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BillWoodruff wrote: Whoopee, hanky-panky
"with your own two hands?"
Ewwwwww!
Never mind the pic! I don't want to know if it really happened!
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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My surprise ranges spectrally from infra-dig to ultra-violent at your response, Sir W.
I expected something that at least made me consult my dictionary once  .
Software Zen: delete this;
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I have wore many hats over the years but 2 of my most personally rewarding were;
I created a C++ program that ran on a VAX that communicated with an automatic call distributor that handled the routing of incoming and outgoing calls for a call center of 350 people that handled ~5K calls per day.
For about 13 years I got out of programming and started my own construction company and remodeled many houses but I did one for a guy that flipped them and he had bought a house for ~24K that hadn't had a roof on it for 3 weeks during the rainy season. He and his partner tried to reframe the interior but decided it was to much for them so they hired my partner and I. When we finished it was appraised at $120K.
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Mike Hankey wrote: For about 13 years I got out of programming and started my own construction company
I did it for about eight years.
Damned if they weren't eight of the best years of my life, for two reasons:
1. You really can see what you've achieved after a day's work. That's unbelievably satisfying.
2. Office politics? Like f***. If someone's pissed off, everyone learns of it in honest terms.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Mark_Wallace wrote: Damned if they weren't eight of the best years of my life, for two reasons:
Yeah it was pretty great.
Mark_Wallace wrote:
1. You really can see what you've achieved after a day's work. That's unbelievably satisfying.
You work hard and it is satisfying to see what you've done. I still go by places I've done and think about the job.
Mark_Wallace wrote: 2. Office politics? Like f***. If someone's pissed off, everyone learns of it in honest terms.
Stress was a lot less and I didn't do jobs where there was liable to be politics involved. Although I did paint a porch for some rich people 4 times because when one or the other would come home they would tell me that's the wrong color. So I finally sat them both down and said listen...
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Mike Hankey wrote: I still go by places I've done and think about the job.
What gets me now is how much you forget.
I've all but rebuilt the house I'm living in now, but it's been a struggle, sometimes, to remember all the little details of how to do stuff that I've done easily in the past.
Plus: if you're not getting paid for it, it can be hard to find the willingness to pay so much attention to detail (e.g. saying "oh, it's near enough plumb/square" or "oh, it's not worth scribing" have been things I've regretted more than once!)
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Even though I'm retired I've been remodeling the house I'm living in. My son is in the military and he and his wife bought am older house that needs a lot of work so I've been working on it a little at a time. Latest project, have been replacing windows one per month in lieu of rent. They had someone come out and estimate the replacement cost, $12K and when I get done it will have cost ~$2K + my time, takes me about 2 hours per window.
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Mike Hankey wrote: takes me about 2 hours per window
heh.
Don't worry; I won't tell him.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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I occasionally paint - sometimes with melted wax (encaustic painting) though not as much as I would like.
I also make a fool of myself.
And I make sweet, passionate love (don't tell the wife!!)
I make a great Pavlova.
I also made (ok, only once, but it was a biggie for me!) a sculpture out of light bulbs.
Oh, and a MAME arcade machine.
Finally, I make the world a better place 
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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And you enter beauty contests, obviously.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Why wouldn't I with a body like this?
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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A rather crooked fence....The old fence between the neighbour and I was about 30 years old, and wobbly...we started with the best intentions, neither of us had done one....and it showed. It is up...done. Not perfectly straight, not perfectly upright, but it's done....
Next year the other side of the yard, and some lessons hard learned. 
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Fences can be harder than they look.
Just remember to dig deeper than you think is necessary, and if you get even the slightest feeling that a string line might help (over however short a distance) then you string that line -- it's never not worth the effort.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Well, I started trying to learn a musical instrument, but found out my only talent is for playing the radio. Then, I thought making videos would be neat, but I was informed that I have a face perfect for radio. So, I thought about singing and was told that I should be on the radio ... so they could turn it off.
Hmm .... maybe I should try radios? Now they tell me I have a voice perfectly made for Morse code.
I make, restore, use and collect Morse code keys and tinker with radios and antennas.
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Walt Fair, Jr. wrote: I make, restore, use and collect Morse code keys
That's one of the better hobbies because (apart from the beautiful brasswork) you don't need 350,000 square yards of storage space for it.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Walt Fair, Jr. wrote: I make, restore, use and collect Morse code keys
So, when you show someone your work you can say
"I didit" *
* morse code joke
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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_Maxxx_ wrote: * morse code joke
I'm with you as far as "code", but the last word doesn't make any sense.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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See the soapbox for a real morse code joke - for which I will no doubt be chastised, so be quick!
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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Yep, but no need to repeat yourself. 
_Maxxx_ wrote: * morse code joke
CQ de W5ALT
Walt Fair, Jr., P. E.
Comport Computing
Specializing in Technical Engineering Software
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Or you could say "my Dad made this". (Dada Didit).
I may not last forever but the mess I leave behind certainly will.
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Dawww!
(O; that was funny )
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At various times I have:
- rebuilt cars. Too many cars.
- renovate houses
- landscape (everything from the lawns, feature gardnes tree removal and inground sprinkler systems)
- I once had a thriving business growing and selling carnivorous plants. Isn't that what all high school kids did in their spare time?
- I make a better pavlova than Maxx.
cheers
Chris Maunder
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Chris Maunder wrote: - rebuilt cars. Too many cars.
That sounds like one of the main reasons I quit driving. I decided that time spent doing other things was time better spent.
Chris Maunder wrote: - renovate houses
That's something I can't quit.
Chris Maunder wrote: landscape (everything from the lawns, feature gardnes tree removal and inground sprinkler systems)
Oh God, no! I don't mind getting dirty with machine oil, paint, sawdust, varnish, etc, but garden dirt?!?
That stuff's alive! It's full of living things!
I bought a house with gardens for the missus (and I've even bedecked/enplantered the garage roof for her), but she knows better than to ask me to stick my hands in mud. I can't be doing with that.
Chris Maunder wrote: - I once had a thriving business growing and selling carnivorous plants. Isn't that what all high school kids did in their spare time?
No, I just overpaid for 'em, you apple-loving bugger!
Chris Maunder wrote: - I make a better pavlova than Maxx.
Hell, that's hardly an achievement; these beauty queens are cr@p at cooking.
I wanna be a eunuchs developer! Pass me a bread knife!
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Chris Maunder wrote: I make a better pavlova than Maxx.
It doesn't look like I will be able to get to MM's birthday - but in the event we both make it there, it'll be Pavs at 50 paces 
PooperPig - Coming Soon
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I'm making Halloween costumes for my son and myself. I've also been tinkering with an arduino with him. I also got to do a little arduino demo for kids in a local foster care center. I've also built the site in my signature.
Also, I put together an android app that gives the user x-ray vision to look to the other side of the Earth.
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