The Chit Chat Chit Chat Thread

Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
donaldtoo said:
Our 3 kiddos learned good work ethic from an early age.
It started with all the volunteer work we did.
Everything from toy, food, coat, etc. drives for the local police and sheriffs departments, church, school, etc.
Also, through Girl Scouts, including visiting a local retirement home to help with entertainment, art projects, just visiting with residents, etc. And, other volunteer work I just know I’m leaving out, but, there was so much.
Both DDs also sold Girl Scout Cookies at public booths for an overlapping decade. They were always among the top sellers, not only in the local service unit, but, In the whole area Council, and we’re recognized as such.
We also worked University of Texas concessions when they were in HS choir. Football games, basketball, concerts, etc. The money went towards choir trips to San Francisco, NYC, etc. Those football games were 10-ish hr. events for us, from setup to final count and resolution of supplies and money.
Both DDs also babysat for several families, which, actually, youngest DD was still doin’ besides her regular job at the inclusive (“normal” and special needs kiddos) school where she is employed, until COVID came along.
And, both DDs are still on the BOD of the pediatric cancer foundation. Obviously, and, of course, unfortunately, all of their usual public events have been cancelled.
DS also participated in all those things he could, and, as a result, he was instilled with the same work ethic, and sense of giving back.

Back in the day, the HS that I went to contained the area vocational school as well. Students from all over the area were bussed in (or drove when they were old enough) to attend extended classes in drafting and design, auto mechanics, hospitality, etc.
My drafting class was 3 hrs. long every morning for both my junior and senior years. There was also an afternoon class. It was run like an office environment. We were allowed food, drink, music, etc. Not only was that all the teacher taught, but, he also did residential design and drafting on the side. Most other schools only had maybe an hr.-long class taught by some assistant football coach who took one drafting class in college at some point, or something. As a result, we would travel to contests and just clean house on all the top awards. About midway through my sophomore year in HS, we were already doing working drawings for a local home builder to earn money for those trips.
3 months before I graduated, a partner at a local architectural firm (now long defunct) contacted my drafting teacher looking for a student that could ink brochures for a local builder in the evenings. I had the most experience with ink (also partly due to my art background), so he recommended me, and I was hired. After I graduated, they asked me to come on as a full-time draftsman, and I did.
At that time, I also started taking some classes at the local community college to work towards an eventual architectural degree and license, so I was more part-time.
At one point, I had a conversation with the partners at that firm. They, basically, told me that I was already doing things that they didn’t even get to until their 4th year of architecture school (one graduated from UT, the other from OU). They didn’t see the point in me spending all that time and money just for the degree and the license, only to end up right back where I already was.
I continued to take classes and researched and weighed my options, eventually dropped the non-career related prerequisite college classes, and the rest is history.

Again, as in my previous post, the odds are very minuscule of dong it that way these days.
Different times. For one, I’m not sure if vocational classes like I was able to take still even exist on the HS level anymore. The emphasis is definitely on full-out college these days.
The firm I work for won’t even interview people anymore unless they have at least a bachelors in architecture.
Although, there are also plenty of folks out there earning a darn good living having only gone through a 2-year technical program for A/C, plumbing, etc.
Plus, I kinda’ came with the company as it now exists...
The 2 principal partners partnered up with a guy that I originally worked for, who was also a year behind me in drafting class, and also never went to college. He sold his interest in the company when he left to become a developer. By then, I had long ago more than proved myself.
It’s kinda’ fun to look back on that path, actually...!!! :)
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Yeah, I remember you mentioning that before. It's too bad they don't do that anymore. That's one thing my husband thinks is ridiculous about the US education system. Why do you have to take biology in college when you are a music major? It has nothing to do with your career...it's kind of a waste of time. With all those non-career related classes, you could decrease the amount of time it takes to get a degree. And with as expensive as college is now, those classes everyone has to take that don't relate to their major are a drain on the finances, and ultimately keep people from getting their degrees. They either can't afford to continue, or they fail those classes. They might be really good at, say English, and be an English major, but they are terrible at math and can't get their math credits. They could be a great English teacher, but don't get the chance, because they couldn't pass the required math class that has nothing to do with teaching English. It's not very efficient. The US has shortages in some areas that might be better served if they kept college to more specialized training rather than requiring a bunch of other things that they don't need to do their job well. Who are the companies missing out on by only hiring someone with a degree in their field? They might be missing out on someone who is really stellar at what the company needs, but the person just couldn't do standard education. Instead, they hire someone who is average at that, but has a degree. It's sad that they don't look at what a person can actually do....it's all about the papers.
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
Yeah, I remember you mentioning that before. It's too bad they don't do that anymore. That's one thing my husband thinks is ridiculous about the US education system. Why do you have to take biology in college when you are a music major? It has nothing to do with your career...it's kind of a waste of time. With all those non-career related classes, you could decrease the amount of time it takes to get a degree. And with as expensive as college is now, those classes everyone has to take that don't relate to their major are a drain on the finances, and ultimately keep people from getting their degrees. They either can't afford to continue, or they fail those classes. They might be really good at, say English, and be an English major, but they are terrible at math and can't get their math credits. They could be a great English teacher, but don't get the chance, because they couldn't pass the required math class that has nothing to do with teaching English. It's not very efficient. The US has shortages in some areas that might be better served if they kept college to more specialized training rather than requiring a bunch of other things that they don't need to do their job well. Who are the companies missing out on by only hiring someone with a degree in their field? They might be missing out on someone who is really stellar at what the company needs, but the person just couldn't do standard education. Instead, they hire someone who is average at that, but has a degree. It's sad that they don't look at what a person can actually do....it's all about the papers.
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Yea, I’m definitely not knockin’ college, it’s just that times have changed, and not necessarily for the better for many.
Not everyone needs to go to college, is prepared to go (of their own doing, or not), or even wants to go. I was never stellar at math, and English just bored me. I was never really gonna’ use English in my field anyway, and all the difficult math is done by engineering firms now, or even computers.
In this part of Texas, houses on flat ground are built on a poured monolithic concrete slab with grade beams and interior beams, all reinforced with rebar. Back in the day, we even did our own foundation designs/plans for those houses.
You just knew to never go over 400 sq. ft. between interior beams, and I always played it safe and never went over 350 sq. ft. There were never any issues.
Everything was hand drafted back then, so we had to do our own footage calculations. You memorized that one inch is .08, two inches is .17, three inches is .25, four inches is .33, etc., for the calculator. These days on the computer with CAD, we just draw a quick polyline around the area we want, type in “an’ for “area note”, click on the line and the exact footage number pops up...easy-breezy.
We still use the old method for hand sketches, although, they can also be scanned into the computer and done the polyline way too, depending on how big the house is.
Back in the day, we also used engineer approved charts to spec. structural beams and such. Again, now all done by engineers.
So, I’ve been doin’ this for about 42 years (except for the 2 times I was laid off for a total of about 3.5 years), and have seen how the industry has evolved over all that time.
It’s fun to talk with the younger folk at the firm about those days gone by. They just can’t imagine how they would’ve produced an entire set of construction documents on a drafting table by hand...and I look back and still can’t figure out how we made any money doin’ it like that...!!!!! :hilarious:;)
 
Songbird76

Songbird76

Well-Known Member
donaldtoo said:
Yea, I’m definitely not knockin’ college, it’s just that times have changed, and not necessarily for the better for many.
Not everyone needs to go to college, is prepared to go (of their own doing, or not), or even wants to go. I was never stellar at math, and English just bored me. I was never really gonna’ use English in my field anyway, and all the difficult math is done by engineering firms now, or even computers.
In this part of Texas, houses on flat ground are built on a poured monolithic concrete slab with grade beams and interior beams, all reinforced with rebar. Back in the day, we even did our own foundation designs/plans for those houses.
You just knew to never go over 400 sq. ft. between interior beams, and I always played it safe and never went over 350 sq. ft. There were never any issues.
Everything was hand drafted back then, so we had to do our own footage calculations. You memorized that one inch is .08, two inches is .17, three inches is .25, four inches is .33, etc., for the calculator. These days on the computer with CAD, we just draw a quick polyline around the area we want, type in “an’ for “area note”, click on the line and the exact footage number pops up...easy-breezy.
We still use the old method for hand sketches, although, they can also be scanned into the computer and done the polyline way too, depending on how big the house is.
Back in the day, we also used engineer approved charts to spec. structural beams and such. Again, now all done by engineers.
So, I’ve been doin’ this for about 42 years (except for the 2 times I was laid off for a total of about 3.5 years), and have seen how the industry has evolved over all that time.
It’s fun to talk with the younger folk at the firm about those days gone by. They just can’t imagine how they would’ve produced an entire set of construction documents on a drafting table by hand...and I look back and still can’t figure out how we made any money doin’ it like that...!!!!! :hilarious:;)
Click to expand...
I have to laugh at your comment about the math being done by the engineers, etc. My husband is an engineer and I guess it's a bit different over here, because only the best students....like, top 5-10% will go to University. Most kids will go to a trade school or a community college. But then there are different levels for things...like you have engineers who have just had a couple of years of training, and then you have engineers like my husband who went to University and have the equivalent of a masters degree....it all depends on the level of high school you did and the classes that you took. So some engineers won't be able to do everything others do.

So a few years ago, my husband's employer brought in an intern who was in one of the lower levels. I don't think that kid was destined to be an engineer. He was struggling with an equation and my husband was trying to walk him through it...but you have to know things like the area of a room, or the size of a particular window, etc. So my husband is like "Well, if you take the measurement of the window on the western wall..." and the kid says "How do you know which wall is the western wall?" My husband was like "???? Um...it's the one facing West." And the kid is like "But if you turn the drawing this way, this other wall is facing west then." :facepalm:
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
Songbird76 said:
I have to laugh at your comment about the math being done by the engineers, etc. My husband is an engineer and I guess it's a bit different over here, because only the best students....like, top 5-10% will go to University. Most kids will go to a trade school or a community college. But then there are different levels for things...like you have engineers who have just had a couple of years of training, and then you have engineers like my husband who went to University and have the equivalent of a masters degree....it all depends on the level of high school you did and the classes that you took. So some engineers won't be able to do everything others do.

So a few years ago, my husband's employer brought in an intern who was in one of the lower levels. I don't think that kid was destined to be an engineer. He was struggling with an equation and my husband was trying to walk him through it...but you have to know things like the area of a room, or the size of a particular window, etc. So my husband is like "Well, if you take the measurement of the window on the western wall..." and the kid says "How do you know which wall is the western wall?" My husband was like "???? Um...it's the one facing West." And the kid is like "But if you turn the drawing this way, this other wall is facing west then." :facepalm:
Click to expand...

Oh my...!!!!!!! :hilarious:
Our firm hires 2 summer interns every year, and a few have been hired full-time after graduating college. I always try not to judge the interns, because they’re still learning, but, that’s classic...!!!!!!! 😂
Over all those years, I’ve worked with plenty of architecture degree possessing folks who couldn’t handle it. You just wonder if their degree actually came from “Joe’s Bar & Grill & Architecture School”. More than I can remember, and they didn’t last long.
About 15 years ago one of the partners called me into his office. He wanted to show me something.
One of the guys was workin’ on a design for him. He said “Take a look at this ****!” It was, quite frankly, a disaster. It was just sooo disjointed, and horrible, with such obvious design flaws. Then he said “I can’t believe this guy got his degree from the same “freakin’” school I did!!!” (Texas Tech, btw).
He went back to just doin’ construction documents. A little while later, he and another co-worker left to start their own firm. That firm no longer exists.
Yep, I’ve worked, shortly, with many of what I refer to as FLWJ’s (Frank Lloyd Wright Junior’s) over the years...!!! ;)
 
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MinnieM123

MinnieM123

Premium Member
@TINKWINGS , just a reminder for 6:00 PM (well, Eastern Time Zone anyway--not sure if it's the same time zone as you), it's the annual White House Christmas decorations show on HGTV. :) (You were good enough to mention this the other day, so I thought I could remind you, too!) :happy:
 
Tinkwings

Tinkwings

Pfizered Fairy
Premium Member
In the Parks
No
MinnieM123 said:
@TINKWINGS , just a reminder for 6:00 PM (well, Eastern Time Zone anyway--not sure if it's the same time zone as you), it's the annual White House Christmas decorations show on HGTV. :) (You were good enough to mention this the other day, so I thought I could remind you, too!) :happy:
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I have it set to tape as it's dinner time here then....thanks though for the reminder friend Minnie.....:D
 
donaldtoo

donaldtoo

Well-Known Member
MinnieM123 said:
Yesterday, on Turner Classic Movies, I saw one of my favorite (black and white) Christmas movies -- A Christmas Carol (1938), with Reginald Owen in the starring role. (I'm sure before Christmas, I'll also see the 1951 version with Alastair Sim before Christmas, on either AMC or TCM.) :)
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Have not seen those yet, but, watched “White Christmas” on TCM earlier today...!!! :)
Also, caught “Bombers B-52” on TCM Friday afternoon, which I hadn’t seen in years, starring Karl Malden, Efrem Zimbalist Jr., and Natalie Wood, from 1957.
What’s amazing to me is, the B-52 bomber was introduced in 1955, is still in service, and is expected to be until at least 2050.
 

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