Some very impressive stuff guys. I'll have to go through the whole thread later.
I tell folks I'm a Professional Computer Bum, because it's easier than saying: "I'm the computer network administrator for a group of consulting structural engineers."
Dad was a serviceman, a radar guy, and computer guy since the '50's. This was a christmas card from his station on the Texas Tower #2 radar platform back in '57. I was just two years old.
It was inevitable that I became a computer man too.
I built my first computer in the 8th grade, in 1968, from a Radio Shack kit bought by the school. (Wish I had photos of that!) It was a glorified analog calculator that ran on flashlight batteries and a clock motor, and only did binary math. It came with a 300 page book, and I was the only one in my school who would tackle it.
I went to engineering school from '73 to '75. One of my professors told me that engineers who could not program wouldn't be able to find good jobs, so I started taking programming classes. I liked it so well that after a while I left engineering school and got a job as a programmer. My first job was writing code with a pencil, and a keypunch girl made the IBM cards for me! I was coding instructions for a semi-automated production line which built wood stud walls for tract homes.
Because I also knew some engineering they always put me in jobs where I did both. I've done tool design, truss design, high rise wall systems, prison/security equipt, vending machines, cnc programming, & prototyping, machine shop, welding, fabricating, & patternmaking.
I've also specified and built lots of PCs.
Now I work for ASDi, an outfit that does structural design, mainly on public schools and public buildings as consultants to local architects. I sit behind a computer all day, on a network I built at work, and have my own network at home as well. This is a section from the amphitheatre we did at Kings County Community College.
Here's a more recent project: the Jordan Research Center at CSUF.
We engineered this vocational school in Mendota:
Anyhow, I've been doing structural for over 21 years now. I couldn't be happier at my job, and amazingly, every guy in the company is also a gun owner.
I also build computers, and here's one I'm building inside a replica 1920's ice chest. I wanted something that didn't look like a computer, and matched the furniture.
I also build and ride custom skateboards, and have been a skater since 1963.
