What you do in real life?

[Hippocampus]

Grew up on the lower east side of Manhattan. Between getting into stuyvesant HS, scholarships, grants and work able to get through Columbia, NYU, BU and then fellowships with Harvard associations.

Worked as a clinician with fellowships in neurology, stroke, neuro epidemiology and sleep medicine. Did drug trials and some basic research during this time as well. Walked out early when they raised the floor but lowered the ceiling with pay for performance and EPIC emrs.

Got hooked on sailing as a teen when working for a 1%er as a aid. Slowly by rehabbing progressively larger boats able to do blue water. Got addicted to that. Have worked as a grill cook, personal aid, doing security then sound for Bill Graham/Kip Cohen, in a Art supply store with Warhol and others as clients. Been through Harleys, bmws, Ktm’s and other bikes so nearly an iron butt.

Sold the only new built for me sailboat last fall when the bride fell off it and fractured her ankle into smaller bits so not safe to sail. Before that commuted to the eastern Caribbean for 7 years. Did race for awhile but have trouble yelling at people and don’t like getting yelled at.

Have 4 grandkids so far. One daughter works for American Cancer. The other does cancer research at BWH/farber. Both with multiple initials after their names and still working on their first husbands. So I think they’re good kids and I’m lucky. My true companion is a retired RN who worked special care at MGH. I’m so glad she married me as she puts up with me and we’re still in love.

 

[magna 6882]

Started my career moving buildings from one lot to another location and ended it by transporting some of the heaviest loads recorded. To your question. Your really want to find out when will you get to a place you feel your getting ahead. I believe its a work ethic thing. If you subscribe to working 40 hours a week and staying at you same job and not looking for any and all opportunitys then your likely to remain a little stagnate but will make the basics at retirement . Even though technically retired i offered to go out in the field for a project that was 5 days last week and 5 this week. I start at 6:30 everyone else get there 7 to 7:15. I leave at 5:30 and most leave at three but some stay with me perhaps out of pride. They all take lunch and i dont eat. I was bitching to my wife about these young guys leaving for lunch am i am in a crane still loading and hooking by myself. She tells me to dont be that guy! I think you will find most wealthy folks didnt care about the money and they worked more then 2080 hours a year and were on the phone networking and making deals at all hours. Sure there are some techies that have made a bunch of money but didnt earn anything. I knew a guy that was wealthy and also in some sort of mob when i was a kid and i would stop by there Italian card games and i ask him when will i turn the corner . Having two kids and broke all the time at 20.He told me i wont get anywhere until i am 40 because i need to learn life.He said stop trying and just keep going. He was right . In hindsight i wish i would have actually believed him. Just my thoughts.

 

[psneeld]

Would like to hear what exactly this means...


" Sure there are some techies that have made a bunch of money but didn't earn anything."

 

[Art]

Would like to hear what exactly this means...


" Sure there are some techies that have made a bunch of money but didn't earn anything."

I read that as a snipe against and a somewhat condescend on some of "the younger group" [a few oldsters too] who were simply in the right place, at the right time and made the right moves in today's high tech sudden unbelievable $$$$ value business arena. Many in "We - of the old" feel we worked hard to "earn" our way. However... This is the 21st Century... Our 20th Century is now long gone... Wait till we see what a commen!! If we live that long???

 

[MurrayM]

I read that as a snipe against and a somewhat condescend on some of "the younger group" [a few oldsters too] who were simply in the right place, at the right time and made the right moves in today's high tech sudden unbelievable $$$$ value business arena. Many in "We - of the old" feel we worked hard to "earn" our way. However... This is the 21st Century... Our 20th Century is now long gone... Wait till we see what a commen!! If we live that long???

Yup...ideas/technologies that move 'information' better/faster are the bigger/stronger heavy lift cranes of the 21st century.

Maybe that will help frame things differently for sweat on the brow old timers.

 

[MurrayM]

...or think of techies as the miners of the 21st century.

Here's the simplest explanation I could find. In the section on how this stuff can be used, you can also add things like sway public opinion for good or malicious intent and/or increase the chances of one politician to be elected over another.

Pretty powerful stuff!

 

[Art]

Yup...ideas/technologies that move 'information' better/faster are the bigger/stronger heavy lift cranes of the 21st century.

Maybe that will help frame things differently for sweat on the brow old timers.

The old-school relatively simple days/ways of "hunters-gatherers" holding top of the mountain positions have pretty much vanished. With the chances/opportunities for "high-tech warfare or welfare" there is never ending need for "one-upmanship" in the arena of computational science... especially pertaining to health and overall human-life conditions.

On the Dark Side: Some of this new-science will be used to expand successes by leaders of ill repute and corrupt heart that utilize some new technologies to gain massive control [or to simply, stupidly to "F" things up].

On the Side of Light [I hope the majority side]: Some of this new-science high-tech will be used to expand successes by leaders whose hearts embrace forward thinking, societal improving vast opportunities to further civilization onto the plateaus of higher learning and better life-comforts.

A severe window of constriction that global society is now being pushed through is how to "Save Earth's Ecosystem". Ramifications of failure will upset the applecart of humanities previous and currently still ongoing evolution forward. Ramifications of success offer unprecedented chances for improvements throughout the world of people.

 

[MurrayM]

"The Great Hack" on Netflix is an eye opener.

 

[magna 6882]

Would like to hear what exactly this means...


" Sure there are some techies that have made a bunch of money but didn't earn anything."

I think the younger age group is our future but a lot of them i meet are thinking success is based on luck . I see some technology ideas like Facebook and other social platforms

gaining great wealth leaving some to believe that is how its done when in reality that was just being at the right place.

One thing i would never do is demean someone career choice.

 

[MurrayM]

I knew a guy in the late 1970's who was getting a university degree in computers/computing who used to go on & on about how computers were going to change the world. We found him a little annoying and pretty easy to tune out.

I've always wondered what happened to him & what he's doing now.

 

[MurrayM]

...I see some technology ideas like Facebook and other social platforms

gaining great wealth leaving some to believe that is how its done when in reality that was just being at the right place...

It's not that simple...you should watch "The Great Hack" for an idea of how the information they "mine" can be bought and used.

 

[Rufus]

A Naval Academy grad, I served as both a Navy and Coast Guard operational pilot in the 70's and 80's. Following Navy Test Pilot School at Patuxent River, I was assigned as the chief engineering test pilot for the Coast Guard's Short Range Rescue helicopter acquisition program (ultimately the HH-65 Dolphin). After leaving active duty I moved to the FAA aircraft certification organization as an engineering test pilot (fixed and rotary wing), eventually transitioned into management and retired from the technical side of the government Senior Executive Service. I also retired from the Navy with 30 years of service (active and reserve). To the OP's original question, the $200,000 summer live-aboard boat was purchased in 2005 in lieu of a summer vacation cottage. It is currently worth considerably less. Annual expenses (summer slip fee, winter storage, maintenance) are well in excess of $15,000 (without fuel). If preservation of net worth is a consideration, a summer cottage would have been a better choice.

 

[Gris]

Ahhh, but being semi-retired at 35 you have heaps of the most valuable asset of all; time

FOR SURE! I don't take it for granted at all!

 

[Datenight]

Both myself and my wife, first marriages, still married, and going on 33 years. I had GREAT taste in the choice of a wife! Her taste in a husband is somewhat . . . shall we say suspect though . . . [/QUOTE]

Congratulations Slow, today is 32 years for us.

Rob

 

[MurrayM]

FOR SURE! I don't take it for granted at all!

Perfect!

I have a theory about how peoples jobs/lifestyles oscillate through generations.

My dad was a product of the Great Depression and his main priority was to be a good provider for his family and secure good, long term employment.

He was a chemical engineer, did well in his field, and was shipped all over the world by the company he worked for to advise during the installation of the process he helped invent.

The 'mean' older kid down the street who wasn't allowed to my birthday parties taught me how to ride a bike, play baseball, etc. As a result, my Dad was never really calm in my presence...there was always an uncomfortableness between us. I hold no grudge, as he was a product of his time and was doing exactly what he thought he should be doing.

I've oscillated the other way. My daughter and I have an extremely close relationship. I was home every day for lunch and was usually home before she got off school. My letter carrier route had her elementary school on it and the running hugs I got during recess were awesome. My wife would pick me up on my route, so I never missed any school plays or performances either.

We weren't poor, but we were/are nowhere near rich.

Our daughter likes the look of those new Corvettes. She has a taste for 'the finer things' and intends to get them. She doesn't stay in dingy basement suites at college like her Dad did, but organizes other students and rents houses waaaaay nicer than the one she grew up in. Thankfully, her Mom made sure she has good money sense!

 

[MurrayM]

Both myself and my wife, first marriages, still married, and going on 33 years. I had GREAT taste in the choice of a wife! Her taste in a husband is somewhat . . . shall we say suspect though . . .

Congratulations Slow, today is 32 years for us.

Rob

Congrats to you both!!

Coming up on 36 unmarried years for us

 

[BandB]

Murray....you simply decided and followed what was right for you and provided you the best quality life. So many are driven by others, what others think they should be doing or what others are doing. My wife and I turned down job offers for me at 4 and 5 times what I was earning, but offers that could easily have resulted in misery, failure, and even disgrace. Fortunately, my mentor while being one of the wealthiest men in the world, is personally one of the least greedy people you'd ever know and lives in a house he bought in 1958.

Now for those who might underrate what so called techies do but then use it all daily, I'll offer a story.

Our Chief Information Officer was born and raised in San Francisco. She and her brothers went to Stanford and got advanced IT degrees. They all joined high tech companies on the leading edge of the industry. They all worked insane hours, 60 to 80, and made great amounts of money doing so. They saved it all with no time to spend it. None of them had real lives outside work. Karen broke free and took a job in South Florida. We hired her as our first IT director in 2013. She's now our COO and CIO. She works 40 hour weeks and now has plenty of vacation time. Her brothers at first had the attitude of how could she leave all that money behind and the prestige of knowing you developed the program used for this or that.

Well, about three years ago we made a trip to California to talk to a company about school software and we agreed to meet her at her parents at the end of the week. Her father is a wise man and he saw her happiness and saw the life her brothers had. He and his wife had always worked hard but their own small business and not like her brothers. Mostly her father lamented their lack of social and personal interaction locked up at their jobs with their computers all day, every day. So, for lack of a better word, at a very nice restaurant, in a private dining room, we had a bit of an "intervention." You could tell her brothers were burned out. Three years later, one brother is running their parents' company while his wife runs her parents' company which they have now pretty much combined. The other is working for the education software company we visited and has a girlfriend and a marriage planned soon. Both are extremely happy. High tech is often the west coast version of the Wall Street boiler room.

Much of the time we don't know what the work of others entails, so don't ever put others down for their jobs or lives. Mail carrier sounds easy until you toss in the toll on joints and shoulders and back and the dogs and the sleet and snow and hail and rain and blistering sun in some places.

I only say one thing to kids thinking about what to be when they grow up. Be Happy. And if what you start isn't your happy, then change. My mother wanted me to chase prestige, money, and power. I chose not to and she was furious and attacked me for it. I found work happiness in my first job and it took me another 10 years to find personal happiness with my wife.

I love this thread, reading what all do or have done. Keep in mind though, we're the top layer of professional success here, the ones who do own boats, others only dream of. I've met so many incredible people doing all jobs. The two people I admire most, definitely the parents I admire most, raised three incredible daughters while working janitorial and housekeeping jobs and doing side jobs such as laundry and other second and third janitorial jobs and not one day did their daughters ever feel poor even though they knew they were. In fact, today, they'll see others who are so much poorer than they ever felt. These parents did what I don't think I could have. I don't know that I could have lived and raised a family on what they did. And I certainly couldn't have taught my kids as well as they did.

Please keep the stories coming. I'm just a serial entrepreneur now in my retirement with a real sickness and addiction. But happy as if I had good sense and a wonderful extended family to share it with.

 

[BandB]

Wifey B: We're only on our 21st year. Omg....it is that many. We met in 2000, married in 2001. Those of you tossing out 30+, that would have been soooooo illegal had we done anything that long ago.

1st year or 50th, first marriage or 50th, live the life that brings you joy.

A message I've posted before, bears repeating in this thread.

 

[MurrayM]

Good one Mr B

I recommend people watch the documentary, “Searching for Sugar Man” and you’ll never disregard people again because you never know what epic stories lay hidden.

 

[MurrayM]

Searching for Sugar Man trailer:

 

[Alaskaflyer]

When reflecting on my life, I realize that whether at work or not, leaving aside major stuff like my wedding or the birth of my kids, I've been happiest either when on the water or on top of a mountain somewhere in the world. As I get older I get to less mountain summits than I used to - being on the water is much easier, and much easier to share with my friends and loved ones. My flying is probably all in my past at this point, it was a whirlwind affair for a few years but she wasn't the one

 

[Datenight]

Thank you Murray and Wifey B,

We Had our first date mid January and were engaged in April. Her mother said "You can't marry him I can't even pronounce his last name!"

I was so lucky to have had two mothers.

Rob

 

[JDCAVE]

Good one Mr B

I recommend people watch the documentary, “Searching for Sugar Man” and you’ll never disregard people again because you never know what epic stories lay hidden.

It’s a great documentary.

Jim

 

[AlanT]

Perfect!

I have a theory about how peoples jobs/lifestyles oscillate through generations.

My dad was a product of the Great Depression and his main priority was to be a good provider for his family and secure good, long term employment.

He was a chemical engineer, did well in his field, and was shipped all over the world by the company he worked for to advise during the installation of the process he helped invent.

The 'mean' older kid down the street who wasn't allowed to my birthday parties taught me how to ride a bike, play baseball, etc. As a result, my Dad was never really calm in my presence...there was always an uncomfortableness between us. I hold no grudge, as he was a product of his time and was doing exactly what he thought he should be doing.

I've oscillated the other way. My daughter and I have an extremely close relationship. I was home every day for lunch and was usually home before she got off school. My letter carrier route had her elementary school on it and the running hugs I got during recess were awesome. My wife would pick me up on my route, so I never missed any school plays or performances either.

We weren't poor, but we were/are nowhere near rich.

Our daughter likes the look of those new Corvettes. She has a taste for 'the finer things' and intends to get them. She doesn't stay in dingy basement suites at college like her Dad did, but organizes other students and rents houses waaaaay nicer than the one she grew up in. Thankfully, her Mom made sure she has good money sense!

I loved this story Murray. It struck a chord or two as my father was somewhat similar. Grew up in the immediate aftermath of WWII in the UK, joined the RAF. Rationing only ended in the UK in 1954! Made a great success of his career with extensive worldwide travel, but was not around much.

On a complete tangent, I had the privilege to hike "The Postman's Trail" in Corsica a number of years ago when we were living on our boat Moonstruck.
This page details the experience:
2008 Corsica

We anchored off this small hamlet that is only reachable by mountain bike or boat. The postman would make the arduous trail to deliver mail summer and winter. In the summer it must have been an awesome job! The hike was one of the most beautiful I have ever done and we repeated it a few years ago as part of the Mar e Monti (a 10 day hike with hotel stops each night from Calvi to Cargese down the North West coast of Corsica).

Anyway I am sure that the postman Guy had a very full life.

~Alan

 

[MurrayM]

...
On a complete tangent, I had the privilege to hike "The Postman's Trail" in Corsica a number of years ago when we were living on our boat Moonstruck.
This page details the experience:
2008 Corsica
...

Hey, thanks for the link...that was a great read! Like a trail of crumbs to beauty & adventure for those willing to find their way there

I should give my Mom some time here.

She was a little more level headed when young, got her degree right after high school, then worked full time as a hospital dietician to put my Dad (who was admittedly unfocused at the time) through university.

Bit of a rebel for her time, she would cut people off and say her own name when being introduced as Mrs. Bill Minchin.

They never put pressure on me for career choices or income goals. As a result, I managed to go from high school to the age of 32 having never worked at a job longer than a year, was never fired from a job, and never quit one either.

Worked seasonal and contract jobs interspersed with hiking, college, climbing, a couple art schools, sea kayaking, and photography school which absorbed over a decade of my life. My first 'real job' was at the Post Office where I worked for 27 years.

Have full memory banks from when young and fit enough to do whatever adventures called my name. Was lucky to find a lady friend 36 years ago who was game for adventure and still, mysteriously, puts up with me!

Now retired with time to fritter away (such as on this post) or put to good use, as I see fit

 

[MurrayM]

It’s a great documentary.

Jim

Wasn't it interesting how the most well spoken, insightful, eloquent person interviewed shared the same 'menial' job with Sugar Man?

 

[Art]

Murray - "... I managed to go from high school to the age of 32 having never worked at a job longer than a year, was never fired from a job, and never quit one either."

Curiosity has me, feel I just gotta ask: Every job entrepreneurial? Or, every company you worked for go broke, so you were laid off? How many jobs your talking here... in approx 14 years of working?? From what you intone sounds like there were 16 +/-!

 

[MurrayM]

...Every job entrepreneurial? Or, every company you worked for go broke, so you were laid off? How many jobs your talking here... in approx 14 years of working?? From what you intone sounds like there were 16 +/-!

Nothing entrepreneurial.

Mostly seasonal jobs like building hiking trails, brushing under power lines between Kitimat and Kemano (wild country!) welders helper, darkroom technician at local newspaper, compass man for several forestry technicians (nothing better for your legs than running deflection lines on the slopes of the Coast Mountains) choker man (that one almost killed/paralyzed me) and river guardian about 25K out of Bella Bella for the summer right out of high school.

Also worked at a sawmill when I was 20 for almost a year (which paid for all my large format camera and darkroom gear) but it went belly up.

Pretty sure that's it...it was a loooong time ago!

 

[AlanT]

Murray, if I ever make it as far north as Kitimat I will certainly stand you a steak dinner in exchange for some of those stories.

~Alan

 

[MurrayM]

Murray, if I ever make it as far north as Kitimat I will certainly stand you a steak dinner in exchange for some of those stories.

~Alan

You bet...I'll share a few but want to hear some of yours from the other side of the planet.

That's the interesting thing about people; once you start digging, everybody has amazing bits in their life story.