what do bridgestone members do for a crust

[coxy]

i was just wondering about what all you guy's and girls do for  a living there a so many different sorts of people with different personality's and jobs and lifestyles past or present but we all share a common passion .the passion of the all mighty  Bridgestone .
myself i am a asphalt worker i make the roads to ride on ! the best in oz

[old smokey]

I work for a mapping company and just acquired "department manager" status so now I just make sure others are working.

[stickman]

I run the food service at a major university in WV. Good free food and very nice things to look at.
Stickman

[grandpa Norton]

I work for a major food company as a maintenance mechanic and electrician. We supply the world with dry mix ( donuts, pancakes, and cake). Im looking forward to retirement in just a couple of years.

[coxy]

cool jobs i am looking forward to retirement as well but that is a fair few years away .we did a road at the A.N.U i know what you mean stickman the view was pretty spectacular .
hey oldsmokey my brother does all the satellite and Ariel mapping of catchment areas etc for national parks and wildlife here .he always prefers to be out in the field (up in the air) than behind his desk   

[reed]

Coxy,
All i have done is work on motorcycles Kawasaki etc i think this is my 36 year as a mechanic!
And loved every minute.
Thanks.
Steve.

[coxy]

hey Steve my triumph mechanic is trying to get me to do a mature age motorcycle apprenticeship there is a government subsidy to help with the wages but i think i will have to wait until my daughter goes to school and the wife returns to full time work even with the subsidy it doesn't pay much  but it is a trade i have always wanted to do .cheers   

[reed]

Coxy,
I hope it works out for you its a very rewarding job!
Thanks.
Steve.

[cwesty0]

I'm a journeyman tool & die maker / machinist at a smaller local forging shop here in NW Ohio.. Been doing this for 20 + years now.

Craig

[CL-100]

I'm a retired Fire Chief and Paramedic instructor that finally found the time to resurrect my passion for Bridgestones.  I had a GP-100 I drove to high school and always loved that rotary transmission. 

[coxy]

.

[ztnoo]

I am a carpenter by trade. I kinda fell into it by accident after obtaining a B.A. in history and political science in 1970.
My intent was to go to law school, and after a semester in grad school, I ditched that plan.
My first job was hand nailing sub floor on my knees....ugh!  I had a great teacher/tradesman, found I loved the physical nature of the work, never drifted away, and am still on the fringes of it 40 years later.
I have had the good fortune to work on many varied, unusual, and interesting projects including nursing homes, subsidized single family housing and apartment projects, total remodeling of a depression era farmhouse with original field stone veneer, remodeling of professional offices, numerous higher end homes valued at up to $750,000 (circa 1993), and a very cool job for a good friend helping him build a home in the Lower Keys which we framed in the winter of '85-'86 and I trimmed two years later. I've be back there a couple of times to help deal with hurricane damage over the years.
Half of my time has basically been spent doing interior trim work in the high end homes. I was very fortunate....the builder would just turn me loose and leave me basically alone to do my thing. Depending on the size of the house, I might emerge 6-8 weeks later with a habitable finished product, usually trimmed in poplar with prolific use of elaborate profile trim.

Carpentry and construction generally was on the back burner for about the last three years as I was assigned the task of POA and family manager of my father's situation. We cared for him in his home 24/7 with lots of great caregivers helping me, but that ended on June 30, 2011 when he passed away at the age of 91.
Currently I'm the Personal Representative of his estate, and among my many duties, I am dealing with his and my mother's lifetime collection of all manner of collectibles and "stuff", his 96 year old house, and remodeling his 75 year old 24' x 30' garage into a modern structure with insulation, vapor barrier, new 5/8" sheetrock, up to code wiring with plentiful fluorescent lighting, a permanent heating source, and a new insulated 18' overhead door. Replacement of 8 of 28 (28.5%) ceiling joist members is part of this project with adequate bracing and triangulation in the hip roof system to maybe make it last another 75 years. Hopefully this will be one of the things that sells the house in what is a flooded, tough local real estate market.

I'm not really employed currently, but I have a "job", if you catch my drift.



Needless to say, I'm not wrenching bikes much, right now.......

[edward]

    I used to fix chemistry analyzer's in hospital labs, and research labs. Now, I'm the instructor for the new employees. I had always wanted to re-build an old bike since my dad did one, an old singe cylinder Harley Davidson Aermacchi.
    I know nothing about motorcycles but thouhgt it couldnt be as hard as repairing an AU5400 chemistry analyzer. So, far it has been the funnest hobby I've had!

[RayK]

Edward
Funny that you should mention Chemistry analysers as I have worked in Hospital Pathology Labs as a Med Lab Scientist for 38 years. Mainly Hospitals in Sydney and from 1981-2006 in a general lab in a small rural hospital.  I have always had an interest in restoring small Japanese 2 strokes, in particular BS bikes.

Currently I work 2 days per week (semi-retired) for the Federal Government in Canberra still associated with Pathology in the area of National accreditation.

The Chem analyser you mentioned, would that be an Abbott analyser?

RayK

[whitegto]

I am self employed working mostly on classic american cars and hot rods. About to tackle a right hand drive conversion on a 56 Chevy Nomad for a customer.
All good fun and very rewarding to see a job roll out the door.   Motorcycles have always been part of my life since i was 15 or so and now at almost 60 still are.  John

[edward]

     The AU5400 that I mentioned was from a family of AU- instruments. The AU5000, AU800, AU5200, AU400, AU640 and now the latest are the AU480, AU680 and AU5800.
      Originally OLYMPUS (the camera company) out of Japan manufactured and sold the analyzers but about 3 years ago they sold the division to Beckman Coulter here in the US. Now, a holding company, Danaher, has purchased Beckman Coulter (about a year and a half ago). They(Danaher) own lots of diagnostic companies: Fluke, Techtronics, MatCoTools, etc. So, in the last 4 years there has been alot of changes in this company. Beckman Coulter stock is no longer traded. Danaher stock covers all of its properties.

[deisher6]

Interesting:  Spent 21 years 6 mo and 2 days in USMC, 17 years teaching secondary maths, and 2.5 years as the local superintendent.  Very nice to be retired, sail, hunt upland game, and ride.
regards charlie

[bs_racer]

I'm a Journeyman Tool and Die maker in an automotive stamping plant in NW Ohio. I currently have 3 Bridgestones. I have 2 175 SS's and a 200 roadracer.

[disc_valve]

Hi,

A quick response form a Brit BS enthusiast. I spent the last 30 years working as a Software Engineer working mostly on guidance software for missile systems. My most recent career move (and the best one I've made for a long time), however, was to take eary retirement. I'm a man of leisure now and have plenty of time to indulge in my twin hobbies of smelly old motorcycles and smelly old aeroplanes.

In my case, that involves riding and mainitaining 1960s Bridgestones and Suzukis, and ground crewing at airshows for what you guys would call "Antique" aeroplanes - i.e. those built between 1909 and 1950.

I am a volunteer at the Shuttleworth Collection over here. The aircraft enthusiaists amongst you probably already know about Shuttleworth, but the nearest thing on your side of the pond would be the late Cole Palen's collection at Old Rhinebeck, NY. Rotary Aero engines, Huge V-12s, aviation fuel, fabric dope and loads of burnt Castor oil! Like a classic bike race meeting but more so!

Cheers!

[Bikenstein]

Currently I'm a tube welder and pipe welder. I mainly do power plant outages. I work maybe 4 - 6 months a year. One of my earliest jobs was as a motorcycle mechanic from age 16 until my hitch in the Army and for awhile after my discharge. I worked for Honda, Kawasaki, and had some training on BSA's. I worked for shops in Georgia, Florida and Texas including A.J. Foyt Kawasaki in Houston. That's the only work I really enjoyed. I'm an ex plumber, electrician, electronics technician, tile layer, carpenter (framing, finish and trim), cabinet maker, landscaper, mechanical maintenance technician, vibration analyst, crane operator, ironworker, millwright, boilermaker, truck driver, equipment operator (skidsteer and backhoe), welding instructor, fitness equipment designer and manufacturer, and a juice truck driver in Chicago. Probably some other stuff too. Some trades I only had a year or two experience but I was successfull with everything I tried (except the juice truck driver gig). Right now in my spare time, I'm enjoying restoring vintage bikes, mostly Japanese. It would be nice to make a living doing this.