What Do You Do?

[annegirl]

Wow, you guys are a talented bunch!

Right out of high school I went to Culinary Arts school and worked in a variety of restaurants, had my own catering business, did wedding cakes etc. I loved cooking, but the hurry hurry stress of professional kitchens sorta took the fun out of the process for me. I was going to open a bakery at some point...but I think normal bakery is out now.

When Hur. Katrina hit it awakened a childhood dream I had to volunteer with the Red Cross. Spent almost a month in Louisiana and was hooked! Did 5 other national disasters and began volunteering in my local area. Discovered that the college I was looking at for a generic degree also had a degree in Emergency Disaster Services and I was accepted into the program because of my 1000s of volunteer hours in the field.

Now I work for the State of Idaho as an exercise and training coordinator. Bottom line, I get to work with Sheriff's, Chiefs of Police, Firemen (swoon!) etc making sure that their training complies with federal grant regulations and I get to plan and facilitate disaster scenarios for training (both discussion and operations based).

I'm the proud momma of 2 fish: Steve and Bob, and my plants are beginning to take over my office and house.

Last, but definitely not least....I am a BSU alumni and an avid fan of Bronco football!

[GlutenFreeJess]

I work at a drug and alcohol treatment center, and am currently in school to become an LCDC (Licensed Chemical Dependency Counselor)

[domesticactivist]

I used to be in software development and management but for the past two years have been in school working toward being able to sit for the landscape contractor's exam. I'll have my design, management, and construction certificates and an AA in landscaping within the next few months. I also recently got the Permaculture Design Certification. My partner is working toward her Masters in Teaching for high school science, and tutors and cleans houses on the side.

We also have a little urban farm with chickens, rabbits, worms, and veggies. We give workshops where we teach people how to care for and slaughter rabbits. We homeschool our 2 kids and have 3 cats, 1 dog, and a snake.

As soon as I'm done with school, my partner and I are going to start our business in earnest. (The Liberated Kitchen - we have a blog going now, linked from my profile). We will support people in their dietary changes by helping them establish systems for their home and garden. We will also do the work - decluttering, organizing, cooking, shopping, developing meal plans, and designing & installing food & healing gardens.

[Lizzylulu]

Hi! Im new here. Im a stay at home Momma of three beautiful girls. My daughter and my husband are my world.

[sb2178]

Like Jestgar, I'm in research, but nutrition, and I'm still an underling. Likely to remain that way for a few more years, but the PhD track is calling the siren's call. And, admittedly, I'm an academia junkie. Give me a nice set of stacks and good database access...

Outside work: listen to the cat, spin yarn, bike/run, garden/cook, and recently, blog fairly faithfully.

My theory is the ESl folks are just into communication!

[josh052980]

I'm a graphic designer/art director for a local company's in-house design department.

[navigator]

I'm a Criminal Justice Social Worker. Our hobby(my husband, Alan, and I) is capris. We have a mk 2 with a rover V8 engine and much of our social life from spring to autumn revolves around it. So far this year, we've been to two classic Ford meets in the North of England,part of 70 capris at a Lancaster Bomber museum meet in Linconshire and a classic car meet in Stirling. This weekend we're off to Orkney for a capri rally. Watch this space for the rest. We additionally go to concerts and have weekends away in the Highland and in Shropshire, where one of my daughters lives. Off again to the South of France in the capri( affectionately known as Rumbly) this year.

Was privileged to host a fellow capri member from our forum last month for four nights all the way from California. Route 66 here we come!!!

[Tina B]

Registered Nurse and American College of Sports Medicine, Clinical Exercise Specialist. I do nuclear stress testing in a large cardiology practice.

[Niebr]

heya, Josh here.

ima computer geek, broken and fixed my own comptuers for the past 6 years. Made a business out of fixing them for the past 3 (hint hint lol)

I work at a Night Club down here in pittsburgh, and its honestly the best night club in pgh, if im not doign either of those though then im a massive gamer, pc games and 360 games as well. =D

[lizard00]

I was in retail management and then quit to go operate a franchise that my mom purchased in October of 2006. I was there until my daughter was born (almost 21 mos ago), and then I decided Why not do what I love? Last September I started a gluten-free baking business from my kitchen. Have loved it since I started it!

[kiwibird75]

Wow, what a lot of amazing people!

At the moment I'm a part time mum (every second week) and a database administrator on a short contract. I'm busily looking for work.

In the past I've been:

A newspaper delivery person

A fast food worker

A nanny

A chef

A housemother/tutor in a girls boarding school (the most fun questions you've ever been asked in your life!)

A training manager for a major fast food chain

A medical receptionist

A medical software trainer and salesperson

A receptionist for a brothel (it's legal in NZ)

Outside of work I'm a mad keen cook, a passionate reader, and by far the most exciting at the moment - a budding pilot!

Can't wait to get to know all you lovely people a little better.

[GlutenFreeManna]

I've been unable to work for almost four years due to gluten. I'm working on going back to grad school. Prior to that I held a number of jobs some of them serious and some of them part time gigs to pay the bills while I went to school. Lets see...I have been:

An artist

A lifeguard

Swiming lessons coach

nursery school teacher

babysitter/nanny

Camp counselor

A caterer

A draftsperson

a special events coodinator

A concert/theatre usher (got to see free shows, yay!)

A researcher (and I still research everything)

A plasma doner

A barista

A hotel breakfast hostess/front desk clerk

Retail sales (ugh, not my favorite job except for the clothing discount)

A house cleaner

a used book seller/ebay seller

hair stylist

a muralist

a wedding photographer

painter (the kind that paints house walls, separate from the artist gigs )

a proof reader for research journal publications

taught undergrad psychology and graduate level statistics at a public unversity while in grad school

.....then I got too sick to work and too sick for school. I haven't done many of these things lately although they all still influence me in many ways. I coupon to save as much money as possible, I cook every meal to save and to stay healthy and I keep house--something I wasn't able to do for a few years. I keep a container vegetable garden and I like to shop thrift stores for fun. I'm thankful for what I can do again and just taking it one day at a time.

[ravenwoodglass]

I just completed the college courses I started in the 90's and got my diplomas in the mail today.

I am hoping to find a job in Human Service soon. Meanwhile I do volunteer work at a local food pantry and thrift shop, which I love doing.

Thought I would give an update. I did finally find a job and am back working with kids for a national organization. It is a job I did years ago and loved. This first week is kind of trying because we are short handed due to someone being out sick but it is great to be back working with kids again. The only downside is that I am back at the same hourly rate I made working for them 13 yrs ago.

[bbuster]

I am a Chemical Engineer for a Fortune 50 company. I've been doing this for over 25 years, and on the fun side of it, I volunteer as a speaker (and demonstrator) at various school career days and Engineering Week events. I've given presentations about engineering to kids from kindergarten through college freshmen at a local technical college. I especially enjoy encouraging girls to pursue math and science, and engineering as a career if they are so inclined. I did not know any engineers when I was in school, so I enjoy the chance to mentor others.

Married with (2) children, my family is my passion. Since my best friend and then my son were diagnosed with Celiac, I have made it my mission to learn all that I can, and then in turn help people who are newly diagnosed. Fortunately, I love to cook, so this gives me a good reason to experiment.

I tell my friends that if I ever get so fed up with my work that I quit or get fired, gluten-free baking will be my next career. I often bring treats in for birthdays, etc. and I only do gluten-free baking anymore.

[GlutenFreeManna]

Thought I would give an update. I did finally find a job and am back working with kids for a national organization. It is a job I did years ago and loved. This first week is kind of trying because we are short handed due to someone being out sick but it is great to be back working with kids again. The only downside is that I am back at the same hourly rate I made working for them 13 yrs ago.

Raven, I've said this before, but you are such an inspiration to me!

[Goof]

My day job is as an accountant with a large mortgage company. I'm in the back office part, a kind of thankless job. But it's got good hours and low stress.

My alter ego is in a local band that plays mostly original music. We know what we are, and we're not looking for any big contract or looking to make it big, but we enjoy it! It's a great creative outlet.

[Korwyn]

Hmmm....what do I do...I've done a lot. And are you defined as who you are by what you do? So many questions....so little time....

My primary occupation is an Information System Specialist with a focus in Information Security/Information Assurance and Network Administration. I play on one of our worship bands at church, and have a number of hobbies that I cycle through. I'm almost insatiably curious (probably part of my OCD tendencies in certain areas - I drive my wife crazy) and I devour information out of necessity not just a hobby. I'm a font of useless knowledge -- I even occasionally dispense useful tidbits but I try not to make a habit of that!

I was a cook for a number of years, went to college to become an music ed major with a double in math, studied martial arts and taught self-defense classes, worked in a library, as a ditch digger/manual laborer, landscaping grunt, cut firewood as a job, worked as a programmer/developer, tutored, worked in radio for several years (morning show and production), and a variety of other things. Many of these overlapped and are in no particular order in case you're wondering how I managed to squeeze all that into 26 short working years (I started working my first paying job when I was 15.