ProudCanuck
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posted on September 24, 2001 04:47:03 PM new
Gravid,
From reading your posts (I've just caught up with the weekend topics), I HAVE to ask... what do you make your living doing? What magazines and newspapers and books have you educated yourself with?
I ask because you have a very different and interesting perspective on all topics -
Well, okay, it is a little bit of me being nosy too... 
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gravid
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posted on September 24, 2001 06:09:52 PM new
Well I have been:
Moldmaker/machinist for aerospace/medical
Truckdriver of various flavors and sizes
Shoe salesman 3 days/wanted me to be boss
Deck hand - one night/coasties almost got us
Real Estate agent - too honest
Busboy
firearm mechanic/wanted me to deliver de Sud America
Worm farmer - strangely satisfying
Auto mechanic and parts man
Beer truck loader and washer/ free beer!
Had my own plumbing business
Had my own window washing - lot cleaning biz.
Maintenance pipefitter at a university / very strange people
Door to door sales of frozen food/1 day no $
Auto detailer / good money
Wharehouse/forklift driver
Night Janitor
Restaurant equipment repair /free food!
Texture and polishing service/ photoengraver
Doughnut cook
Security undercover
Precision tool sales for self.
Right now I am writing 2 novels I seriously intend to sell. I sell things online and I have not worked for anyone full time in 2 years but I am going to see if I can find about a 20 hour a week job for the winter.
I have people call me up and ask me to do day jobs. I am very tied up helping my wife take care of her Mother with Alzheimer's
I have a desk top CNC I intend to use next year to cut decorative tops for wooden boxes to sell.
I read anything and everything.
Almost all science fiction.
Lots of magazines and newspapers but only specific articles never cover to cover.
If I am free to do so I can polish off 3 books in a day. I really like books that specifically tell you how to do something.
How to make magnets - how to cast ceramics -
What do you do and what is different where you live in Canada. And how can you guys stand the TAX?
[ edited by gravid on Sep 24, 2001 06:21 PM ]
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sulyn1950
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posted on September 24, 2001 07:19:10 PM new
gravid-Just wanted to comment worm farming is satisfying! I did that myself for awhile.
I also prefer science fiction over just about anything else and have been teased about it for years. I read for pleasure and an "escape" from life's little worries.
To stay up on politics, science, current events, religion, and the economy, I read the RT! 
It would appear we are more alike than different! 
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ProudCanuck
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posted on September 24, 2001 08:06:21 PM new
Hi Gravid,
WOW - thank you for your answer! I haven't done ANY of those things, and my list would be miniscule in comparison.
When I meet someone with an interesting point of view, I like to find out more, and usually by looking at their media (news sources, books, magazines), you can glean some of it.
I love to learn, and especially to debate - both sides of any issue. I'm always on the fence though, can't even make up my own mind about most topics (typical Canadian!).
You would be amazed at how alike Canadians and Americans are... QUIT COPYING US!!!!!
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ProudCanuck
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posted on September 24, 2001 08:12:56 PM new
Forgot to answer about the tax - do you really want me to get started on that?
I deliver Rural Route mail, and live in a rural northern town. Lots of snow and ice.
Decided to get the best tires this year, so the route wasn't slowed to a crawl on the icier days.
Here is the quote from the tire shop:
4 Blizzak tires 491.84
GST 39.18 (Goods and Services Tax)
PST 38.34 (Provincial Sales Tax)
Levy 12.00 (I think an enviro fee)
Nearly $100 in taxes and fees - AARRGHH!
What can we do though?
What would a similar quote look like for you - tax wise? (Roughly 1 US dollar = $1.50 Cdn dollar).
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spazmodeus
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posted on September 25, 2001 02:33:43 AM new
gravid,
As I read the list of your occupations I kept looking for the word "writing," then lo and behold I found it. And if it hadn't been there, I would have suggested it.
You've got a natural storytelling style and a lot of interesting experiences. I think you'll be successful with your novels.
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gravid
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posted on September 25, 2001 05:38:47 AM new
I recently bought 4 tires - big ones for a Chrysler LHS. Went to two places and got quotes. The car will be driven almost all locally and these tires should finish out the lfe of the car so I went with a cheaper set. Paid within a few dollars of $320.00 dollars for 4 mounted and balanced with new valve stems. tax was about $20. However I did notice a $2 or $3 fee each tire for disposing of the old ones which amounts to the same as your enviro - tax. Next time I will tell them to put them in my trunk and dispose of them myself as I have access to free disposal of even hazardous waste. You have me wondering if there is ant tax hidden in the cost - they do that sometimes to us here. Our phone bill and Gasoline have a big chunk of tax they don't itemize.
I realize you can not live a normal life and change the political system you live under.
I would think though that when the tax gets to your level it would generate a big enough body of discontent to make people go into politics just to do something about it. I sincerely hope that that is something the US will not copy from the northern neighbors.
I bet you can tell a great deal about peoples lives by what they get in their mail box each day.
If you ever get tired of it you should consider coming over to this side. You keep a lot more of your money but you do have to pay for your own health care. There are lots of places like up in Minesota that have a very similar life style to your northern rural community. Myself when we have my wife's mother in a nursing home I am going to look into living at least part of the year in the Providenciales Turks and Caicos Islands.
Spaz - Of course I write job applications and tax returns all the time so I have a great basis for expressive writing. I was also a manifest clerk for a trucking company - forgot that one.
When I started the first novel I wrote a chapter and took it to my wife, and asked if I should continue or give it up? She said sure keep going I want to know what is going to happen next. I said that I know my spelling is not great and you are The Great Grammarian. She dismissed all that with a wave of her hand as editing and said now - if it had been boring that would be a problem.
Heinlein once was asked by a young fellow what he should do to be a writer. He told him to go out and do something - work a job and meet people and travel so he had something to write about. I wish he had lived a few years more to give us another book or three.
Have to go sell some junk - thanks.
[ edited by gravid on Sep 25, 2001 06:33 AM ]
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Linda_K
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posted on September 25, 2001 06:30:04 AM new
interesting perspective on all topics. I agree and always enjoy his posts.
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gravid
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posted on September 25, 2001 07:25:03 AM new
I know I sound harsh sometimes. Often my comments are not on what should be or is right or desirable, but what works. Of all the people I have met and known over the years there have always been a small number sprinkled through them of really bad people. Even when they are related what I have found is that the trouble they cause in your life is never offset by any value to make it worth associating with them. It is better to stay apart and not play the enabling game. If others want to know why you won't associate tell them truthfully and unemotionally.
If such evil people decide to harm you or stalk you the law is of little value. You better grow up and learn how to be tough in a hurry.
The same life lessons apply to groups like the Taliban.
They are not going to listen to a sweet voice of compromise. There is no course of action that will allow you to protect yourself from them and feel good about yourself. They don't give you that option. A sad situation that will have no winners just survivors.
[ edited by gravid on Sep 25, 2001 07:25 AM ]
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Muriel
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posted on September 25, 2001 02:28:05 PM new
Gravid: You mean to tell me that you were never a babysitter??
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gravid
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posted on September 25, 2001 04:58:19 PM new
I was a baby sitter for money once when I was about 14. My girl friend (first one) was sick and her Mom called asking if I could cover for her. The man was going to pick up his wife at the airport and then take her out to dinner before they came home late. They had a little boy about 6 and a little girl about 4.
When they got home she had such a screaming fit about him leaving the kids with a male babysitter that I expected her to haul the kids out of bed and exaimine them then and there for signs of rape.
I thought she would run down in a few minutes but when she started on about the third repeat of this I walked out and started walking home. The man followed in his car and said let me drive you home but I would not get in with him - told him it was too dangerous 'cause I might bugger him.
After days he mailed about three times what he owed to me.
I never had a taste to try that work again after that unfortunate experience. Makes me understand how day care workers feel that are accused of all sorts of rediculous things like killing animals to make the kids scared of them to keep quiet. Some of these cases you have to conclude from the number of charges that is just all they did all day long.
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Microbes
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posted on September 25, 2001 05:11:46 PM new
Heinlein ......I wish he had lived a few years more to give us another book or three.
Me too. I think he knew his time was getting short when he wrote the last couple of books. "To Sail Beyond the Sunset" and "The Cat Who Walked thru Walls" seemed to tie almost all of his stories together, even ones I would have thought couldn't be tied together.
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gravid
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posted on September 25, 2001 05:20:15 PM new
Yeah - He seemed to be bummed out a bit to have missed the sexual revolution but I always appreciated his message that self reliance was good.
It was a real reach to go all the way back to his juvies and tie in the Rolling Stones.
He said whenever they objected to elements in his stories being unsuitable for juvies he always said that's how you have classed them. I never tried to sell them to you that way.
[ edited by gravid on Sep 25, 2001 05:31 PM ]
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