Thread: What Do You Do/What Did You Do?

In high school I worked anywhere that paid. I did the McD's thing for a few winters, worked at a bicycle shop selling bikes, worked at a summer camp for 7 summers in high school and college. Managed the on campus movie theater at college. I started ski patrolling in HS and volunteered for a few years. I've been a "Pro" for the last ten years. Can't beat getting paid to ski.

I majored in visual communications and got really in to photography. I manged a small eatery for a year right after college and then did electronics retail for just shy of two years. Then I started working for a major language learning software company as a photo assistant and worked my way up to assistant/photographer which meant that I not only did set design/lighting/grunt work for the other photographers but I did it for my own shoots as well. I even got to be the lead photographer for an endangered language project spending a couple weeks on a reservation in LA.
Then after three years of consistently meeting our deadlines they laid off 3/4 of the production staff as they had no work for us on the short term horizon.
So I did some freelance work here and there and skied my butt off. Took me from Jan-Sept of that year to find a full time job so I was a stay at home dad and whenever I could I snuck out and did some fly fishing. Had a lot of fun on little mountain streams chasing trout (well, anything that would take the fly).
I skied full time from Jan-March and in May I found a part time job working in a residential home with adults with intellectual disabilities. I did personal care and cooked dinner and that type of stuff.
In September of that year I put in for a management position in that agency and now manage two apartment buildings that are assisted living for adults with ID. I serve 13 adults who are on a pretty broad spectrum but they live relatively independently in two bedroom apartments just like any other adult (albeit with a staff around to pass medications and assist as needed). I do a lot of chauffeuring to work, appointments etc. The most exciting part, so far, is seeing one of the fellows through the process of getting married.

Originally Posted by bharner

In high school I worked anywhere that paid. I did the McD's thing for a few winters, worked at a bicycle shop selling bikes, worked at a summer camp for 7 summers in high school and college. Managed the on campus movie theater at college. I started ski patrolling in HS and volunteered for a few years. I've been a "Pro" for the last ten years. Can't beat getting paid to ski.

I majored in visual communications and got really in to photography. I manged a small eatery for a year right after college and then did electronics retail for just shy of two years. Then I started working for a major language learning software company as a photo assistant and worked my way up to assistant/photographer which meant that I not only did set design/lighting/grunt work for the other photographers but I did it for my own shoots as well. I even got to be the lead photographer for an endangered language project spending a couple weeks on a reservation in LA.
Then after three years of consistently meeting our deadlines they laid off 3/4 of the production staff as they had no work for us on the short term horizon.
So I did some freelance work here and there and skied my butt off. Took me from Jan-Sept of that year to find a full time job so I was a stay at home dad and whenever I could I snuck out and did some fly fishing. Had a lot of fun on little mountain streams chasing trout (well, anything that would take the fly).
I skied full time from Jan-March and in May I found a part time job working in a residential home with adults with intellectual disabilities. I did personal care and cooked dinner and that type of stuff.
In September of that year I put in for a management position in that agency and now manage two apartment buildings that are assisted living for adults with ID. I serve 13 adults who are on a pretty broad spectrum but they live relatively independently in two bedroom apartments just like any other adult (albeit with a staff around to pass medications and assist as needed). I do a lot of chauffeuring to work, appointments etc. The most exciting part, so far, is seeing one of the fellows through the process of getting married.

You have a very noble job, and I'm not talking about the fishing and skiing! I've gotta Google VA (is that Vancouver?)

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

You have a very noble job, and I'm not talking about the fishing and skiing! I've gotta Google VA (is that Vancouver?)

I think that would be the Commonwealth of Virginia.

We're kind of funny about abbreviations in the US. Each state has its own, set by the post office. VA would be Virginia. LA would be Louisiana. But if you're from CA, LA is Los Angeles, and you do say ell ay as a shortcut name for that city. Most states you don't call by their abbreviations. PA (Pennsylvania) is one notable exception I've noticed. DC (Washington, DC) is not a state.

carl i apperciate your last post reguardign the army and yess i have thought it thru and talk to alot of vets that say it is not a job it is a way of life and it will change you forever. AND to you mark Pa is one of the states that a lot of people call by its abreviations, i should know im from pa.

Originally Posted by markdfhr

I think that would be the Commonwealth of Virginia.

We're kind of funny about abbreviations in the US. Each state has its own, set by the post office. VA would be Virginia. LA would be Louisiana. But if you're from CA, LA is Los Angeles, and you do say ell ay as a shortcut name for that city. Most states you don't call by their abbreviations. PA (Pennsylvania) is one notable exception I've noticed. DC (Washington, DC) is not a state.

Oh, right. We're a bit weird with that here too. I live in South Australia, and there's nothing wrong with saying S A ("es ay"), you can say N T ("en tee") for the Northern Territory, "double you ay" for Western Australia (WA), but you can't say "en es double you" for New South Wales (NSW), but you CAN say "Vic" for Victoria (Vic), can't say anything for Queensland except Queensland as far as I know. ACT is almost always "ay cee tee" (no one says Australian Capital Territory) and of course Tasmania is normally Tasmania or "Tassie".

Now I need to find out why it's the Commonwealth of Virginia and not a state... :-)

Originally Posted by carlmaloschneider

Oh, right. We're a bit weird with that here too. I live in South Australia, and there's nothing wrong with saying S A ("es ay"), you can say N T ("en tee") for the Northern Territory, "double you ay" for Western Australia (WA), but you can't say "en es double you" for New South Wales (NSW), but you CAN say "Vic" for Victoria (Vic), can't say anything for Queensland except Queensland as far as I know. ACT is almost always "ay cee tee" (no one says Australian Capital Territory) and of course Tasmania is normally Tasmania or "Tassie".

Now I need to find out why it's the Commonwealth of Virginia and not a state... :-)

You could try calling the queenslanders "Queens". See if that catches on.