Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I'm still bitter about the way I had to leave Motorola. In retrospect it probably was a good idea for me to have retired ten years before the planned date. A lot of serious illnesses and me needing to be mom's caregiver would have interrupted my performance on the job, plus I would have had to take extensive sick time that would not be compensated. The only good thing that came out of that situation was the fact that Motorola did indeed stay in business to this very day. There are two of them owned by two different people. The cell phone part is now owned by Lenovo. The radio communication part is the original company doing what it started out doing in the thirties. The fact that they did not go bankrupt provided me with a pension check. If Motorola went belly up when I had to retire, I'd be a lot poorer these days.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
Believe me, I understand being a caregiver!
I bought into a retirement plan at one place I worked, and although they were still in business, because I stopped paying into it when I left after 5 years, it didn't have much in it. Because it was such a low amount, they simply paid me back what I paid into it at 9.8% interest I think it was. I got a check for around 1700 bucks 3 months after I left there.
I also bought into a retirement plan where my late wife worked. This one worked differently. At the time I retired, they began paying me back $42.01 per month. NO actually it was 3 years after I retired, because I retired at 62 as far a SS is concerned, but they started paying when I turned 65. I only paid in 10 bucks a month for just under 20 years, so only paid in about 2200 bucks total. So far I've been paid back a little over 3500 bucks and it will continue until I die.
That little 42.01 per month, as small as it is, does help cover some of my meds and co-pays.
I also collected on my late wife's death insurance plan in a lump sum. It wasn't all that much, but sure helped me get back on my feet after she passed away and I could go back to work. Helped make a few house payments until my income was up to enough to cover it.
I bought into a retirement plan at one place I worked, and although they were still in business, because I stopped paying into it when I left after 5 years, it didn't have much in it. Because it was such a low amount, they simply paid me back what I paid into it at 9.8% interest I think it was. I got a check for around 1700 bucks 3 months after I left there.
I also bought into a retirement plan where my late wife worked. This one worked differently. At the time I retired, they began paying me back $42.01 per month. NO actually it was 3 years after I retired, because I retired at 62 as far a SS is concerned, but they started paying when I turned 65. I only paid in 10 bucks a month for just under 20 years, so only paid in about 2200 bucks total. So far I've been paid back a little over 3500 bucks and it will continue until I die.
That little 42.01 per month, as small as it is, does help cover some of my meds and co-pays.
I also collected on my late wife's death insurance plan in a lump sum. It wasn't all that much, but sure helped me get back on my feet after she passed away and I could go back to work. Helped make a few house payments until my income was up to enough to cover it.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
When Motorola first hired me I argued with them about profit sharing. I didn't want it at that age. The bottom line was that contributions to the fund was a condition of employment. So, reluctantly, I had them take out the minimum and put it in my account. The company matched whatever I put in and the rest was invested. If business was good and they had a bunch of money left over at the end of the year, Motorola would put a lump sum into the general fund. This was considered profit sharing. As the years passed and the laws changed I eventually saw the light and increased my contributions to the max allowed. The way the economy was going and the growth of cell phone technology suggested my profit sharing fund would be worth over a million dollars at age 65.
Then all the success Motorola had in the cell phone business attracted a lot of competition. In addition to that the economy was starting to tank, hitting the high tech segment particularly hard. It came down to moving 40,000 employees off shore or going out of business. I happened to be one of the 40k that was eliminated and chose not to go to Mexico, China, or Bangladesh. My profit sharing fund was not quite half way to the million dollar mark when I had to leave the company. It was that money that kept us afloat until social security and the company pension kicked in. I didn't lose much income, but I didn't have the million dollar float either. Looking back on it all I must say that I am truly grateful that contributions to the profit sharing fund were mandatory. 36 years of contributions saved my financial butt.
One of the cool things about Motorola was that I did not have to contribute to the pension fund. It was all self-financed until they had to sell off the cell business. Instead of just paying off the pensioners, Motorola sold the pension fund to Prudential to purchase an annuity. So now Motorola is out of the pension fund business and I get the benefits from Prudential Financial. I never thought much of annuities either, but this one is keeping me alive.
Then all the success Motorola had in the cell phone business attracted a lot of competition. In addition to that the economy was starting to tank, hitting the high tech segment particularly hard. It came down to moving 40,000 employees off shore or going out of business. I happened to be one of the 40k that was eliminated and chose not to go to Mexico, China, or Bangladesh. My profit sharing fund was not quite half way to the million dollar mark when I had to leave the company. It was that money that kept us afloat until social security and the company pension kicked in. I didn't lose much income, but I didn't have the million dollar float either. Looking back on it all I must say that I am truly grateful that contributions to the profit sharing fund were mandatory. 36 years of contributions saved my financial butt.
One of the cool things about Motorola was that I did not have to contribute to the pension fund. It was all self-financed until they had to sell off the cell business. Instead of just paying off the pensioners, Motorola sold the pension fund to Prudential to purchase an annuity. So now Motorola is out of the pension fund business and I get the benefits from Prudential Financial. I never thought much of annuities either, but this one is keeping me alive.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
My uncle Herb who worked for Ford for over 40 years had an amazing pension.
Fortunately, a good portion of it went to his wife after he died.
I'm not sure how that worked, because part of it was insured and part of it not.
He died before or just after reaching age 68 which is when the pension part cut out I think, but they still had the insurance part which set the wife up fairly nice.
She did something most people wouldn't do. After her first couple of small strokes, she decided to take a lump sum payment, rather than a monthly check. We think she did this because it would not pass to her daughter otherwise.
I have no idea where she invested the money, but she did along with the proceeds from the sale of their house, and she moved into a Seniors self-care facility. So did my mom at 3 grand a month.
When my aunt passed away, everything went to her only daughter, and for her it was an amazing windfall.
She gets something like 4800 bucks a month without touching the principle. Lucky Kid!
Fortunately, a good portion of it went to his wife after he died.
I'm not sure how that worked, because part of it was insured and part of it not.
He died before or just after reaching age 68 which is when the pension part cut out I think, but they still had the insurance part which set the wife up fairly nice.
She did something most people wouldn't do. After her first couple of small strokes, she decided to take a lump sum payment, rather than a monthly check. We think she did this because it would not pass to her daughter otherwise.
I have no idea where she invested the money, but she did along with the proceeds from the sale of their house, and she moved into a Seniors self-care facility. So did my mom at 3 grand a month.
When my aunt passed away, everything went to her only daughter, and for her it was an amazing windfall.
She gets something like 4800 bucks a month without touching the principle. Lucky Kid!
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
My plan is to spare the kids any trouble after I depart. I want to spend every last cent I have and then croak. This way there will be nothing to fight over. The trick is, of course, knowing when you are going to die. Well, I don't so that I have to be careful about how high I live off what I have. I really don't have any plans in place, but the investments I do have are in a few places. I intend to consolidate it all into the two safest and most productive vehicles which should cut down the paperwork considerably after I'm gone. The only uncertainty is the house. I read how you managed ownerships in order to make the transition simple, but I'm not sure I can or want to go through all that trouble.
I believe all our pensions and social security benefits will fall over to the surviving spouse. At least that's how I recall setting it up when I had the choice. It will be a reduced amount upon transferring the funds, but then, expenses will be reduced slightly as well.
I believe all our pensions and social security benefits will fall over to the surviving spouse. At least that's how I recall setting it up when I had the choice. It will be a reduced amount upon transferring the funds, but then, expenses will be reduced slightly as well.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
The frau wants me to do the same steps I did to get her name as the only name on the deed, except she wants it to be placed in her sons name. He told he he would take over the property taxes.
I jumped thorough hoops to keep the two parcels on separate deeds to keep taxes down. But the way he want's to go about it will put them together and more than double our taxes. He said not to worry about it, because he will pay the taxes for us after the house is in his name.
Sound good, but I worry because he has a massive amount of student debt and other loans that if something happens he could easily default on. Plus he's showing certain signs of medical problems which may cause him not to be able to work if they get worse sooner than later.
Right now there is no inheritance tax on the house and land, especially if it goes from mom to son.
So I'm hoping she keeps dragging her feet on the idea. Since he lives 3 hours away, that helps slow things down too.
I jumped thorough hoops to keep the two parcels on separate deeds to keep taxes down. But the way he want's to go about it will put them together and more than double our taxes. He said not to worry about it, because he will pay the taxes for us after the house is in his name.
Sound good, but I worry because he has a massive amount of student debt and other loans that if something happens he could easily default on. Plus he's showing certain signs of medical problems which may cause him not to be able to work if they get worse sooner than later.
Right now there is no inheritance tax on the house and land, especially if it goes from mom to son.
So I'm hoping she keeps dragging her feet on the idea. Since he lives 3 hours away, that helps slow things down too.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I only have one distantly similar experience to draw on. Mom owned a fairly new and unused Saturn but was unable to drive as her end came near. In Illinois the transfer of title on an automobile is as simple as signing the appropriate line on the back of the current title. So, that's what mom did. She signed the transfer clause and held onto the title until she passed on. I went to the DMV in Illinois afterwards and was handed a bunch of forms and instructions on how to go about all this. But then I showed the clerk the signed title and all those other forms disappeared. We had to do some creative date changing, but they obviously had done this before for countless people before me. They were very understanding and helpful. I got new plates for the car that same visit and the title was mailed to me a few weeks later. All that was made easy because mom effectively handed ownership over to me before she died. If real estate can be done the same way, it's a blessing the the heir.
But then there is the reality of it all. You are barely making it with the resources you have. Why take the risk of a possible catastrophe? Yes, It's all family, but you are living in the here and now. It would be nice to make the effort to ease the transition to the heirs, but that isn't going to help you out today. The first priority rightly should be to your own and your wife's best interests.
But then there is the reality of it all. You are barely making it with the resources you have. Why take the risk of a possible catastrophe? Yes, It's all family, but you are living in the here and now. It would be nice to make the effort to ease the transition to the heirs, but that isn't going to help you out today. The first priority rightly should be to your own and your wife's best interests.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
In Missouri, if someone sold or gave you a car, you still had to either both go to the DMV or have a Notary Public stamp the title to verify the person who signed the title is who really signed it.
If you inherited a vehicle, you had to bring the Will which had to be a legal Will of course, either notarized or signed by three people. Then things went smooth.
Handling land deeds is whole different story. In Missouri it is best to use a Title Company to handle it. Down here we have to use an Attorney who can handle the filing. Trouble is Attorneys often forget to get all the things filed that need be, which causes some problems later on. To get a name off a deed requires a Quit Claim Deed. To add a name just requires going to the Title Company or Attorney's Office. However, there must be a lapse of 30 days between each modification to the deed. And in the case of the original owner, there is a 5 year waiting period before the deed is clear, and the original owners name officially off the deed. It is removed from the deed right away, but the state still has a claim to the deed under their name for 5 years after it was removed, at least here in TN. I think in MO it was 7 years?
If you inherited a vehicle, you had to bring the Will which had to be a legal Will of course, either notarized or signed by three people. Then things went smooth.
Handling land deeds is whole different story. In Missouri it is best to use a Title Company to handle it. Down here we have to use an Attorney who can handle the filing. Trouble is Attorneys often forget to get all the things filed that need be, which causes some problems later on. To get a name off a deed requires a Quit Claim Deed. To add a name just requires going to the Title Company or Attorney's Office. However, there must be a lapse of 30 days between each modification to the deed. And in the case of the original owner, there is a 5 year waiting period before the deed is clear, and the original owners name officially off the deed. It is removed from the deed right away, but the state still has a claim to the deed under their name for 5 years after it was removed, at least here in TN. I think in MO it was 7 years?
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I do believe there was a place on the title of mom's care for a notary stamp. I had no idea what was required and obviously appeared confused to the clerk at DMV. But, as I mentioned earlier, apparently I'm not the only person to have tried what I did and they sort of knew what to do about it. Since it all went better than I thought, I didn't complain. LOL I'm sure things would not be as simple here in Missouri, but then I know virtually nothing about the system.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
The title on my car was in both mine and my late wife's name.
Before I moved south, I stopped by the DMV with her death certificate and they took here name off the title.
Charged the usual 35 buck fee and mailed me the new title.
The death certificate had to be one that was certified too and they charge 13 bucks for a certified copy, or did back then.
Most of the houses I bought when I was in the biz were from REO auctions.
I would never buy from the courthouse steps auctions, no way to win that way, to many encumbrances.
But REO auctions you get a clean deed with no encumbrances of any kind.
Many of the other renovators I worked with, and a couple who even looked at the same properties I did and turned them down. Couldn't believe I got the houses so cheap. But then too, there was usually something about them that was above many of their technologies or licensing.
Most renovators want to buy homes that will pass code, give them a lick and a promise and flip them.
For this simplicity they had to pay 4 to 5 times more than I paid for houses.
When I bought, I already planned on replacing all the plumbing and electric with new.
So this opened up all the houses they all passed over to me.
Plus I bought a lot of houses that had fires in them. Usually held to an upstairs room or two.
One house I bought, the fire was contained in one room, but did burn through the roof.
Most renovators won't touch a house like that. Too many hazmat rules on clean-up, plus getting rid of the smoke smell from inside the house. Ironically, clean-up steps are fairly easy, but still a lot of work and time consuming.
After the worst of the burned wood and materials were removed, and usually after I did the first two clean-up stages, I would run three or four ozone generators overnight in the house. This got rid of most of the smell, but we still had to treat everything with a special odor blocker for things the odor would have permeated, and then released slowly over time.
I was younger then and it was actually fun turning a burn-out back into a nice home.
Before I moved south, I stopped by the DMV with her death certificate and they took here name off the title.
Charged the usual 35 buck fee and mailed me the new title.
The death certificate had to be one that was certified too and they charge 13 bucks for a certified copy, or did back then.
Most of the houses I bought when I was in the biz were from REO auctions.
I would never buy from the courthouse steps auctions, no way to win that way, to many encumbrances.
But REO auctions you get a clean deed with no encumbrances of any kind.
Many of the other renovators I worked with, and a couple who even looked at the same properties I did and turned them down. Couldn't believe I got the houses so cheap. But then too, there was usually something about them that was above many of their technologies or licensing.
Most renovators want to buy homes that will pass code, give them a lick and a promise and flip them.
For this simplicity they had to pay 4 to 5 times more than I paid for houses.
When I bought, I already planned on replacing all the plumbing and electric with new.
So this opened up all the houses they all passed over to me.
Plus I bought a lot of houses that had fires in them. Usually held to an upstairs room or two.
One house I bought, the fire was contained in one room, but did burn through the roof.
Most renovators won't touch a house like that. Too many hazmat rules on clean-up, plus getting rid of the smoke smell from inside the house. Ironically, clean-up steps are fairly easy, but still a lot of work and time consuming.
After the worst of the burned wood and materials were removed, and usually after I did the first two clean-up stages, I would run three or four ozone generators overnight in the house. This got rid of most of the smell, but we still had to treat everything with a special odor blocker for things the odor would have permeated, and then released slowly over time.
I was younger then and it was actually fun turning a burn-out back into a nice home.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I think the way you restored properties was more time consuming and expensive than what the average restoration crew would want to do. They are interested in a quick profit, of course, but you weren't so quick. The payoff was that you got bargain prices and most likely made more profit per residence than did the average contractor. The way you did it suits the style of every story you wrote about here. Your interest is more in quality than in quantity. That's a great way to work, but I'm not sure the people who bought things from you appreciated it.
Way back when I lived at home there was a fire in the wall that separated us from the garage. It went up to the second floor and onto the roof, but amazingly there wasn't a lot of visible damage. It was an electrical fire and smoldered more than flamed, but it sure scared the hell out of us tenants nonetheless. The house did smell from smoke for quite a while, maybe a year or so. But then it got back to normal without any special efforts on our part. The landlord was too cheap to do anything even if he could.
Way back when I lived at home there was a fire in the wall that separated us from the garage. It went up to the second floor and onto the roof, but amazingly there wasn't a lot of visible damage. It was an electrical fire and smoldered more than flamed, but it sure scared the hell out of us tenants nonetheless. The house did smell from smoke for quite a while, maybe a year or so. But then it got back to normal without any special efforts on our part. The landlord was too cheap to do anything even if he could.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I was told my nearly every Realtor and Title Agent that I was way to cheap for every house I sold.
They didn't understand why I would sell so far below the FMV of the house. This was mainly Realtors who wanted me to let them sell the houses through them.
They didn't realize I was already doubling my cost, because they didn't usually know what I paid for the house, at least until the Title Company was involved.
For the buyer, they would have instant equity, so could refinance at a cheaper rate in one year or less.
Plus, because I sold most of the houses I renovated using B-Paper Mortgages, I could show most of the equity in the house as their down payment, even though no cash actually changed hands.
Here is a quick example: I buy a house for 6k, pay 1k in cleanup, 15k in repair and renovation materials, 2k for outside labor, 15k for my labor, that comes to 39k. I always add 10% to come up with my sale price which I round off, in this case to 45k. The house is appraised and comes in around 65 to 70k. In many cases I left some minor things undone, such as installing the final baseboard trim, because I let the home buyer select the color of carpeting, and although the house is primed and painted with an off-white with slight gray tint, they may choose to repaint also. I give them a 20k sweat equity credit which is what is applied as a down payment. So they are getting a 65 to 70k house for 45k, which makes it affordable for them. If they can't get financed for 45k, I will carry back 10 to 20k as a second, which I don't like to do because I've been burned a few times doing this. If they default, the bank gets theirs first, and the house, and I get nothing on B-Paper type of Mortgages. After 9/11 B-Paper dried up completely.
They didn't understand why I would sell so far below the FMV of the house. This was mainly Realtors who wanted me to let them sell the houses through them.
They didn't realize I was already doubling my cost, because they didn't usually know what I paid for the house, at least until the Title Company was involved.
For the buyer, they would have instant equity, so could refinance at a cheaper rate in one year or less.
Plus, because I sold most of the houses I renovated using B-Paper Mortgages, I could show most of the equity in the house as their down payment, even though no cash actually changed hands.
Here is a quick example: I buy a house for 6k, pay 1k in cleanup, 15k in repair and renovation materials, 2k for outside labor, 15k for my labor, that comes to 39k. I always add 10% to come up with my sale price which I round off, in this case to 45k. The house is appraised and comes in around 65 to 70k. In many cases I left some minor things undone, such as installing the final baseboard trim, because I let the home buyer select the color of carpeting, and although the house is primed and painted with an off-white with slight gray tint, they may choose to repaint also. I give them a 20k sweat equity credit which is what is applied as a down payment. So they are getting a 65 to 70k house for 45k, which makes it affordable for them. If they can't get financed for 45k, I will carry back 10 to 20k as a second, which I don't like to do because I've been burned a few times doing this. If they default, the bank gets theirs first, and the house, and I get nothing on B-Paper type of Mortgages. After 9/11 B-Paper dried up completely.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I think you survived in the renovation business because you were not big time. Undercutting the market value as you describe would tend to piss off a lot of real estate brokers. Not only that, but the sale price of your low cost houses could affect appraisals of similar properties. Do that often enough and you would make a lot of enemies. LOL Of course the buyers of your renovations were thrilled, as they should have been.
We got a construction loan to build our first house. I don't know if that qualifies for B-paper or not, but it was due in full 12 months later. We paid that off when we got a regular mortgage, which was amazingly difficult to secure. Banks in the area said our house was not worth what we wanted to finance, but they were all too willing to give us the construction funding. Short term; high interest; good deal if you are a bank.
We got a construction loan to build our first house. I don't know if that qualifies for B-paper or not, but it was due in full 12 months later. We paid that off when we got a regular mortgage, which was amazingly difficult to secure. Banks in the area said our house was not worth what we wanted to finance, but they were all too willing to give us the construction funding. Short term; high interest; good deal if you are a bank.
Last edited by yogi on 01 Feb 2020, 19:10, edited 1 time in total.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
B-Paper was high interest short term loans and if paid on time they came with a reduced interest refinance on a 5 or 10 year balloon. It allowed folks who's credit was shaky to get a loan for a home, and if they paid as they should, they earned a low interest rate, but still slightly higher than a conventional mortgage. The monthly payments on B-Paper were almost 90% interest to keep the payments lower that first year before the rollover.
A construction loan is slightly different, but works about the same way.
Construction loans don't usually have as high of an interest rate as B-Paper.
A construction loan is slightly different, but works about the same way.
Construction loans don't usually have as high of an interest rate as B-Paper.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I do recall being warned to avoid balloon type mortgages. We were fortunate and didn't have any bad marks against us other than the fact this was our first major financial project. We didn't have a lot of history. I believe we ended up with a 20 year conventional mortgage at 7.5%, which was reasonable back then believe it or not. My wife worked for the parent company of the bank that gave us the mortgage so that we got a 1% discount as long as she stayed employed with them. We knew full well how loan payments are structured and that all the interest is paid the first half of the loan. Thus we always paid more than the monthly requirement to bring down the principle quicker. About the ten year mark conventional rates came down to less than 5%, which is when we refinanced with a ten year mortgage. We paid that off early too. My wife and I both had good paying jobs so that these double payments were not too hard on the budget. When the loan on that first house was paid off, of course, we then went out to build a new house and get a really big mortgage. LOL
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I taught most of my buyers a little trick, many of them used it too!
Instead of paying monthly, pay every other week, because then most of the second payment goes to principle.
In essence, you were always a half a payment ahead doing it that way. The way interest is calculated it did make a big difference.
What is so dangerous about balloon mortgages is they come due and payable, and if you don't have another lender lined up, they can take your house if you can't pay off the loan.
The Interest on B-Paper Mortgages was up near 12%, or 1% per month, and your house payment was usually only 500 bucks, so basically nothing was applied to the principle. That being said, because I sold houses cheaper, showing they made a deposit via sweat equity, they got payments around 425 to 475 that first year. A new mortgage would cut that down even further beside lower the interest rate by about half.
Despite the headaches with crazy city inspectors who only wanted to harass us big time, I really enjoyed the years I was buying old houses to renovate. I really enjoyed doing the old historical houses too, but I didn't own any of those, was just doing work for others at that time. But it did earn me a good reputation in the industry.
Instead of paying monthly, pay every other week, because then most of the second payment goes to principle.
In essence, you were always a half a payment ahead doing it that way. The way interest is calculated it did make a big difference.
What is so dangerous about balloon mortgages is they come due and payable, and if you don't have another lender lined up, they can take your house if you can't pay off the loan.
The Interest on B-Paper Mortgages was up near 12%, or 1% per month, and your house payment was usually only 500 bucks, so basically nothing was applied to the principle. That being said, because I sold houses cheaper, showing they made a deposit via sweat equity, they got payments around 425 to 475 that first year. A new mortgage would cut that down even further beside lower the interest rate by about half.
Despite the headaches with crazy city inspectors who only wanted to harass us big time, I really enjoyed the years I was buying old houses to renovate. I really enjoyed doing the old historical houses too, but I didn't own any of those, was just doing work for others at that time. But it did earn me a good reputation in the industry.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I suppose there are a few tricks one can use to pay off a mortgage quickly. Bi-weekly payments would be one, but our lender allowed extra payments directly against the principle at any time. In fact there was no penalty for paying off the loan early which is something not all lenders offered back then.
My dad was a machinist but he was pretty good at carpentry too. His name was Joe and he would always say that is the reason why. I must have inherited some of his love for wood working because I like that kind of work quite a bit. Oddly enough I never pursued it beyond what I had to do around the house. But, I could see myself doing exactly what you did: buying old homes and renovating them. Making something valuable out of trash has always been satisfying. My dream was/is to become a cabinet maker. We had a neighbor at the first house we owned who was one and his work nearly brought me to tears. When I looked into the cost of buying some power tools a cabinet maker would require, that brought me to tears as well.
My dad was a machinist but he was pretty good at carpentry too. His name was Joe and he would always say that is the reason why. I must have inherited some of his love for wood working because I like that kind of work quite a bit. Oddly enough I never pursued it beyond what I had to do around the house. But, I could see myself doing exactly what you did: buying old homes and renovating them. Making something valuable out of trash has always been satisfying. My dream was/is to become a cabinet maker. We had a neighbor at the first house we owned who was one and his work nearly brought me to tears. When I looked into the cost of buying some power tools a cabinet maker would require, that brought me to tears as well.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I hear ya Yogi!
We had a friend who made every stick of furniture in his house, and much of it was of very unique designs.
His workshop working area covered over 750 sq. ft. and this did not count the storage or finishing and drying areas, which were actually in a separate building but connected via a covered hallway.
Although he didn't usually make things for other people to order, he did sell a lot of the furniture he made.
But he did get a contract from some city poly-TICK-ian to make him a desk to the tune of like 25 grand and this was back in the late 70s or early 80s.
I had a small machine shop for four years. I bought it from a man who was retiring to keep the place going for his six employees. My goal was like with other businesses, to eventually sell it to the best worker. The problem there was, that's what they were, only workers, and none knew how the boss managed to get so many orders.
I went through the last years books and began contacting past customers, all were pleased with the work, but found other places to do their stuff faster and cheaper. Places with automated equipment of course.
Five of the six workers managed to land a job at Couples Company when they got a big military contract, so I closed the place down. Fortunately, before I moved the stuff to my storage building, a gunsmith offered to buy about 2/3 of the machines that were in the building. The price he offered was only a couple of grand below what I paid for everything, so I accepted. He didn't want some of the really old equipment, so I moved it to my house instead of to storage.
I'm sure it drove my wife nuts, with it all sitting in the living room until I managed to sell the rest of it. But then the money from the sales got her a brand new kitchen, in a different room in the house than the old kitchen. She was pleased the machines were gone and with her new kitchen, hi hi.
We had a friend who made every stick of furniture in his house, and much of it was of very unique designs.
His workshop working area covered over 750 sq. ft. and this did not count the storage or finishing and drying areas, which were actually in a separate building but connected via a covered hallway.
Although he didn't usually make things for other people to order, he did sell a lot of the furniture he made.
But he did get a contract from some city poly-TICK-ian to make him a desk to the tune of like 25 grand and this was back in the late 70s or early 80s.
I had a small machine shop for four years. I bought it from a man who was retiring to keep the place going for his six employees. My goal was like with other businesses, to eventually sell it to the best worker. The problem there was, that's what they were, only workers, and none knew how the boss managed to get so many orders.
I went through the last years books and began contacting past customers, all were pleased with the work, but found other places to do their stuff faster and cheaper. Places with automated equipment of course.
Five of the six workers managed to land a job at Couples Company when they got a big military contract, so I closed the place down. Fortunately, before I moved the stuff to my storage building, a gunsmith offered to buy about 2/3 of the machines that were in the building. The price he offered was only a couple of grand below what I paid for everything, so I accepted. He didn't want some of the really old equipment, so I moved it to my house instead of to storage.
I'm sure it drove my wife nuts, with it all sitting in the living room until I managed to sell the rest of it. But then the money from the sales got her a brand new kitchen, in a different room in the house than the old kitchen. She was pleased the machines were gone and with her new kitchen, hi hi.
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
I had a choice of going to a vocational high school that I could walk to or a college prep (magnet) high school about an hour's bus ride away. I chose the college prep school and they had some very interesting choices of curriculum. One was four years of learning about printing. They printed their own year books among other things and all I could say is that they had some pretty fancy printing presses in their shops. There was also an architectural path you could follow which involved a lot of drafting. There may have been one more, but the path I chose was classes that would prepare me for college. The vocational high school in my neighborhood apparently did not offer the language, science and literature courses one would need to get a higher education. Be that all as it may, I had to take 4 shop classes. One was wood shop in which I did very well. There also was the electric shop where we learned what electricians do. Also spent a semester in a foundry which was a dirty old place, but kind of fun playing with sand and casting aluminum. Also took aeronautics shop where we worked on various engines and learned a bit about flying a Link trainer. None of those shops were on the list of required courses to be admitted into the University of Illinois but I had no choice other than to take them. Since I didn't do so well in college, in retrospect I would have been better off going to the vocational school. But who would know such things age age 17?
Re: Windows Moving To A Linuix Kernel
When I was in High School, we had several different types of shops too. Even automotive repair.
You could sign up to take three different ones, one each year. So I did woodshop construction, woodshop cabinetry, and metalshop. Drafting was a main course and not part of the shop curriculum and I took it all three years I was at that school. Was also in the band, took crafts, and the split-half semester courses of typing and stenography. Never missed a day of typing class, but steno class I missed way to much of, so never learned it very well.
In the band I was selected as a member of the symphonic band, and symphonic orchestra, so that blew all of my spare time, hi hi. One of the requirements was I also had to belong to the marching band, as that's the only way they could fill up the marching band. So, through that I learned choreography, which also helped me to get into little theater.
As far as college goes, although I did go, I did not go for the purpose of getting a degree. Didn't need one since my only jobs were at the florist and I was expected to take it over. I did work outside of that business as a draftsman for a few years, but still had to work all the holidays at the florist. I'm sorta glad they decided to close the place down.
You could sign up to take three different ones, one each year. So I did woodshop construction, woodshop cabinetry, and metalshop. Drafting was a main course and not part of the shop curriculum and I took it all three years I was at that school. Was also in the band, took crafts, and the split-half semester courses of typing and stenography. Never missed a day of typing class, but steno class I missed way to much of, so never learned it very well.
In the band I was selected as a member of the symphonic band, and symphonic orchestra, so that blew all of my spare time, hi hi. One of the requirements was I also had to belong to the marching band, as that's the only way they could fill up the marching band. So, through that I learned choreography, which also helped me to get into little theater.
As far as college goes, although I did go, I did not go for the purpose of getting a degree. Didn't need one since my only jobs were at the florist and I was expected to take it over. I did work outside of that business as a draftsman for a few years, but still had to work all the holidays at the florist. I'm sorta glad they decided to close the place down.