The death of an idea taster

I’ve been in a funk all day. One of the bloggers, Neptunus Lex, I read regularly passed away this week. I’ve been busy so I didn't hear about it till today. I came to his blog because he was a pilot. It’s no secret that given my druthers I too would have a pilot’s license. There are several different styles of  blog that I read. Some are all original like mine, some are links and some combine the two with commentary along side the link. Lex chose to mix links with commentary as well as original content. After reading his opinion  and the linked piece you began to understand him as a person. There are a few blogs I read that do this. Often I agree with what the blogger has to say sometimes not. Lex was a retired aircraft carrier fighter pilot so he often highlighted stories I would never of read or gave insight not found elsewhere on the web.  These insights will be sorely missed since I have no other comparable source for them.
Not only was his commentary on the events of the day almost always worth at least a quick glance his own original flying stories were a good read. He was a much better writer than I will ever be. He was one who showed what was possible to do with a blog. I do not have the desire or insights do a link blog with commentary but if I did I’d strive to be like his.
Which does not explain why I’m so saddened by his passing. Sure a pilot died doing what he loved but given all his options I think he would rather be alive today. It is true he knew there were risks and was willing to take them. Just like he was willing to put himself in harms way in the middle east. Sleeping safe and sound in my bed at home I’m truly grateful. That he continued to give back to his country in retirement as part of training future pilots only makes him more my hero.
There are so many aspects of his passing that I will mourn but I guess what I will remember most about him is this piece he wrote when Sarah Palin burst onto the national scene.
May God keep and comfort your family.

an update on my life

Friends

Recent stats show that I have had 52 views in the last month which is wholly astounding. Some of these views have come from people who don't know me or automated search engines or something. I say that because Russia shows up as part of my viewing audience. Don't really know anyone in Russia to speak of.... any who to those few family members who have been following along I though I'd keep you up to speed.

For the last three weeks and again for at least part of this week I have been working with two men from church doing remodeling. I'm working as an hourly independent contractor. The first man is someone I've been friends with since '94. He is in his late 60s and gets the contracts. The second is the same family I worked for as a courier. When I started couriering he stopped and handed the running of the company off to his wife. He then went into the contractor business. As a practical matter I work with him every day and am learning lots of the trade. Much of what we are doing I have done at one time or another but the difference is now I'm learning to do it fast enough to make a living at and properly the first time. Stuff like when installing ceiling fans, when they don't work the first time it may NOT be your wiring...try pulling the chain first...guess what I did yesterday. They are more difficult to work with when all the blades are attached.

After having sat at home for how ever many weeks I informed these guys I would ride along with them for free so I could learn the business. They are paying me but we have no real agreement on how much or for how long. (yes i invited myself into a job just by showing up, more or less) Currently we are doing a remodel on a home in the country about an hour east of Dallas and have been spending nights during the week there. This should be our last week. After that who know. Right now I'm in a precarious balance between saving money cause I don't know if I'll work and spending money on tools so I can work.

Gilding the lily

6/9/12  redacted parts of my "throw away email address" and cell number


Since coming back from Africa I have been NOT writing my resume. While I have written some things, I have in almost equal measure deleted. I mentioned this to someone I'll call Mr. T. who volunteered to bring me some 'good' resumes, properly redacted, that had been submitted to his place of work. I'm not sure this has helped since what I was editing out was tame compared to how these applicants described themselves. To me, telling someone that I'm trustworthy is as unnatural as stomping on a puppy...saying I have integrity, as difficult as eating sand. Who am I to say such a thing about myself, and how should I expect you to believe me? When you drop your welding hood, closing out the world, and it's just you and a puddle of hot metal, it's a good idea to like the you that you find there. Being a man of principals is my ground state of being, to write it all out in black and white seems so put-on, so crass, so affected.

The fact is, I have never gotten a job by means of a resume. When I got my first two construction jobs I was employed mainly on the basis of showing up and being willing to work. The work itself sifted the wheat from the chaff.  I got the last two jobs I've had because the people hiring had know me for years. This selling myself is strange and hard. Maybe I'll just start a 'Mr. Fix It' type business and work for myself. I know I can do the work. Not sure if I'll like the paper work, then again, maybe I can hire that done.  When I was young people used to as what I wanted to be when I grew up. What a silly question. I'm wanted to be ME! I still don't know how I want to make a living so...whattaya got.

In any event, here is something like a resume.

Noel (aka Leon) Carpenter
(214) 445-****
Noel********r@gmail.com

I am trustworthy, honest, conscientious, competent, and hard working with exceptional common sense.
I am ‘handy’- I can understand not only how mechanical things work but often why they don’t. Outside of work I have entirely re-plumed my house and updated both my kitchen and bathroom. The summer before last I built a detached garage for my house.
I enjoy the challenge of learning new skills. While at Copper Craft I learned to TIG weld, spin metal and English wheel because they were more difficult than what I was doing and that interested me.
I am not so hung up on myself that I don’t tell on myself. If I mess up something I’ll tell you rather than try to save face.

1992 Western Nebraska Community College-Sidney campus
     Associate of Applied Sciences-Diesel Engineering

1990 Rift Valley Academy 
     Diploma

Spring of 2011 Six months in Africa.

Fall of 2005. Self employed

Self employed contractor for Emerald Delivery. Most of our work was making ‘hot shot’ air freight deliveries. As a contractor I provided my own car, fuel, insurance and paid my own taxes. The job required:

• being able to work without supervision
• having a car in operational condition
• being trust worthy to handle expensive and fragile packages
• passing a TSA background check
• annually recurring TSA security training 
• an ability to make timely deliveries all over the city and beyond

Fifteen weeks in Africa. Spring 2005

Spring 1996 ARMETCO/Copper Craft (later purchased by Berger Brothers/Euramax)

Sometime in the spring of '96 I changed companies to ARMETCO doing much the same thing as Metal Systems.
Beginning in July '97 I moved into the ARMETCO shop unit, Copper Craft. At Copper Craft I started in shipping and worked my way up to:

• CNC table router operator
• TIG/MIG welder
• fabricator producing many custom, one off products
• metal spinning 
• shot bag and English wheel fabrication

January 1993 Metal Systems Inc

In January '93 I moved form Nebraska to the D/FW area and began working for Metal Systems Inc. installing 'pre-finished architectural sheet metal'. For the most part work involved installing standing seam metal roofs. There was a bit of other miscellaneous work such as steel framing.