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Post by silverdragon on Dec 18, 2012 10:05:16 GMT
I could do it again if I needed to.
If you were asked to do a job that you hadnt done for a few years, could you just pick it up again in an instant?....
The last time I used my Knives as a professional chef was back in the 1980's....
I am almost sure I could pick up again where I left off, as I have never really stopped cooking, I do much of the cooking for the household out of choice, because I enjoy it....
But the last time I played with "Trend" in HVAC, again back 80's and 90's, the control language for Industrial heating controllers, I think it may take a month or two for me to get up to speed again....
So I am asking, what old professions do you have, and could you just swing back into it at the drop of a hat?.....
When people say "I could do it again if I needed to.", is that just bluster, or could they REALLY just pick it up the same as the day they left?....
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Post by Cybermortis on Dec 18, 2012 10:48:22 GMT
The title of the idea should be 'Like riding a Bike' - ie a skill or skills you never really forget.
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 18, 2012 11:27:21 GMT
They say that soldering components on a circuit board is a skill that needs practice when you return to it after an extended break. I've never had such trouble. Well that was until surface mount came along  |
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Post by freegan on Dec 18, 2012 13:48:37 GMT
They say that soldering components on a circuit board is a skill that needs practice when you return to it after an extended break. I've never had such trouble. Well that was until surface mount came along In the early days of surface-mount components, when the pin spacing was the same as pin-through components, I had little problem but as the pin spacing got narrower, my eyes became less keen and my hands less steady eventually I had to admit defeat. The drive toward ever smaller, more complex components has resulted in unrepairable, cheap to assemble, disposable technology with little consideration for anything but maximum profit for the manufacturer. Unemployment rises, landfills overflow and scarce natural resources are depleted. Such is the progress of the consumer driven economy. "I could do it again if I needed to"? It's highly unlikely that you'll ever need to do it again. |
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 18, 2012 13:57:48 GMT
They say that soldering components on a circuit board is a skill that needs practice when you return to it after an extended break. I've never had such trouble. Well that was until surface mount came along In the early days of surface-mount components, when the pin spacing was the same as pin-through components, I had little problem but as the pin spacing got narrower, my eyes became less keen and my hands less steady eventually I had to admit defeat. The drive toward ever smaller, more complex components has resulted in unrepairable, cheap to assemble, disposable technology with little consideration for anything but maximum profit for the manufacturer. Unemployment rises, landfills overflow and scarce natural resources are depleted. Such is the progress of the consumer driven economy. "I could do it again if I needed to"? It's highly unlikely that you'll ever need to do it again. Yeah its hard to be a dinosaur in a land of throw away, you have to re invent yourself in a land where all those young people think your the janitor..... your to old to be a student.... right..... ;D |
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Post by freegan on Dec 18, 2012 14:50:10 GMT
I can still learn but I'm too old to be employable and too poor to set up my own business unaided by bank loans (which will not be available, anyway).
Ho, hum ... I'll just make do with what I have and enjoy my free time as best I can.
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Post by the light works on Dec 18, 2012 15:11:31 GMT
the only "past careers" I have are both physically demanding; and as such, I might be able to step back into them for an hour or so, but then I would start feeling it. not to mention gas pumps are getting taller, so I doubt I can vault over the new ones. (and like with the other professions mentioned - there's no longer any market for a man who knows how to check oil, water, transmission fluid, windshield washer fluid, air in the tires, and wash the windows and headlights)
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 18, 2012 16:11:03 GMT
Gentlemen I propose a toast, to us, long may we remind the younger that we were there first (well after our seniors) we did it a lot harder than they......(we can build on it as we age)........... and more often ;D So it is written so shall it be told  |
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Post by freegan on Dec 18, 2012 16:20:16 GMT
To Python's Yorkshiremen! ;D
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 18, 2012 16:22:45 GMT
To Python's Yorkshiremen! ;D HoooraHH "hick" |
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Post by User Unavailable on Dec 19, 2012 20:46:38 GMT
Stick me back on a M29A1 81mm Mortar and I can be back to gunning in expert times within a few minutes of refresher practice.
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Post by rmc on Dec 19, 2012 22:26:22 GMT
I really wonder/worry about this very topic actually.
By mid Spring, I might try flying the paramotor trike again after being medically out of commission for about a year.
I'm guessing the next time I try it, I'll crash. (Plenty of video then? ;D )
Here was the first time I got it going sort of smoothly enough (again, trouble with thyroid levels at the time, plus some difficulty with back and legs too)
I'd be smart to just give it up totally, but it is sort of difficult walking away when it offers more-or-less all of my recreational satisfaction for me in my area (I live in Nebraska, after all) (and no, I missed Penny completely - never met the girl ;D )
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Post by the light works on Dec 20, 2012 1:28:56 GMT
Gentlemen I propose a toast, to us, long may we remind the younger that we were there first (well after our seniors) we did it a lot harder than they......(we can build on it as we age)........... and more often ;D So it is written so shall it be told five miles, in knee deep snow, uphill both ways, with no shoes. |
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 20, 2012 1:54:09 GMT
Gentlemen I propose a toast, to us, long may we remind the younger that we were there first (well after our seniors) we did it a lot harder than they......(we can build on it as we age)........... and more often ;D So it is written so shall it be told five miles, in knee deep snow, uphill both ways, with no shoes. That's the spirit ;D Up thirty eight flights of stairs in a high rise 37 C (approx 100 F) 90% RH 20 kg of kit. Panting  all the way  |
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Post by the light works on Dec 20, 2012 3:26:29 GMT
five miles, in knee deep snow, uphill both ways, with no shoes. That's the spirit ;D Up thirty eight flights of stairs in a high rise 37 C (approx 100 F) 90% RH 20 kg of kit. Panting all the way up approximately 100 feet to the upper catwalks on top of a superheated steam boiler in 100 F daytime temperatures to wrap heat trace on the steam lines. (yes, that was a real task we had to wear leather gloves and kevlar knit sleeves for protection from accidental contact and one guy still managed to burn himself above the sleeve.) |
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 20, 2012 3:30:18 GMT
That's the spirit ;D Up thirty eight flights of stairs in a high rise 37 C (approx 100 F) 90% RH 20 kg of kit. Panting all the way up approximately 100 feet to the upper catwalks on top of a superheated steam boiler in 100 F daytime temperatures to wrap heat trace on the steam lines. (yes, that was a real task we had to wear leather gloves and kevlar knit sleeves for protection from accidental contact and one guy still managed to burn himself above the sleeve.) Truly a task for the young |
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Post by silverdragon on Dec 20, 2012 7:43:01 GMT
That's the spirit ;D Up thirty eight flights of stairs in a high rise 37 C (approx 100 F) 90% RH 20 kg of kit. Panting all the way up approximately 100 feet to the upper catwalks on top of a superheated steam boiler in 100 F daytime temperatures to wrap heat trace on the steam lines. (yes, that was a real task we had to wear leather gloves and kevlar knit sleeves for protection from accidental contact and one guy still managed to burn himself above the sleeve.) In 40degree+ Outside heat, where the sun was so hot you could fry an egg on the pavement, yet you still went outside to cool down every 20 mins.... You know that boiler you were playing with, in the 80's, I was the service engineer for boilers like that, and we had to retrofit the control package on a six package steam boiler in a hospital, because the fool who put the old one in (NOT Us by the way) hadn't accounted for the heat and the solder had melted on the PCB's.... Two days to do the job, when I got home, I undressed in the shower, 'cos my clothes were soaking wet with sweat anyway..... Six pints of the Guinness at 3degC before I even started to feel cooler?.... On SMT, when that came in on the PCB manufacture, I couldnt see the legs on the chips, let alone position them right.... |
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Post by the light works on Dec 20, 2012 14:31:51 GMT
up approximately 100 feet to the upper catwalks on top of a superheated steam boiler in 100 F daytime temperatures to wrap heat trace on the steam lines. (yes, that was a real task we had to wear leather gloves and kevlar knit sleeves for protection from accidental contact and one guy still managed to burn himself above the sleeve.) In 40degree+ Outside heat, where the sun was so hot you could fry an egg on the pavement, yet you still went outside to cool down every 20 mins.... You know that boiler you were playing with, in the 80's, I was the service engineer for boilers like that, and we had to retrofit the control package on a six package steam boiler in a hospital, because the fool who put the old one in (NOT Us by the way) hadn't accounted for the heat and the solder had melted on the PCB's.... Two days to do the job, when I got home, I undressed in the shower, 'cos my clothes were soaking wet with sweat anyway..... Six pints of the Guinness at 3degC before I even started to feel cooler?.... On SMT, when that came in on the PCB manufacture, I couldnt see the legs on the chips, let alone position them right.... not like these if you could fit them in a building... the only thing that fit in the buildings were the gas turbines that they were scavenging the exhaust heat from. (we were also wearing earmuffs over plugs because of the noise of the beasts, and that wasn't enough when they had a backfire that triggered a blowoff stack) www.iberdrolarenewables.us/klamath.html |
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Post by privatepaddy on Dec 20, 2012 14:48:46 GMT
Interesting, it would appear that OHAS was suspended
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Post by the light works on Dec 20, 2012 14:55:43 GMT
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all the way 