and work experiences. Very diverse for sure

In my case it started in Denmark with a 4 year apprenticeship as mechanic/blacksmith and after graduation as Mechanical Engineer went into engineering/construction of food processing plants.

Moving to Canada and into design of processing system for mining projects

Moving to US no sooner arrived before appearing before a draft board but was rejected due to accident injury

Early part of experience here was focused on design of support systems for power plants and water treatment plants and getting licensed in several states plus a lot courses at USC and elsewhere

Next phase went into being responsible for engineering of a new power plant with a few side steps on other plants

Then went into project management for large projects or a series of smaller projects around the world

Projects last from a year to two or more years so something new comes up all the time which made it interesting and involved lots of moving but managed to stay in Texas for 17 years.
Sometimes the moving boxes got lost and showed up a year later. Forgot what was in them and just like Christmas opening them.

Also had a stint managing large claims and counter claims spending millions on legal council

Worked for the same company for 45 years

 

[Kyle_in_Tex]

Be mindful of creating antibiotic resistant infections with incomplete dosages, Kyle.

Thanks and very aware of it....the leftover amoxicillin was my daughter's that she quit taking after 7 days...she had to go to the ER and that cost her $700. So hopefully she learned too.

My college advice, is to look for a more affordable college. There is a huge price different for the same degree. Had a friend who was complaining about the cost of her son's history degree at a local private college. I told her you can get the same degree at college x for half the price, that was met with, "but that's further away. Momma wanted her son closer so he could come home on weekends. Now that he's graduated, he's working fast food last I heard, and living at home.....

I found filling out FAFSA was a waste of time, did it once and that was enough. My two never got a dime of help, but one is a computer engineer, now doing programming. The other is information systems now working on computer stuff. I told both if I'm paying, they needed to get a degree that they could get a job with.

for the most part, colleges aren't doing students any favors by offering worthless degrees. They are basically stealing money from students to support their system. The whole college system needs a complete overhaul. But it starts with people refusing to pay for worthless degrees, but that won't happen..

I have learned so much about how colleges work in the last 2 years.
Like riptides says below, make sure classes transfer. If you can get your 2 years done at community college it will be much cheaper..BUT, you have to make good grades and transfering can be tricky if the degree you want is crowded.
Many years ago, the state of Texas passed a top 10% rule, meaning if you graduate HS in the top 10%, you automatically can get accepted into the state colleges. My workplace is a state college. Our college is still going by that rule..kind of. We are over crowded. And they have decided to cap enrollment into our engineering college. This means that all who apply don't get in. Admissions will look at a number of things. Are you a first college entrant for a poor family, what all did you do in HS?, applicants write a letter to promote themselves. It shows up later if you're just attending college on daddy's money and don't have any skin in the game.
One state college has reduced the top 10% to 7%, and may reduce it further to 5%.
Our college of engineering is one of the best in the nation. All Frosh take the same classes, no matter what engineering degree they want. Then they attend sessions on Saturdays that the 22 different engineering degrees all "pitch" for the frosh to sign up for.
The frosh have to pick their top 3 or 5, in order of preference, and write a self promotion letter for each, claiming why they think they'd be a good candidate. Since we are overcrowded, the frosh don't usually get their 1st choice unless they have stellar grades. The most coveted degrees are computer, mechanical, aerospace, not necesarily in that order.

We are capping our new student enrollment in the engineering college for the next 3 years. We have 25,000 engineering students alone.

I tell my student workers that their education is primary importance, work comes after that. I tell them that their transcripts follow them their whole life like a cloud. Don't make your transcript a dark cloud. If you are not willing to study hard at this point in your life, drop out early to avoid bad transcripts. I had to submit my transcript at age 62, to get this job. But they wanted me for my manufacturing knowledge, but they also got a decent handyman, which is the lion's share of my job, fixing things that students break.

StarBucks is paying for my daughter's online college through Arizona State U. It costs her almost nothing, but books and a few fees. She has to remain an employee working at least 20 hours/week.

Make sure the credits xfer.
Also....hard to do...make sure the career path matches the education undertaken.
One of mine switched majors....sigh...

Yes, see above.

Paul, really nice place you have there. I'll bet you're choppin at the bit to get in there. I'm waiting to see what else you get after, once you get moved in, knowing that you get 30 hours worth of work done each day and the old folks home is done.

Ron, beautiful pictures. Did not know you were an Eagle scout. It shows.

Lou, happy anniversary. Put your life insurance into your kids names...

So many interesting background stories. Good reading. I graduated HS, went straight into machining industry. Bee bopped 3 jobs before aged 22 getting laid off. Went to college, but worked part time odd jobs and motorcycle/lawnmower shop while in school. Did not study hard, but got some A's, mostly B's, and a few C's. Ended up with associates degree with 63 hours. Took ASVAB, scored 99. Joined army, medically disqualified from flight school, opted out. Got back into industry as machinist. Roller coaster career along with economy. Many jobs lasted about 6 years. Some because of economy, some I left because I was sick of their sheet. Last job lasted almost 14 years, but the pay was low. This job pay is better and benefits better, and I get to work with smart, talented young people eager to learn, with a great boss.

Count me in as a citizen who wants our manufacturing to come back to the USA.

Dropped the cable maybe 10 years ago. My friends signed up for Youtube TV (mostly to watch ESPN/SEC network games) and they gave us a password. They have 5 or 6 on their account and it is working great.

Best deal we've found for cell phone service is online Cricket. We didn't walk into a store, we bought our own phones. Have a deal with 5 people @ 25 each a month. $125. Cheap. Full data and everything on ATT backbone. They reserve the right to limit data if overcrowding occurs. Have not dealt with that yet, been almost 5 years now. Automatic payment must be setup.

Beats old ATT cellphone bills of $250+ charging for every little text and data caps. We had been through Verizon, Sprint, Boost was the worst. Others did not have good coverage in our area.

BEF, hope train ride was fun.

Billy, enjoy the grandkid and keep taking those hikes with your new pal.

I've often wondered about some of your careers, because some of you have seemed to do quite well. Thanks for sharing.

Prayers for Buppies, Drew's safe travels, Mostly, and those in silent need, or I may have missed their posts. Prayers for our country, peace in Israel and Ukraine.

 

[sodamo]

67°F and .06 inches rain

Some progress in the tractorshed cleanup yesterday but have to admit to a slower pace as my back was acting up a bit. Did get another truckload to the transfer station.
Ballots arrived in mail. Those are ready to return. Hawaii did away with in person voting. Miss that as it was always a chance to bump into someone we hadn’t seen in awhile. Mailin doesn’t evoke same feeling.
Not sure what I’ll get into today, not that there aren’t enough possibilities.

Prayers for all
Be safe
Have a great day

 

[LS Tractor Owner]

Good morning! Low of 42°, only 50° now, high around 58°. A long t-storm last night, actually numerous storms lasting about 2 hours. Then another storm around 06:00 this morning.

A couple of showers so far this morning, supposed to last all day. The rain gauge has almost an inch so far. East and NE of here could get as much as 6" of rain. Unfortunately, that's where 2 large burn scars are. Already having some flash flooding.

I caught some bug.... probably from PT. Started off as GI issues, then overall 'blah' feeling followed by muscle aches / fever. That lasted 3 days. Now I'm trying to drain an infected sinus....

Dona's back still giving her pain / issues. I'm a little closer to getting her to agree to get checked.

Going to take advantage of the weather, stay inside and cook a few "comfort foods"..... cheesy hash brown casserole and bacon baked mac and cheese.

Not for tonight's dinner, put in tins and will be frozen for later use.

Everyone have a great day!

 

[sodamo]

Great job on the OFH, Paul. I’d be itching to move in.

I sure would like to see trades more favorably promoted. I know there have been significantly more carpenters, plumbers, electricians, drivers, mechanics, etc in my life than neurosurgeons. A shame that half our elitist population tends to look down on them yet can’t live without them.
I don’t get to talk with young people much but when I do and the talk ventures into future aspirations I do my best to talk about the realities of life vs pie in the sky.

A funny twist in my own life. Even after getting all that education described above the one thing that I seem to reference more is that freshman shop class in HS. Who knew!