I’m getting old
- Thread starter SFBay‘72Duster
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Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Stuck my youngest behind the wheel of the Model A. I told him you watched me drive it. I said 3 fingers is all you need to shift gears, leave clutch alone and tickle the shift in with the throttle. Little bit of grinding nothing serious but in 20 minutes he could run the transmission. So all is not lost just need someone to give a **** and teach them.
6PakBee
Well-Known Member
I am really fortunate. My local NAPA has a high school kid that works there part time. Loves mid 80's Ford pickups and owns two of them that he is working on all the time. When I come in and ask for something off the beaten path and he doesn't understand what I'm talking about, he'll ask. Doesn't get snotty or uppity, just asks. I have had numerous conversations with him about items as diverse as machinist's dye to welding rod. Had to draw pictures some times but he's never failed at the end to understand. The only downside is that with the talent and drive he has, he'll end up somewhere other than behind a parts counter making big bucks doing something else.
MDchanic
Connoisseur d'Junque
I read (most of) a very thick book once, called The Bell Curve, by Charles Murray.
Some people like the book, some people don't, but one point the author made that stuck with me is that since somewhere around the 1950's the US has created a ridiculously effective intelligence-sorting machine, the likes of which never existed in history.
The idea is that through testing (SATs), financial aid, post-WWII community colleges, etc., the educational system picks out the vast majority of provably-smart people, even from fairly poor backgrounds, and sends them to college, and on to college-type jobs, leaving the non-college-type jobs with slim pickins, and that that never happened before.
Way back in the past, you pretty much did what your father did. If your father was a carpenter, then you were probably a carpenter. If your father was a farmer, then you were a farmer. If your father was a duke, then you were a duke.
This made for a fair number of really bright carpenters and farmers, and also a whole lot of really stupid knights and kings.
In (most of) our own memories, back when we were younger, there was always a guy we knew, or our father knew, a parts guy, a factory mechanic, a plumber, the guy in the office at work who had your whole outfit's timecards, schedules, and time and leave balances in his mind at once. Often, if these guys were in the trades, they would invent things, or come up with new ways to solve problems.
The same goes for women. Back before women were allowed to hold "regular" jobs (and, don't get me wrong, I believe everyone should be able to do anything s/he is good at), and were basically limited to being teachers, secretaries, and nurses, there were a lot of DAMNED smart teachers, secretaries and nurses. Now... while I have the greatest respect for teachers and nurses (there are no more secretaries), they ain't what they used to be now that women can go to law school or med school, or get MBAs and run multinational corporations. Why wipe snotty noses or change bedpans when you could make millions?
Now, the odds are the counter guy has no brain at all, and has to rely on the one inside his computer. And if you've got just enough of a brain to get yourself into trouble, you've probably gone through college and are running something you don't understand, rather than having risen through the ranks of your company and running it like you care about it.
And it ain't gettin' any better...
[/rant]
– Eric
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
But at least there will be another one of us out there
Re: Intelligence sorting machine: I couldn’t agree more! In the early/mid 80’s I spent a lot of time, and money, attending the U of M, and I personally witnessed this first hand. In fact, I seem to recall one of my advisors stating outright that most of freshman “pre” classes (pre-calculus, pre-engineering, etc) were setup for this very purpose.
Turned out Calculus was my “brick wall”, and thus ended my dream of becoming an Engineer.
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
Never tried to be something I’m not. Went to work at 18 with a grade 12, 4 years later was a red seal mason. Pounded bricks, blocks, and stone in the wall for 47 years, made a good life I think. Now doing what I want when I want. Worrying about what you have or what you’re neighbours have is crap if you get off your *** and work you will have enough. My opinion.
Ever work with the guy/gal that will not work. You give them worse and worse jobs or even better jobs and still nothing changes. You give him 3 days off, a week off, 2 weeks off and he still will not do anything. If a man doesn't want to work you will never change him. I get people all the time saying they need work/money and when I call them, guess what they never show. You just can't make a man work that doesn't want too.
Ahoey
Well-Known Member
My good life long friends wife just called, seems my pal is in the hospital and not doing very well. She asked me to make an urn box for him. It’ll be a heavy on the heart job but one I’ll be honoured to do. His car. Naturally aspirated 340 4 box runs 10’s, Rode around in it and drank beer , was a 198 slanty 3 in the tree back in the day ( and I’m old enough to use that phrase) but tis the season still hurts
And you will have had a hand it that. You done good.
The problem is that in the past there were plentiful factory jobs. In the motor city people would come from other states to feed the car companies. With the unions, if you somewhat kept you nose clean you could have a career, raise a family and retire to a good life. But now with overseas cheap labor there are almost no jobs like that. The good news is that with willpower and determination you can accomplish miracles, and that part is optional.
MDchanic
Connoisseur d'Junque
Exactly. An average guy could get an average job, do an average day's work, and be paid well enough to lead a good, average life, able to relax and have family events at the Legion hall, maybe a little summer bungalow, have a wife who had time to raise the kids, have the company take care of you if you got sick or hurt, with your job waiting for you when you got better, and have a decent, average pension when it was time to retire.
Nothing too fancy, but a fair shake. And if you wanted to be a wise guy, do a little more, you could work your way up into management and drive a Buick instead of a Chevy (or a Dodge).
That's what I call the American Dream: A regular guy could work, and get a decent life in return. If you wanted to reach for the stars, fine, but the fact is, most people don't, or can't, and the point is, you shouldn't need to be special to have a normal, decent life, and in the modern, wealthy, industrial world, you shouldn't have to fight like a dog for it.
But you can't have that if you're directly competing with people who are grateful to earn $10 a day, because it's more money than they've ever seen, and don't care if they're working 14 hours a day and subject to death and severe injury on the job, or with people who are working for basically nothing as part of their "re-education" by their beloved government.
– Eric
Very sorry to hear about your friend Murray. I remember seeing that badass Scamp tearing up the strip in Gimli.
I went back to school at age 27, not gonna lie, it was a little intimidating being back after 10 years, but I soon realized that real world experience was far more valuable than book smarts. I was in the top 5 of my class with a 3.08 GPA, better grades than people who were straight out of high school that spent most of their free time studying, while I rarely even cracked open a textbook. Not bragging by any means, just demonstrating that experience is a better teacher than reading IMHO.
The guy "damn we are getting old!" I am proud top say "I am old!"
I never thought I would make it this far, 77 in Feb. But, I say, the good Lord has watched over me many times. There is no other explanation. Mom would have said, the Lord watches over little children and fools!!! OK so I am way to old to be a child!!!! Class dismissed!!
I never thought I would make it this far, 77 in Feb. But, I say, the good Lord has watched over me many times. There is no other explanation. Mom would have said, the Lord watches over little children and fools!!! OK so I am way to old to be a child!!!! Class dismissed!!
Damn. I'm so sorry to hear this.
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