What else do you do?

[Chad Thorne]

My wife and I raise sheep and chickens, and Susanna is completing her nursing degree this year. Been doing this for a few years now once I realized that working in an office makes me psychotic.

[jlrush]

In the 70's I got into auto mechanics for a few years, which gave me enough knowledge to work on my own vehicles and has saved me money many times.

I was married late in life (1987) to my lovely wife Karon and from '91 to '93 I helped her run a small restaurant, which has since closed. She taught me how to make a soup from scratch among other things. It was the most fun working that both of us ever had.

I have worked in the construction business since about 1969, in tile, carpentry, painting and drywall. I had a painting business for about twelve years.

In 2001 I retired from construction and went to work for the Sherwin Williams paint company, where I am a color blender, making specialty paints for commercial applications and colored lacquers for cabinet making shops. At SW I also work on the sales floor and drive the delivery truck at times.

Away from work Karon and I attend a lot of family functions. We have three daughters and eight grandkids between us. I also enjoy cooking and food, and have begun to learn the finer points of wine.

I like playing golf and used to be fanatical, but only play about once a month now. I have recently joined another blues band, my first secular band in twelve years. Life gets better the more I learn to relax.

 

[getz out]

To make the money, I make words and numbers happen with the Securities and Exchange commission for a publicly held property and casualty reinsurance company.

 

To make the happy, I spend time with my daughter and wife photography and music.

 

I enjoy photography and music my daughter and wife. The former occasionally makes me some cash. The latter generally costs me some cash.

[_Sweet Willie_]

...my daughter and wife... The former occasionally makes me some cash. The latter generally costs me some cash.

 

Oh.

 

My.

 

Peace.

--SW

 

[getz out]

Edited for clarification, you awful bastard.

[Basshappi]

I have worked in the construction and maintenance field almost my entire life starting with the family business when I was 12 years old. I am currently employed by a major defense contractor in the same capacity only now I work with fire suppression systems. I held various jobs throughout high school and a little afterwards. My favorite was as a woodworker at an art bronze foundry.

 

I played trumpet in the elementary school band, took 3 years of classical piano lessons and spent one year playing double bass in the high school orchestra. My first gig playing bass guitar was when I was 14 and Ive played in bands ever since except for a gap from 1992-1999. I and a friend co-owned a live sound business for 2 years before the gap and it was running live sound for bands that got me back into active playing/gigging again in 1999.

 

I am a voracious reader on a fairly eclectic range of material including science fiction/ fantasy, history, mysticism/occult, religious philosophy, martial philosophy, space exploration, cosmology, retro-technology, self sufficiency and disaster preparedness. I have a ridiculously large number of books and magazines and am constantly expanding my shelf space to accommodate them (Im convinced its a sickness!).

 

I spent 20 years involved in medieval re-creation and martial sports and through that hobby had the enjoyable privilege to give demonstrations and lectures to interested groups ranging from kindergarten to adults. I worked as an assistant to an armour smith for over a year and have crafted historically accurate maile and plate armour using both modern and traditional methods.

 

I enjoy shooting rifles and handguns and have been a lifelong hunter. My favorite hunts are of upland birds and elk but I also hunt deer and javelina when the opportunity presents itself (i.e. I get drawn for a permit!). I am slowly putting together the equipment necessary to participate in single action shooting competition, this is a target shooting sport which utilizes only "cowboy era" firearms.

 

To those of you still awake after reading this, Cheers!

 

[_Sweet Willie_]

Edited for clarification, you awful bastard.

 

Yes, I am. I also have done a bit of the editing.

 

Peace.

--SW

 

[fingertalkin]

I spend my days on a government facility, landscaping or doing other facility maintenance activities in the slow seasons. I have been doing this for 5.5 years now. Before that, I worked my way up in the golf course maintenance field into an asst. superintendent position. Golf was my passion for most of my life. That career was a natural progression for me. I chose to get out of it due to the hours.....plus there were these little people that kept running around calling me daddy. I could never figure that one out, but I rolled with it

 

I am currently back in school trying to get into the IT field. I have always been interested in computers, but I never got the chance to study them the way I would have wanted to....until now.

 

I am in my 12th year of marraige to a lovely lady and we have two daughters. My oldest is 11 and my youngest will be 9 in two weeks. My oldest just started middle school...yikes.....and I am starting to mentally prepare myself for the whole dating thing. I am hoping that is a few years away but it never hurts to get ready for it.

[getz out]

Edited for clarification, you awful bastard.

 

Yes, I am. I also have done a bit of the editing.

 

You can hide behind the screen today, but I will see you in person on Thursday night.

[_Sweet Willie_]

I am the Great and Powerful Oz. But, then, oh so much more. I am not afraid.

 

Peace.

--SW

 

[Graham56]

I'm a Scot in my 50s and live in south London with my partner of over 25 years and our three school-age daughters.

 

Most of my career has been in publishing. After years as an employee for various book publishers I now work as a freelance editor and project manager for many of the same companies.

 

I am also a freelance trainer, devising and delivering courses in writing and editorial skills for various organisations in Europe and the UK.

 

My bass life began relatively late in life, in my mid-40s. Luckily enough Ive found a band of weekend warriors where everyone else is of a similar age and in it for similar reasons.

 

Outside work, family and bass, I have a long-term interest in military history. My other hobby is playing board wargames. Yep, really. Six hours hunched over a map throwing dice and pushing cardboard counters around. Talk about a high-octane adrenalin junkie...

 

For exercise I play a little badminton but not to any standard.

 

Do I get the job?

 

Cheers

 

Graham

[WCriley]

Im a masonry construction estimator and project manager. Ive worked in the construction industry since the late 60s. In the early 80s, during a serious construction downturn, I supported my family by playing, teaching and repairing guitars.

 

Ive been married to my 2nd wife for 27 years. I have 2 sons, a daughter and 5 grandkids from the 1st marriage (they all live in Florida); 2 sons with the current wife.

 

In addition to learning to play bass guitar, my main hobbies are remodeling the house and maintaining the lawn and garden. I spend much of my down time readingmainly about ancient cultures and religions. I spend WAY too much time reading/lurking here at the LDLD. Im currently working my way through posts from 2006. I started with the oldest post still availableback when the forum a PAID moderator!

 

(OT: My 2 youngest sons are active musicians. My oldest son was a working musician until a motorcycle accident put him in a wheelchair. My oldest granddaughter started learning guitar last summer. My brother was a working drummer in his younger days. Is this familial interest in music genetic or from childhood exposure to musicians? My mother and her sister sang on the radio back when it was live and I have vivid memories of the jam sessions my parents and their friends would host when I was a child.)

 

[Nicklab]

I'll bite.

 

 

I am a Satellite Operations Manager for a major television network. I coordinate transmissions for news, entertainment and sports broadcasts both domestically and internationally. It's a fairly intense job when something major is happening in the news, but part of the excitement is some of the action. But ultimately we do hope for slow news days and broadcasts that go off without a hitch.

 

When I'm not playing bass I do pursue some other musical endeavours. I've produced tracks on a few indie records. And I also listen to whatever I can. And recently that passion has led me to clean up my turntable and rediscover vinyl.

 

My other interests of late have revolved around the arts. I've been frequenting some of NY's fine art museums recently. Notably I checked out a Vermeer exhibit a couple of weeks ago at the Metropolitan Museum of Art, but I've really been taken by more of the artwork of the past 120 ~ years. And that's prompted me to start collecting prints of some pieces that really struck a chord with me. And bit by bit I've started hanging those in my new home (well, does being there for one year still make it new?).

 

The creative bug has definitely gotten it's teeth into me in all sorts of ways. I had been blogging for a while about a range of subjects, but found that it wasn't always the best creative outlet for me. And now I've been making a point to take in the fall colors along the Hudson river. I've been wandering through the woods in search of anything and everything that caught my eye. I just got around to putting some photos that I took online. I've posted those here if anyone's interested:

 

My family is pretty cool, too. They've been incredibly supportive with my music projects. And looking back through the family there are a number of people who have been deeply involved with music. My mother sang operatic soprano and played the violin. My uncle plays about half a dozen orchestral instruments. Another distant relative was a classical composer. I ran across a singer-songwriter on my father's side of the family. And one of my great uncles actually managed the singer Al Martino! Plus, I guess having spent a good number of my summers growing up with the family up in Woodstock rubbed off a bit. And now I've got two nephews that are just amazing kids that continue to surprise me at every turn.

[Jumbled Jer]

I work as a Quality Engineer for an Advanced Battery-Maker, dealing with Reliability Testing and Incoming Quality Testing (as well as the usual Quality Metrics). I've been doing the Quality-thing for over 10 years now, working my way up from Inspector at a Wire & Cable mfg to Quality Engineer at a Footswitch mfg (no, not the musical kind of footswitch unfortunately), to my current company which is a Start-Up in the Battery field.

 

I didn't start playing bass until the summer after I graduated high school, and I had never played ANY instrument prior to that. Mostly self-taught, with a few lessons here and there, but started jamming with anyone and everyone shortly after I figured out how to play and I'm now going on 20 years!

 

As for family, two teen daughters from my first marriage, and my wife and I just found out we are expecting (a child, that is). :-)

[davio]

As for family, two teen daughters from my first marriage, and my wife and I just found out we are expecting (a child, that is). :-)

Awesome! Congrats!

[Basshappi]

Jumbled Jer, congrats to you and your wife.

 

 

.....Outside work, family and bass, I have a long-term interest in military history. My other hobby is playing board wargames. Yep, really. Six hours hunched over a map throwing dice and pushing cardboard counters around. Talk about a high-octane adrenalin junkie...

 

I used to do that back in high school, mostly the Avalon-Hill games: Third Riech, Panzer Leader, Panzer Blitz, Blitzkrieg. A couple of my friends and I got into the Steve Jackson games Ogre, GEV and that whole related series. We would combine them all together and and make 3-D terrain maps out of foam board to play on. Car Wars was a lot of fun too. Later on I really got caught up in the sci-fi wargame BattleTech and played it for years.

[Bottom End]

US Army, retired after 21 years. All retiremetn means is that I took off the uniform and grew my hair a littel and went to work in the same dusty dry place I served in. I like what I do, which includes translation work, and analytical work.

I'm married to a wonderful German women who has put up with me and the Army for almost 20 years. We have a red-haired 13 year old daughter, so I'm getting ready for the dating thing, too. We have an 11 year old son who is the sunshine in my day.

Playing Music is a hobby, a passion, and a real stress reliever here in the big sandbox. I play in the chapels' Worship Service, and I really enjoy it. Having a need to practice makes me more lijkely to do so, and makes time go by, and gives me the feeling that I'm accomplishing soemthing in a place where every da is much like the last. I'm also working on learning everything from the book "Standing in the Shadows of Motown".

IF I'm not playing Music, I like to read, mostly non-fiction and history, but pretty much anything written well.

 

If left to my own devices, I have music palying all the time, and I wouldn't miss TV.

I really enjoy going to see Shakespeare pplays at teh Blackfriar's theater in Staunton , VA when I am home.

I used to do boardgames as well, but it's harder now to find the time.

[ZZ Thorn]

Reporter with an affiliate of Agence France Presse, which is a newswire like the Associated Press, who just told me today they have no jobs available yet, call back in January.

 

Other than that: playing music and working on my french.

[moot]

Maintenance Contractor.

That is to say I do anything a general, engineering, plumbing or electrical contractor can do only cheaper and faster.

I live in a retirement community so regularly prey on the old, infirm rich folk. I also handle real estate clients needs - although they tend to be more trouble than they're worth.

When my body gives out I will go back to my old job. Network design estimator.

[picker]

I'm a massively underpaid videographer. I do transfers from videotape to DVD for consumers. I also take orders in and catalog them. And, I get chewed out by people when their orders which I don't work fail to come back when they want. I do all this for $10 an hour and no benefits.

 

I am active in my church as a member of the worship team.

 

And, I spend much more time than I should watching TV and playing with my computer on sites like this.

[jbass1954]

Besides just getting over the Swine Flu I have been unemployed since April. I've done every thing from running an apple packing plant to bee keeper. I tend to get bored easy. Its a sign of genius, right? My greatest acomplishment is helping to raise three beautiful children (2 sons, one daughter) into adulthood.

Lately I have been voluteering at a social space for people in recovery. Music has always been a large part of my life one way or another. I love playing bass, been doing so on and off since the mid 60's

 

Thanks

[mro]

I'm a production engineer on defense subsystems. These eventually find their way to F16,18,23's. I work with assemblers and technicians throughout the build and test cycle handling everyday problems. I troublshoot,write engineering change orders and document manual test stands as well as automated test stands. I have been married 21 years and have 2 daughters that dance. 1 is in college dancing,1 in high school. I have been playing bass since 1974 with no lessons. I do it for pure fun. I keep imagining if I did take lessons for years, where would I be, probably in the same level of you guys, but I don't care like I said it's just for fun, a lot of fun.

[butcherNburn]

It's just a hobby

 

http://cdn-www.i-am-bored.com/media/99522_halfmanauptopsy.jpg

[moot]

Dude, tell me that's not your basement.

[The Bear Jew]

Don't be ridiculous. That's my basement.

[butcherNburn]

Yes, his basement.

[davio]

Necrotic gynecology?

[The Bear Jew]

Sounds like the name of a new death metal band.

[davio]

Dude, I've been playing with that group for years.

 

I mean...

[zeronyne]

I commute by air from Northwest Indiana to various ridiculous locales to sit in a cubicle and have phone meetings with other people who have flown thousands of miles to other locales. In these calls, I justify to various CEOs and politicians my penchant for putting pretty colors and sounds on their respective websites. I also help make scary decisions.

 

Hobbies: Since July, I have pushed everything personal aside, including music, to paint little overpriced soldiers and aliens. It is my all-consuming obsession at the moment.

 

I have an omnipotent (and omniscient) wife and two whip smart little daughters that can redraw a transient spike in Pro Tools better than any engineer I've ever met. They love to go to Guitar Center, but not with me.