westj1

Science kids!

I guess I've had a weird occupational path. I didn't graduate high school because of my 2+ year absence but around when I was 18 I got my GED which at the time was like an equivalent to a high school diploma in California. I was into motorcycles and had a Triumph, a Moto Guzzi, a Bultaco, and a little Yamaha rat bike. I was working with some family friends doing construction and got into a motorcycle accident. Without insurance it kinda sucked so I decided to start an apprenticeship in carpentry. I was a carpenter for around 10 years and worked on some of the major buildings in San Francisco. After my injury I had to change professions, went to school and got into software development. At some point I got bored because my job had become too focused on one thing and I need to always be learning. So I left and went back to school and got into biology and chemistry and landed in biotechnology. I spent years learning, eventually teaching, and eventually into development all with the same company. The company grew, merged, was bought. During all this I met a person whome I owe a lot to. I was put on a team of a few people who were to go out to Maryland and transfer this product line from our merger partner to our lab back in California. The manager of that lab had been there since the beginning, was a PhD, and knew literally everything about their process. So over the next year or so we worked a lot together and he was going to relocate out to California at the end of the transfer and start a new R&D group. During all this time I was practically living at the lab. I remember looking back at my work hours for that year and my shortest day of the whole year was 9.75 hours. I eventually had to sign a waiver saying that I would forfit my second meal break if I worked over 8 hours and eventually got in trouble with HR for repeatedly signing out past 12 hours. I'd sometimes get around this by starting my shift on one day and finishing on another. I could almost work like 23.75 hours if I did this, but I don't think I ever went past like 12 or 13. I was running quality control, robotics, and purification then planning the lab layout, writing SOPs and batch records, meeting with engineering and QA, sourcing vendors. On top of all that I didn't want to leave the committees that I was part of so kept up on those. It was kind of during a bit of a lull in the work that the manager and I went for a walk around the campus. We talked. He wasn't aware of how much I was doing so I let him know. He asked me a bunch of questions. Those kind of like "ok, this and then this happens, what do you do?" "How do you diagnose and fix this?" Anyway. Like a few months later I got a promotion that I had been working hard towards for like 2 years. A friend who was in management told me that the PhD had recommended me and really was the main reason that I didn't get passed on. It was kind of the first time in my life where I felt smart. I felt confident in my abilities. I never did well in school. I always tested well, but my lack of home work would drag my grades down. I understood everything. I just thought it was dumb to make me do more of the same shit at home. Test me, I'll get an A or B. But I'd always drop a point for "lack of participation". So I'd often work with people with a bachelors, masters, or sometimes a PhD from some really impressive schools and feel inadequate. Until I met a PhD who thought I deserved a promotion above all of them. Anyways. After that I did get some more nods to what I do. I ended up training most of the department. I'd hear from different places that people liked me as a trainer because I could easily identify when someone needed more help or less. Faster or slower. "You got this?", "ok, let's go.". Or "ok, what are you struggling with? Let's work it out.". Always positive reinforcement. You can do this. So. I love science.

I think that’s our innate nature to spoil our furbies before ourselves 😭💞

💞💞💞 *hugs back*

I have 2 @kalani_. A cat and a dog. The dog is only 4 lbs though so he's more like an uncoordinated cat that barks. Although I'm pretty sure he sees himself as a great dane.

😹😹 d’awww that’s too cute! I would love to see pics of them

Heh, was re-reading some of these. When I said "helping" the bouncers I was being generous to myself. I still remember my first night there, I met the manager and we got into the elevator and I turned around to face the door and we were followed in by one of the bouncers. When I turned around my eyeline was at about the middle of his bicep which was like the size of my thigh. I remember thinking that he was intimidating looking. Most of the security were Samoans and once I met them all they were all the nicest most down to earth amazing people. Just don't fuck with them because they would crush you. Years later I was at a local sports charity event that I volunteered for working with my wife and she was like "hey, there's a huge Samoan guy over there staring at you." I looked over and was like "hum?" but was busy and went back to work. A little while later that guy came over and was like "Hey, didn't you used to work at DV8?" It took me a second and then I realized it was the bouncer from that first night working at the club. He had done some semi-pro football stuff and ended up working security for the then Oakland Raiders owner Al Davis. Where ever you are out there Ava you're amazing and I hope you are happy brother.