The Paddock

It's all good, man. I didn't mean to sound negative. I'm doing well, even in Algebra, although like you I'm spending more time on it than I thought.

Be careful BigT... I've witnessed this man's drinking abilities. Even a "partial" payment in beer will be enough to swallow up the majority of your profits.

Btw, I've been a porn star and a bull rider. I was terminated from both professions for the same damn reason... I couldn't last 8 seconds.

First job was as a cashier/bag boy at a grocery store (Red Food Store, now known as Bi-Lo) in high school in Chattanooga.

Next job was as a tour guide at Ruby Falls down in the cave. Stayed there for 5 yrs all through college st UTC, but also had other jobs at the same time, such as waiter at a steakhouse, golf caddy and runner at a law firm.

Then I moved to Birmingham for law school and afterwards I landed a position w/ the firm I currently work for where I have been since 2003, with nearly 100% of my practice devoted to civil defense work defending automobile manufacturers in product liability litigation, such as SUV rollovers, fire cases, etc. We are the "good guys" who defend the companies being sued by the ambulance chasers.

I flagged Math 109 TWICE....

Thank God for the retake option and for the professor who dropped me from her class unbeknownst to me.

I still get cold sweats in nightmare sprints to the Chem Phys Bldg trying to not miss my final.

Screw Algebra.

Brew a nice Apple Cicer and I'll be right over.

Dude I feel your pain. I'm 25, and back in college, and 95% of the people I interact with (minus the professors) make me feel flat out old.

That makes the rest of us sound boring.

^ yo Big T...

I think I told you in an old thread that a buddy of mine works for Dogfish Head brewery. He just brought me this super rare Pearl Jam Twenty Ale...

I'm hammered right now, but this is the real deal. Good case study in craft brewing.

See link.

http://www.khanacademy.org/

use this to help you with your college stuff. It's a neat site that explains dang near any topic about as well as one can.

Really like this thread. Anyway, I joined the Army at 17 (2003) and worked for almost 5 years as an Infantryman. I know the are some Marines on this board, and guys, I tried to go that route but it just didn't work out so don't hold it against me too much, lol. I was stationed for the most part in Texas, but spent a year of my time in Korea. I was extremely lucky to only spend about 16 total months in Iraq and 0 time in Afghanistan during my military career. Met my wife during my time in Texas, and when we found out that our little girl was on the way, I decided not to re-up and got out in 2008.

Degreeless, and now jobless with a baby on the way in an absolutely horrible economy, reality was setting in harshly. Wanted badly to be a cop in Lexington (born and raised), but they had frozen hiring and things weren't looking to start back up at the time. I decided to apply for the Border Patrol and it turned out to be a blessing in disguise. Took two years to get through all the hoops (background, poly and mountains of paperwork), and those were two very tough years, but well worth it in the end. Love what I do and while I would love to be living in Kentucky, living in San Diego isn't too shabby.

I honestly had no idea what to expect from this job, and really was viewing it as more of a stepping stone to something better, but man what a hidden gem this job has been. I am a Federal Agent who does almost no paperwork, and get to track people and "drogas" through the mountains east of San Diego. I am having a blast out here so far, and getting compensated better than I ever thought I would be. Awesome gig, and this guy isn't going anywhere any time soon.

I want to get a government job after I get out of school. Nothing like working for the government, whether it's local, city, state, or national. Retire when I'm 55, have taxpayers pay for my exceptional pension plan. I'd vote against bills that would force me to pay 10-15% of my healthcare. I'd become a democrat. I want the government to provide me with the most for the least amount of work that I can do possible!

After the above slam, I guess I better offer up the real story (summarized of course)

In my teens, my first job was at a golf course... I drove a cart around all day picking up trash and made sure all carts were parked and plugged in. After H.S., I joined the Marines and was a Military Police Officer. When I got out of the service, I sold cars for a while until I decided what direction I wanted to go. At the time, I was in Woodbridge, Va and not sure if I was going to stay in the D.C. area or move back to Louisville. It was hard to leave my Marine friends, but I came back to Louisville anyway. At that time, I wanted to join the Louisville Police Dept, but affirmative action got in the way and I was passed up for the inexperienced, lesser qualified applicants.... so I went to work for the Dept of Corrections as a Prison Correctional Officer.

Being disgusted with the low pay for CO's in Ky, I moved on and did everything in the bar business from bouncer to bartender. When my son was born... my wife decided FOR ME (haha) that I should leave the night life and get a REAL job again with benny's. I landed a job with a steel forging plant who forges (or has forged) things from axles and air-plane shafts to missile warheads for the military. That was in 1992... I'm still there today. However, I left for a long while and came back. During one long layoff period, I traveled around the country working in the Wind Turbine Industry, as well as, working as a journeyman boilermaker building new power plants.. great paying jobs, but I missed my family too much and hated living out of a suitcase. I was selling cars again when, THANKFULLY, I received a phone call asking me if I wanted to come back to my job at the plant. I gladly accepted. I've since, moved into a higher skilled trade position and things are going well. I've been blessed for sure.

I really enjoyed it myself... too bad it never did much for my golf game. lol