I have a problem

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 683

The open pit coal mines in Wyoming are also short of help. Have heard of HUGE salaries and they will need mechanical type ppl for conveyors, dumps, trucks, you name it. Get started young and work hard and you will do well.

Railroads also short of help, not a good lifestyle but good money etc.

wisconsin_cur · Posted: Sat Aug 23, 2008 7:52 pm Post subject: Re: I have a problem

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 683

We had been out 6 days in the jungles and were sitting in a village eating rice and dog I spose.......and I looked up and here came a line of buffalo soldiers. All I knew of them was you didnt even look at them as they were known killers. Americans as far as I could tell, anglos anyway, long beards and mustaches, long trench coats, floppy hats, no uniform or insignia I recognized. They were roamers that lived off the land, causing havoc among the enemy, crack heads, cocaine freaks and just scary. We were tough but they were crazy. Oh the memories

joeltrout · Light Sweet Crude Joined: Sep 19, 2007 Posts: 1317

I don't know much about eco-villages but I looked up Earthhaven Ecovillage in North Carolina.

The thing that caught my eye first was the COSTS.

Joining Fee: $4,000

Full-Site Fee: $20,000
Compact Site: $12,000

Annual Dues: $808/year

Facility Fees: $70-$140/year

Vehicle Fee: $100/year

So Bare Minimum Start-up Cost: $16,978

Not exactly cheap. Maybe others are cheaper.

joeltrout

hermit · Heavy Crude Joined: May 13, 2008 Posts: 184

EndOfGrowth · Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 1:48 am Post subject: Re: I have a problem

patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1762

EndofGrowth,

Right on target. A little knowledge is a dangerous thing... We go to school and later get experience, then learn how much we still have to learn!
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EndOfGrowth · Posted: Sun Aug 24, 2008 5:37 am Post subject: Re: I have a problem

JPL · Posted: Mon Aug 25, 2008 4:40 pm Post subject: Re: I have a problem

joelcolorado · Intermediate Crude Joined: May 25, 2008 Posts: 683

fireplaceguy · Heavy Crude Joined: May 04, 2006 Posts: 284

Between now and when you figure out what you want to do for the rest of your life, you still need to earn a living. You seem to have some aptitude for mechanical work and you may as well go with that. It sure pays better than Wal Mart. You may not relish this but if you get booted out of the house you'll have far fewer choices and they may not even include education.

Forget trade school. You're eligible so I'd strongly suggest you re-enroll in high school, in a district that has a vocational/technical program that includes auto mechanics. This beats the hell out of wiping out your savings and landing deep in debt for a trade school that you may not like either. (Face it - you need to learn to complete what you start on a smaller scale than a long trade school program. Most of these trade schools are structured to prepare immature people for the work force, so expect to be punching a time clock and to have tardiness impact your grades, etc., etc. I don't picture you liking that environment, and if you're gonna hate something and possibly fail at it, it might as well be free!)

While you're finishing school you should continue saving money and building the skills and preps needed for the uncertain future we face.

I'm curious just how much you really know, and I have an idea: Just for grins, go take the GED tests without any further preparation. (There are plenty of people who have a HS diploma who couldn't pass the GED exam to save their lives.) Just go do it and see how you fare. If you score 90 or above on all sections, then you can concentrate more on your vocational classes. Otherwise keep after the academics as well.

WARNING: It's possible that passing the GED exam could make it impossible to re-enroll in school. I have NO idea how this works, but don't take a chance on losing a free vocational education. Perhaps there is a mock test for GED prep or you could find a way to take the test anonymously. It'd be really interesting to see how you do.

I've been self-employed almost continuously since I was your age, and I've been alive more than twice as long as you have. If you think a few hours a day of school is tough, try arriving home exhausted after a long day with two or three more hours ahead of you (paperwork and preparation for the next day) before you can go to bed. I wouldn't trade this life for a corporate job, but I sure know the meaning of tired during my busy season.

I liken a person's knowledge to a living sphere - the more you know, the larger that sphere grows and hence the greater your contact with the unknown. As an example, when I started playing with cars I became a wizard at jetting Weber carbs on BMW's. That was then. Last week I flashed an LS7 computer, using injector duty cycle, knock retard data, etc., etc. along with the readings from wideband O2 sensors I installed - all of which I recorded on this very laptop while testing the car. I don't consider this work - it's what I do for fun...

Just because someone can remove and replace parts doesn't mean they're a mechanic. Parts swappers are the bane of the industry. We need people with real diagnostic skills and an understanding of complex systems, and for that you need the jump start of some formal training. Nothing else will produce the foundation of competence faster or more reliably. We've come a long way from reading spark plugs, and you can count on at least the same amount of technological progress in the next few years as I've seen in the last equal period. (I say AT LEAST, because remember, the more we know, the more we encounter and deal with the unknown. It's only in retrospect that you'll appreciate how true this is...)

If you want to deal successfully with future unknowns, you need to be pretty strong in the fundamentals (math, reading, writing and speaking skills, the sciences). The stronger you become at fundamentals the more you'll accomplish in life and the more you'll enjoy yourself.

Someone mentioned earlier in the thread that you can expect to have 4 or 5 different careers during your life, and this will probably be the case. I'm on my fourth already, and past endeavors that once supported me (mainly cars & commercial photography) are now just enjoyable hobbies that kick off some revenue now and then. That's toy money...

Consider too that you may wish to get a college education down the road, and having the diploma (and some decent grades) will be a big help then. In the meantime, prospective employers will take you more seriously, and be more willing to invest in specialized brand-specific factory training if you stick with auto mechanics.

As a bonus, your dad might respect you enough to give you permission to use some land - who knows??? If not, you'll have an income and therefore some options of your own. I know us old farts are a pain, but I wouldn't want you building your yurt in my back yard either, until I saw you were willing to pull your weight. Till then you're just a squatter.

Sounds like he cares about you, and if he does there will come a point where your dad kicks you out to force you to start growing up. It would be a disservice to you to enable you much longer. Please don't let it come to that. I don't know how strained your relationship with him is right now, but if you can have a serious conversation with him about life you'll find out that he, just like the rest of us, didn't always enjoy the job he had or being responsible for a family. Sounds like he did what he had to anyway. It's called being a man.

(BTW, I also agree with what someone said about being the child of an alcoholic. That can do a real number on you, and you need to start dealing with it ASAP. I think you'll find a lot of answers there.)

The sky has been falling as long as I remember. Peak oil adds some spice to that because of the peril and profound change it promises but mostly it means you should expect to work even hard. And guess what - EVERY generation has had to deal with profound change! Now it's your turn...

Good luck on the willpower thing - you're going to need it...
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patience · Expert Joined: Jan 04, 2008 Posts: 1762

fireplaceguy,

YEAH!!! 1+
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