6.22.2006

My "Job" Blog

OK, to start with, the US National soccer team lost to Ghana today which puts them out of the world cup this year - only 4 more years until the next chance. Look for a new coach and a new style of play. Some of the "stars" never even showed up although they were on the field. My pick is Argentina.

Someone said to me the other day, "You've done a little bit of everything, haven't you?" Well, in response to that I decided to list the actual jobs that I have had over the years. I am trying to do this chronologically, starting from "the old days."

  • Fed baby raccoons and skunks at a pet store in the Levittown, PA area.
  • Newspaper Sales - Two actually. I delivered, by foot, then by bike, the Bucks County Courier Times in the afternoon and stood by the intersection of New Falls and Tyburn Road and sold the Trentonian in the morning.
  • LIfeguard - I was mercifully delivered from the paper routes after being old enough to get my Red Cross Lifesaving Certificate. That was a great job working in the pool at the apartment complex that I lived in. I went on to get my Water Safety Instructor accreditation and taught swimming lessons the second summer I worked there.
  • I then went away to college at WVU and while there worked as a cook at Long John Silver's for two years.
  • After Long John's I had a short stint at Arby's in Star City, WV. I quit after two weeks when I just couldn't, with a clear conscience, serve people that meat "stuff." You can do the research if you want to. Can you say, "puke?"
  • I then moved further south to Clarksville, GA and was a staff member at Mountain View Development Program. The program was designed to take mentally handicapped men and women who had been institutionalized and integrate them into a natural, healthy environment. We grew our food, built fences, ground wheat, and did a lot a farm related activities. We were out in the middle of freaking NOWHERE. It was very rewarding and life changing for everyone who was involved. There are WAY too many stories about this experience.
  • Upon returning back north to civilization in Doylestown, PA I started working as an ancillary therapist at Delaware Valley Mental Health Foundation. Here is a New York Times review of a movie of the treatment there - Other Voices. Another amazing experience that was just adding to the mix being around people and helping them get whole.
  • I then moved back south to Athens, GA, (Yes, the UGA Athens) and started my own Volkswagen repair business. You see, while I was in Doylestown I purchased a VW bug and began fixing it up. I've always been somewhat mechanical and unafraid to take things apart and put them back together (ask my Mom about the vacuum cleaner incident). I had a guy at the parts place tell me that a good VW mechanic was worth his weight in gold. So I did it. I named my business "The Organic Mechanic." I was somewhat of a throwback hippy type so this fit in nicely with my bushy hair and carefree lifestyle (can you say recreational drugs and Rolling Rock?).
  • While in Athens, GA I also worked weekends in a group home for retarded man with Georgia Mental Health/Retardation. They have since changed the name to be more politically correct.
Well, this installment brings me up to 1981 and I will pick up from here in the next blog. I have to get to sleep. TOMORROW'S FRIDAY!!!!!

Jen gets back from Orlando tomorrow and I can't wait to see her:) Hopefully, she'll get some great rest this weekend.

WH

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