New England B.S. Thread

Glad you enjoyed it @Fitzwilly ! Hopefully I'll get that bar mounted up next week.


As for vintage racing...

This is the 510 that started it all for me and inspired me to get a 510




And for those that haven't seen it... here's mine

 

In my wife's district there are teachers with the same number of years experience as I have (in the engineering industry) making almost equal to, if not more, than my salary. My wife should pass me sooner rather than later. I like my job though, so I'm okay with that.

Sweet! I do dig the vintage J-tin.

I am going to enjoy this long weekend. It has been an especially rough summer for me. My bathroom remodel is almost finally complete, so for the first time since the 4th of July I should be able to take a shower in my own home, which means I won't feel gross all the time anymore. Not having a shower has seriously limited my motivation to work on things at home where I'd get gross and/or sweaty. I've gained what feels like a ton of weight. We've got a brand new treadmill we've barely used. The heat/humidity without having AC hasn't helped and I think the wife and I have gotten more takeout now than when we first started dating and both lived at home. Work is still nutty but I think I'll be able to start charging up some OT so that will lessen the craziness.

I also experienced a first with the baby last night. One year and one week to the day I finally got puked on. I think she overdid it with the cherry tomatoes and got herself all grossed out. She puked on me, all over her bed and all over the wife. Not the best way to celebrate a Thursday night.

On the trade front I think there's absolutely no shame in the trades and it's a better fit for a lot of people than a college degree. There are a lot of people out there that just aren't good students by nature in terms of a lot of what's being taught but would absolutely crush it in the trades. The problem is there's this stigma that exists if you don't go to college, which is the shame. A good friend of mine went to college for bio and for whatever reason at the end decided it wasn't for him and ended up with a generic psych degree because it was a degree he could finish with. He spent nearly 100k in tuition to walk out into an initial job offer of 28k per year. Granted he eventually went back and got an MBA and a high paying HR job, but still.

I wish I learned more about the trade related stuff. While my dad passed when I was real young he wasn't really a hands-on type of guy. He was deeply intelligent and did quite well for himself in the systems / business world, he wasn't terribly handy. Anytime I wanted to work on something I'd always get stopped by my Mom with a lecture about how "I'm not an XX" and couldn't do it. I've gotten better but I've never built anything out of wood, and I'd like to change that. I've gotten competent enough that I've done all the mods on all my vehicles since my first car, more or less, outside of involved engine work, but house stuff still scares me. I understand basic electrical and do lots of 24V and lower things as part of my job, but even then I've never done anything more than replaced receptacles / switches.

 

I'm embarrassed I took the college and grad school route among this crowd now

Honestly I love working with my hands but I wanted a job that I would also love to be at and that didn't seem like a trade job to me so I ended up in the medical field. Pay will be good when schools over, I still get to do hands on work and schedule is pretty great. Should be able to work a long time, make good money and enjoy what I do.

Then I can come home, pretend I know all the skills needed to do everything myself and then pay somebody to fix it if I really mess it up!

 

I did college and grad school too

 

Yeah, our teachers who have been there for a long time actually make proportionally more than principals when you look at it per diem instead of as an annual salary. A teacher has a ~185 day work year with no option to take their own vacation time. 12-month employees have a 248 day work year, but will have anywhere from 3-5 weeks of vacation time available to them.

I do a little better than a teacher with similar years in when you look at yearly salary, but not when you look at per diem because of their shorter work year.

 

As a son of a master carpenter and owner of a cabinet shop, I was lucky to be taught an awful lot of various trades. He offered the business to me but like most father-son relationships, it would have been difficult. Sometimes I look back at that decision and wonder how stupid I was - other times not so much. Then after high school, I entered the work force as a mechanic. After a few years, the shop owner saw something in me and gave me a pink slip and told me to go to college. There are days I miss being able to do work that is more physical but as I get older I know it gets harder on the body working in the trades. Either way, as long as you enjoy what you're doing, that's all that matters.

Right, wrong or indifferent, I now do most things myself. Big projects I'll sub out but most stuff I take care of. There is one trade that I'm careful with - electrical. Unless you are sure what you're doing, leave it alone. Playing with electricity isn't a great hobby.

 

Started on an engineering(mechanical) degree while in the Navy. Never finished.
At this point, there is NO benefit to going back into debt to finish it.
Industrial refrigeration/ac mechanic. More money than I ever thought I could make, amazing medical, pension, and annuity... not for everyone. High burnout rate on this side of the fence as well.

Its Saturday, I'm off today, and working tomorrow.... why are we talking about work?

Anyone doing anything fun this weekend?

Chase

 

good morning everyone

 

Wife and I will be heading out to RI for the weekend - coming back on Tuesday. Celebrating our 25th anniversary.

 

party at my house today

 

Congrats! 25 years, she must be a good woman.

 

Wish I could come but busy busy busy.

 

Congrats!

Wife and I hit the 10 year mark 8/01

 

Yeah, she's a good egg. Here's an abbreviated version of what we were told at our toast on our wedding day:

The key to a good marriage is to always speak to each other in a loving way. Life will give you moments where you want to be angry. Don't say anything but instead take a marble out of the jar (we were each given mason jars filled with marbles) and throw it away.

Before you know it, those disagreements won't matter as you'll have lost all your marbles anyway!

 

Well said!

 

Hi!

 

I have my stock one with the mounts as well. Shoot me a pm - you have until end of day Monday to come get it cause I'm flying out again. Haha