What do you do for Living?

[Pat Spade]

Hi,
did only a few posts by now, but learned and enjoyed a lot here at the lounge, so thanks for that.
My name is Patrick. I`m 45 and living in Germany. I`m a social worker, working mostly with mentally ill people.
I like the old stuff, mostly 30s, 40s and 50s...I had several bikes thru the years, mostly European, like Beemers, Triumph Bonneville and BSA Lightning. Sold my last Bike three years ago, something I frequently regret. At the moment I`m trying to bring an `56 Peugeot 203 station wagon back to the road.
I`m not married but live together with my Gal since 17 years...no kids, but a Border Collie...I like Music,mostly the vintage or vintage style stuff, my favourite Artist at the moment is Mr. Pokey LaFarge. I played in a Band untill we split up recently, if you like Rockabilly, have a look, I`m the guy with the Bullfiddle: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zgCbiTaeXVw
I own two Aero Jackets, steerhide Highwayman and HH Stuart, and also a vintage A2. I had about all the vintage denims during the last few years, several LVC, Lee 101, Blue Bell et all, ad condensed that to only four pair, two Pike Brothers (37roamer and 36chopper pant), one Paradirama 1927 and a Tender 132...but wait....the old Blue Bell13MWZ must also be somewhere in the closet...and wasn`t there that LVC201 still around, too...?...well....another addiction are workboots, I have 7...wait...8 pairs of them, red Wings, Wolverines, William Lennon, vintage...not to mention the rising ammount of vintage trousers, shirts, pullovers, tools, music instruments....

 

[Peacoat]

This post by pawineguy is priceless. I got into this somewhat late. I started to say that I sell yak brushes on the internet:
View attachment 27984
However, I am an ENT surgeon that retired from private practice after 25 years, and for the past 15 years have worked at the VA Medical center in Dallas where I been responsible for a physician’s assistant (PA), three nurses, and three ENT residents as they rotate through the VA from UT Southwestern Medical School. I have also held a clinical academic appointment at UT Southwestern Medical School for over 40 years.

I developed a love for leather jackets while in the US Navy where I served as a flight surgeon and had a USN G-1 that was stolen within a year of separation from service. I have owned three motorcycles in the past but sold my last one years ago after surgically putting someone’s head back together that went airborne on a cycle at 100 mph. :eeek:

I also have a commercial pilot’s license and instrument rating but have not flown in years since I live in a congested airspace with 6.5 million inhabitants and numerous aircraft in close proximity. The last time I flew in a private plane was in a Beechcraft Bonanza with a salesman trying to convince me that it was economically feasible for me to buy his airplane for more than it cost me to buy my house. The rest is history … lol

The bolded comments above will now get you on his "Ignore List" along with the rest of us ruffians. HD says he considers it a Badge of Honor.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Heavy equipment operator for a large transportation company. We carry the U.S. Mail, freight, animals, and even people, some of which have assumed room temperature. Most of my work is done at .85 Mach. A large operation on a global scale, nearly 100,000 employees.

Livin' the dream, baby!

 

[Fanch]

The bolded comments above will now get you on his "Ignore List" along with the rest of us ruffians. HD says he considers it a Badge of Honor.

 

[Edward]

I had a dog when I was a kid but I really wanted a cat and couldn't have one because my Mom (as well as many of my relatives, strangely enough) was allergic to them. I like cats because they're low maintenance.

In so many ways, yes; in other ways, terribly high maintenance... :lol: My girls are great - indoor cats, very easy to arrange care for when I'm away, don't need walked, self-cleaning.... But boy can they be demanding when they take the notion! They make me laugh all the time, though. Can't wait to get home and see them tomorrow night (Friday)..... I've only been home one night in the last ten days, between a conference in Bristol and now the first Beijing teaching trip of the year.... Miss them terribly when I'm away. Skyped with Herself the other night, and the cats went daft when they saw me on the screen. Marlene's reasonably happy if she has any human to fuss over her, but Greta (typical tabby) is a bit fussier about the Big Cat. Greta, who destroyed my sofa.... but that's another story. They're easy to look after in a basic way, but definitely very demanding of attention. Half their attraction, of course...

 

[HoosierDaddy]

HD, that is beyond impressive. Ever do any James Dean engravings?

Thank you. No..but did several JD portraits in High School in the '60s...when that type of art was my main contribution to the Fairmount art department. Only came up with deep relief wood engraving with a dremel since retirement (1999). Wanted to do something not seen often.
HD

 

[Mark Ricketts]

Welsh sheep farmer born and bred. With encouragement from Tony Blair and Gordon Brown I left the farm and bummed around the world for a decade. Met my wife up a mountain in Nepal. Finally ended up in Canada as a toy designer, farming just enough to keep me sane.
I own a 1980s B3, an Indy jacket, and a Johnson Leather, but my Moss Leather jerkin sees more use than any of them.
I prefer real work wear to pretend work wear, wool over leather and have lots of hats.

 

[casechopper]

My name is Sam,

I am a Chemical Engineer by education. I'm the IT department, R&D department and 1/3 of the purchasing department for a small company that sells products imported from Africa (art, clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, cosmetics, etc...). Most of the clothing that I buy is not the style that I wear. We sell some interesting items like indigo dyed hand woven cotton shirts and Fulani hats but the style on those is more tribal which doesn't really fit with my other clothing. My job entails buying products from Africa, India and Pakistan, designing new cosmetic products, keeping the computers/website/accounting software running and when I have time leftover, finding solutions to an unending list of customizations to our software and website. If you're interested in buying a Djembe drum, Shea butter in bulk, hippie style dashikis or authentic Fulani hats then we're the biggest place out there for that.

I'm in my early 30's and have 6 kids. The size of my family is something that has started to define how I'm seen by others as there aren't many families of this size around any more, especially in the NYC area. I recently purchased a 12 passenger shuttle bus styled van (shown below) to carry my family as we no longer fit in most standard sized vehicles (most top out at 7 passengers). I'm on the lookout for a small scooter for my commute to work and back but currently am driving a 15 year old conversion van as my commuter vehicle.

When I was a kid I wanted to be anonymous and had no desire to draw any attention to myself. I'm from the Midwest USA and dressing flashily is something that was looked at negatively. I grew up in central Omaha and up until around 7 years old lived in an area that was a bit rough. My clothing at that time was oversized white t-shirts and whatever my Mom could find cheap at the thrift shops. In my early teens I almost exclusively wore cut off jean shorts (jorts). Summer or Winter, it didn't matter.

I'd always liked hats and had a small collection of ill-fitting baseball caps and wool hats that I'd picked up through my childhood. None fit well and I was extremely self conscious wearing any of them. Honestly, I was self conscious just being out in public regardless of what I was wearing. I got into hats around 2010 when my second child was born. At that time I decided that I wanted to wear hats and I was going to do so even if I felt uncomfortable. I was very uncomfortable for the first few weeks and gradually felt more at ease. Hat buying took me through around 100 hats and after culling the collection I'm at a pretty complete set of around 12-15 hats now. As my hat obsession progressed I began to realize that most of the hats I liked really didn't fit with the clothing I was wearing. I started dressing more nicely and filling out my wardrobe. In the last 18 months or so I found a few good deals on leather jackets and have picked up about 6 (3 Aero's, 1 lost worlds, 1 Diamond Dave, 2 Vanson). I've also picked up about a dozen pairs of raw denim jeans and a couple dozen pairs of leather boots. I like the way my clothing is now. I enjoy playing with the variations in texture and color that I have available for outfits. Long term I'll probably sell at least a couple of the jackets and a dozen or so pairs of boots because I really can't justify having so many. I am not in a position to pay full retail for any of the things that I wear. My apparel buying philosophy is that I buy things only when I feel that I'll be able to sell them for close to what I paid or more. For now everything is on probation and we'll see what gets used and what gets left behind.

Living in the NY area I can dress pretty much as I like without too much negative attention. People are used to seeing different styles of dress here. Most comments I receive are "nice hat", "are you Jewish?" and variations on you look like a cowboy, farmer, etc... Nothing too negative generally.


Clothing as a hobby is something that I enjoy because it's something that I can do without having to dedicate a large amount of time to it. I have to wear clothing every day and wearing well fitting clothes that I like is something that I like and am able to do without the hobby taking time away from my family. I have had many hobbies in the past (soap making, beer making, DIY work etc...) but all of those require taking a block of time and dedicating it to that hobby. That's something that I don't really have. Dressing nicely is more bits of time here and there with an overall cumulative affect on ones appearance in the long term.

 

[Stand By]

I met the amazing Mr Anderson some eight years ago when he was giving a talk in Glasgow. An interesting but slightly crotchety guy. Said that the one thing he regretted about his work was that his non-puppet productions didn't receive the critical acclaim that he felt they deserved.

The crotchetiness could well have been his Alzheimer's kicking in - and he and his son did a good short feature for the Alzheimer's Society detailing his journey with it before his end and you can see it online … I was so glad to have met him well before all that at a Fanderson conference that I came back to the UK for one time. I have a great photo of me and him shaking hands and I was in my brand new ELC 352nd A2 - alas it's a print off a 35mm, so no digital copy to share (otherwise it'd be in the "Famous People next to a flying jacket" thread!). Just read his authorized biography - a good read. A true pioneer of television.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Here is the question to ask on this thread...what do we wear on the job? A uniform of some sort? T-Shirt and bluejeans? Shorts and flip-flops? Coat and tie?

 

[Stand By]

And I have to say that I think this is a great thread. I've enjoyed every single post so far and not skipped over any reply. Some great stories ...
And yes, there's a place for this question elsewhere in the Observation Bar or whatever, but I recently did something unusual and ventured out of here and in to the Hats area to ask a question, and my, it's a busy place - and I didn't recognize any of the names there … and you should see the number of posts they have!
So I for one am really enjoying learning more on the folk I recognize here - plus the others who've shared their stories whose names I don't. Thanks!

 

[gtdean48]

Here is the question to ask on this thread...what do we wear on the job? A uniform of some sort? T-Shirt and bluejeans? Shorts and flip-flops? Coat and tie?

Wranglers or chinos, boots (western, Iron Rangers, Chippewas), collared shirt, sport coat or leather jacket (weather dependent)
On Flip-flop Fridays = shorts, Hawaiian shirts, Keens

 

[TXFlyGuy]

Wranglers or chinos, boots (western, Iron Rangers, Chippewas), collared shirt, sport coat or leather jacket (weather dependent)
On Flip-flop Fridays = shorts, Hawaiian shirts, Keens

Cool!

 

[handymike]

I've been wearing a long sleeve button up with jeans and Wolverines.

 

[Cooperson]

Sorry for my lack of participation lately chaps, had a family bereavement that took all my interest in leather jacket and forum stuff away. Anyway, slowly getting back into things so I thought I'd chime in on this one. Over 26 years as an environmental research engineer with British Coal until the industry collapsed in the UK. My main hobby at that time was building and repairing acoustic guitars so, when made redundant at the age 45, I decided to use my hand crafting skills in another direction. With no real money to be made in guitar building, I retrained in Paintless Dent Removal and started my own business in 2001. Fifteen years of very good business and I'm now thinking of retirement but finding it hard to give it all up, My leather jacket thing started with an Aero heavy horse Highwayman and after many jacket purchases and sales I'm still on the hunt for my grail jacket - the search goes on

 

[Monitor]

And I have to say that I think this is a great thread. I've enjoyed every single post so far and not skipped over any reply. Some great stories ...
And yes, there's a place for this question elsewhere in the Observation Bar or whatever, but I recently did something unusual and ventured out of here and in to the Hats area to ask a question, and my, it's a busy place - and I didn't recognize any of the names there … and you should see the number of posts they have!
So I for one am really enjoying learning more on the folk I recognize here - plus the others who've shared their stories whose names I don't. Thanks!

+1!

Also, I often wonder how the other, older members feel about the leather jacket people pretty much taking over the outerwear forum, but right now I'm just happy to see so many people joining in this thread - some I haven't seen post in quite a while!

 

[TXFlyGuy]

+1!

Also, I often wonder how the other, older members feel about the leather jacket people pretty much taking over the outerwear forum, but right now I'm just happy to see so many people joining in this thread - some I haven't seen post in quite a while!

Let us define our terms...what is your definition of "older"?

 

[pawineguy]

My name is Sam,

I am a Chemical Engineer by education. I'm the IT department, R&D department and 1/3 of the purchasing department for a small company that sells products imported from Africa (art, clothing, jewelry, musical instruments, cosmetics, etc...). Most of the clothing that I buy is not the style that I wear. We sell some interesting items like indigo dyed hand woven cotton shirts and Fulani hats but the style on those is more tribal which doesn't really fit with my other clothing. My job entails buying products from Africa, India and Pakistan, designing new cosmetic products, keeping the computers/website/accounting software running and when I have time leftover, finding solutions to an unending list of customizations to our software and website. If you're interested in buying a Djembe drum, Shea butter in bulk, hippie style dashikis or authentic Fulani hats then we're the biggest place out there for that.

I'm in my early 30's and have 6 kids. The size of my family is something that has started to define how I'm seen by others as there aren't many families of this size around any more, especially in the NYC area. I recently purchased a 12 passenger shuttle bus styled van (shown below) to carry my family as we no longer fit in most standard sized vehicles (most top out at 7 passengers). I'm on the lookout for a small scooter for my commute to work and back but currently am driving a 15 year old conversion van as my commuter vehicle.

When I was a kid I wanted to be anonymous and had no desire to draw any attention to myself. I'm from the Midwest USA and dressing flashily is something that was looked at negatively. I grew up in central Omaha and up until around 7 years old lived in an area that was a bit rough. My clothing at that time was oversized white t-shirts and whatever my Mom could find cheap at the thrift shops. In my early teens I almost exclusively wore cut off jean shorts (jorts). Summer or Winter, it didn't matter.

I'd always liked hats and had a small collection of ill-fitting baseball caps and wool hats that I'd picked up through my childhood. None fit well and I was extremely self conscious wearing any of them. Honestly, I was self conscious just being out in public regardless of what I was wearing. I got into hats around 2010 when my second child was born. At that time I decided that I wanted to wear hats and I was going to do so even if I felt uncomfortable. I was very uncomfortable for the first few weeks and gradually felt more at ease. Hat buying took me through around 100 hats and after culling the collection I'm at a pretty complete set of around 12-15 hats now. As my hat obsession progressed I began to realize that most of the hats I liked really didn't fit with the clothing I was wearing. I started dressing more nicely and filling out my wardrobe. In the last 18 months or so I found a few good deals on leather jackets and have picked up about 6 (3 Aero's, 1 lost worlds, 1 Diamond Dave, 2 Vanson). I've also picked up about a dozen pairs of raw denim jeans and a couple dozen pairs of leather boots. I like the way my clothing is now. I enjoy playing with the variations in texture and color that I have available for outfits. Long term I'll probably sell at least a couple of the jackets and a dozen or so pairs of boots because I really can't justify having so many. I am not in a position to pay full retail for any of the things that I wear. My apparel buying philosophy is that I buy things only when I feel that I'll be able to sell them for close to what I paid or more. For now everything is on probation and we'll see what gets used and what gets left behind.

Living in the NY area I can dress pretty much as I like without too much negative attention. People are used to seeing different styles of dress here. Most comments I receive are "nice hat", "are you Jewish?" and variations on you look like a cowboy, farmer, etc... Nothing too negative generally.


Clothing as a hobby is something that I enjoy because it's something that I can do without having to dedicate a large amount of time to it. I have to wear clothing every day and wearing well fitting clothes that I like is something that I like and am able to do without the hobby taking time away from my family. I have had many hobbies in the past (soap making, beer making, DIY work etc...) but all of those require taking a block of time and dedicating it to that hobby. That's something that I don't really have. Dressing nicely is more bits of time here and there with an overall cumulative affect on ones appearance in the long term.

Great story and congratulations on your large family. I couldn't handle it but admire those who can. I have two friends with 7 children each. I believe that one is going to have another one or two, but the other had four and tried for one more... then had triplets!

 

[pawineguy]

Sorry for my lack of participation lately chaps, had a family bereavement that took all my interest in leather jacket and forum stuff away. Anyway, slowly getting back into things so I thought I'd chime in on this one. Over 26 years as an environmental research engineer with British Coal until the industry collapsed in the UK. My main hobby at that time was building and repairing acoustic guitars so, when made redundant at the age 45, I decided to use my hand crafting skills in another direction. With no real money to be made in guitar building, I retrained in Paintless Dent Removal and started my own business in 2001. Fifteen years of very good business and I'm now thinking of retirement but finding it hard to give it all up, My leather jacket thing started with an Aero heavy horse Highwayman and after many jacket purchases and sales I'm still on the hunt for my grail jacket - the search goes on

I'm in the midst of my second total change of career, and I'm always happy to hear stories of others who have managed the transition.

 

[TXFlyGuy]

I'm in the midst of my second total change of career, and I'm always happy to hear stories of others who have managed the transition.

Like those of us who have had one or more of their employers go bankrupt, and to end up on the outside looking in. Happened to me. And many of my friends too. Just another of life's challenges. Some of us fared better than others. Know of more than one suicide that resulted from this.