OM45GE - Posted - 10/08/2015:  15:45:10

I buy from locally owned stores whenever I can. 

DeanT - Posted - 10/08/2015:  18:15:20

Yep! I bought my bike from a local bike store. A little more expensive, but lifelong support

dmiller - Posted - 10/08/2015:  19:38:38

Buying local is where it's at.  If I can't find something at my local ACE hardware, then I'll look at Menards or Home Depot but not before.  We've got a local lumberyard/ sawmill operation here that I used to go to for wooden needs, and the local baker and butcher and neighborhood grocer get my business too.  I'm all in favor of supporting the "local/ small business folks" because if they go out of business your town ain't got a whole hell of a lot left.

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/08/2015:  21:54:35

Too many mom and pop places have gone out of business. My brother had a stereo/TV shop for 37 years and got wiped out by the big box stores.

OM45GE - Posted - 10/09/2015:  04:07:46

I really miss the local music store. 

DeanT - Posted - 10/09/2015:  06:11:07

Yep! Guitar Center wiped out or local music store culture

dat - Posted - 10/09/2015:  06:54:03

we have a music store, but it's pretty much all electric guitars, one or two acustic epiphone and rogue guitars, a few drum sets and an end rack with harmonicas,   not much to look at and play with

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/09/2015:  08:37:06

I worked in a small music store in the '70's. Lots of folks hanging out for an hour or two, with riff sharing and general music chat going on.

OM45GE - Posted - 10/09/2015:  10:51:57

When I was playing rock, our lead singers father owned a music store. He did a lot of school band rentals, had a HUGE sheet music inventory and carried decent guitars like Martins. The Internet and The Guitar Center pretty much killed it but he kept going on for several years because he loved it. He owned the building it was in and the business rental subsidized the losses. They claimed able t five years ago.  

DeanT - Posted - 10/09/2015:  11:17:43

Our local bike stores will tell you that repairs keep them going. Dicks, Wally World and the internet is killing them too

dat - Posted - 10/09/2015:  13:15:30

and the bikes bought at walmart aren't worth spending the money on to repair,   you can buy a new cheap one for the cost of a couple of repairs, and still not have much even with a new one.

DeanT - Posted - 10/09/2015:  15:27:39

yep! Wally world bikes hardly last a summer, a good bike will last a lifetime+

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/09/2015:  16:45:00

I'm getting one when/if I retire

DeanT - Posted - 10/09/2015:  17:22:16

How soon?

OM45GE - Posted - 10/09/2015:  18:30:29

949 days, 19 hours and 30 minutes for me, but who's counting

DeanT - Posted - 10/09/2015:  18:46:47

I remember the countdown... 

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/09/2015:  19:54:40

Not sure when to hang'em up yet- waiting for the internal message that says 'it's over,bud, you've had enough'.

DeanT - Posted - 10/09/2015:  21:58:02

My message came from my Dad who said his biggest regret was to work to long. I retired at my earliest opportunity. I'm not rich, but set up, and loving life

OM45GE - Posted - 10/10/2015:  04:18:52

My clock is driven by when I qualify for retiree health insurance coverage through my employer. With a 14 year old son who will likely go to college, I really need that. Other than that, I would be gainfully unemployed now. 

DeanT - Posted - 10/10/2015:  06:14:16

My daughter walked away from college after one semester. We had a long discussion, as I was prepared to keep working until she graduated. I let her know that walking away was her last chance at help from dear old dad. She became a truck driver (still happy at it to this day) and I retired.

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/10/2015:  06:45:55

Interesting about your daughter,,I have a degree but ended up driving truck, and happier for it. Right now I'm down to working 8 months a year, taking the winters off.

dat - Posted - 10/10/2015:  07:44:12

OK, living in Canada and taking the winters off, me being here in Texas, I would guess that you worked a week or two a year ifin you didn't work winters up there 

OM45GE - Posted - 10/10/2015:  14:34:23

There are times when I miss driving tractor trailers. 

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/10/2015:  20:55:47

Yep, I hear ya,Bill. I've never stayed at one job as long as this one. Some days are brutal though.

DeanT - Posted - 10/10/2015:  22:03:43

My daughter was a concert oboe player, even went to Duke Ellington her last two years of High School, and played at the Kennedy Center. She said the pressure was too much and walked away from it all. She's a lot happier now.

OM45GE - Posted - 10/11/2015:  09:53:32

It was very different when I was driving. No cell phones, satellite communications and tracking systems, in cab cameras, etc.  Part of what I liked was being on the open road with no boss looking over my shoulder. 

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/11/2015:  14:34:16

Yeah, more regulated now, but there's still that feeling of freedom.

DeanT - Posted - 10/11/2015:  14:46:00

I got my military license for driving a bus on base. man that was big enough for me, and we never went past 40mph on base.. I admire folks who drive the big trucks a million  miles an hour on the highways!

dmiller - Posted - 10/11/2015:  15:02:59

I drove for close to twenty years (locally) in smaller delivery vans.  I hauled and delivered a LOT of heavy mailbags/ copy paper/ printed material/ you name it.  That job kept me in shape continually lifting all that weight in and out of the truck.  And yes - - not much "regulation" (especially for an in-town driver) back then, but it sure was nice having a steering wheel in your "office" and no boss micro-managing you.  

OM45GE - Posted - 10/11/2015:  17:52:25

I still have my Commercial Drivers License with doubles/triples and tanker endorsements and I keep my physical current so I could go back. Maybe when I retire from hiring doctors.  

DeanT - Posted - 10/11/2015:  18:37:30

hiring doctors?

OM45GE - Posted - 10/11/2015:  18:51:17

Yeah, I do executive and physician recruiting for a pharmaceutical company.  

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/11/2015:  20:42:56

I've had a few different occupations - farm worker, factory labo(u)rer, miner, forestry tech,taxi driver, welder, guitar and banjo teacher, and finally truck driver. "Life's a box of chocolates - you....blah,blah,blah". 

Edited by - chuckv97 on 10/11/2015 20:44:29

dmiller - Posted - 10/11/2015:  21:09:05

I left my job with the Indiana Forestry Division (Morgan-Monroe State Forest just outside of Bean Blossom Indiana) when I moved to Minney-soda.  The first job I had here was loading the salties and lakers (ocean going boats) with the 50 lb and 100 lb bags of grain that they were hauling from here to wherever they were sailing to.  I've worked a lot of jobs in my time, and most of them have been "grunt work", but I'm not complaining.  I think I'm better off for the "experience" over the years.

DeanT - Posted - 10/11/2015:  21:55:06

Wow, and here I overhauled jet engines my whole career!

dat - Posted - 10/12/2015:  06:39:01

I listen to people fuss, then try to make them happy and not fuss anymore

dat - Posted - 10/12/2015:  06:53:17

used to be a mechanic, now I listen the customers fuss about something they  spent way to much for being broken, then the mechanic fuss about what is broken and how fast they need it back, then the customer fuss about how much it costs, then the mechanic fuss about how little it pays, etc, my ride home is nice

DeanT - Posted - 10/12/2015:  11:35:22

now adays I just listen to my dogs fuss when they want dinner

OM45GE - Posted - 10/13/2015:  06:31:46

I've done a bunch of different things. I started a manufacturing company out of school, sold that and drove tractor trailers for a while, ran a couple of trucking companies owned by others, managed operations at a furniture manufacturer and two yogurt companies, did psychiatric nursing, played music, worked in a music store and now recruiting for the last 18 years. Sort of job Attention Deficit Disorder.

Edited by - OM45GE on 10/13/2015 06:32:05

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/13/2015:  09:34:27

I used to look for the perfect job.....where I could drink on the job

dat - Posted - 10/13/2015:  10:03:13

I drank on the job one time back in 1988, had two beers at lunch, we had just finished a house and all we had to do after lunch was load the trailer and clean up.  the boss took us out to eat and bought everybody lunch and beers.

OM45GE - Posted - 10/13/2015:  10:34:18

One of the trucking companies I worked for used to deliver paper to a beer distributor. They had taps at the ends of the tables in the lunch rooms. The drivers LOVED getting those loads and always planned to sleep there.

dat - Posted - 10/13/2015:  15:30:14

new toy,  coleman model 200a dated 6 of 54,   has coleman and the sunshine stamped in on one side and red and yellow sticker on the other, ten bucks and a new leather and it's shinin' bright

DeanT - Posted - 10/13/2015:  15:58:08

This little light of mine, I'm gonna let it shine!

chuckv97 - Posted - 10/13/2015:  16:23:46

Aren't those old Colemans worth money?

OM45GE - Posted - 10/13/2015:  16:37:47

I remember being a kid at my dad's hunting camp. I'd be in bed watching the men playing cards and drinking bourbon by the light of a hissing Coleman lantern.

dat - Posted - 10/14/2015:  08:10:15

some are worth what ever you can talk someone into paying for them, mine are all pretty common and not worth much other than me just liking to have them

OM45GE - Posted - 10/14/2015:  09:47:35

A neighbor of mine was moving and put a white gas version out with the trash. I pumped it up and it works fine.

dat - Posted - 10/14/2015:  10:42:09

a lot end up in the trash that still work well, they don't get used often, they were the neighbors, they were their kids, we just don't go camping etc.  garage sales, which I don't go to, are probably the best place to get a cheap one, a friend of mine buys some from craigs list and has gotten some nice and cheap ones, never buy one off e bay or an antique store