jobs+work

Had a great ride today!  We were out for fours hours total, of which three-and-a-half were spent on the move, be it biking or shoving our bikes up the hill.  This particular mountain has a mean south face that the boys wanted to beat their heads against.  I really like that about the Fish gang; they are eager to be challenged; how can I not support that?  As sHoRtBuS said, 'our normal is everybody else's superhuman'.

This is my favourite work in the whole world.  There's something about taking the kids out for a really awesome ride in the woods that I really like.  Being a virtually absolute resource, for issues from flat tires to splinting broken bones (and all that comes with that) is a really empowering thing.  I take it VERY seriously, especially in the light that it is by what I role model that I can impact the world in the greatest way.  As well, the metaphorical buck stops with me in the field, so I have to be serious about it.  It's very fun too!

I even manage to cover costs and buy a bit of food and fuel at the end of the day.  It is a challenge for me to charge a fair price (aka ensure that I am at least advancing myself) for how I best contribute to the world, but I like how that learning journey is going.  I've tried many ways, so I have a decent sample population to examine, when thinking about money for my services.

My first 'real' job was at Ralston Metal Products, aged 14?.  Basically a metal box factory, (fuse cabinets, fire hose cabinets, lockers) I hammered ceramic insulators off spot-welds, and hung the boxes on hooks attached to a moving chain, enroute the paint department.  At least that's the least I remember, and that's enough.  I did get pretty strong!  And I rode my bike there every day that summer.

I worked at a Magna Industries plant at Milton (a car parts factory), in the late 80's.  Actually a pretty nice place to work, me and my buddy Chris moved scrap, garbage, and waste die lube (eww) outside the building, painting, probably a few other things.   I got this job through connections (Chris' father was a lead hand).  Again, not bad (thorough work mind you, dirty and gross at times) work for high school aged people.  As well, my first experience as a unionized worker.

As a thoroughly mechanically-indoctrinated individual, I have made lots of money working with my hands.  I have laid out and poured a foundation, laid brick, done sheet metal work (and random auto servicing and repair), cleaned and repaired firearms (a job I recall fondly), roofed, painted and assembled furniture.

One job I really liked was the four/five months I traded room+board at a farm on Vancouver Island; I met a lot of great people, partied thoroughly, and learned a few things about farms, in general.

I have taught a lot.  I have coached mountain biking for many years, and I used to teach people how to be bicycle mechanics at a registered private post-secondary institution.  Ah, that whole bike thing...

Bike mechanics instructor, wheelbuilder, mechanic, coach, bike messenger, tour guide, tour (not of France) mechanic, program designer for schools and non-profits... geez, that list just doesn't seem as long as it feels sometimes!  And some of these things I still do.

And I have a professional driver's licence; always looking to upgrade that!  Keeps doors open, you see.

I never really cottoned on to the post-secondary education thing, and so that has meant that I've had to be creative and versatile in my work.  Which has really been an interesting way to be.