Been Things And Done Places

~ Jobs I've Learned From ~

Permanent Full Time Jobs (Partial Listing):

- Engineering Administrator/Editor, McDonnell Douglas Corp., St. Louis (Seven Years)
- Sales Promotion Writer, Hesston Corp., Hesston, Kansas
- Advertising Mgr.>Marketing Mgr., Rickel Mfg. Corp., Salina & K.C.
- Regional Sales Mgr., Parkersburg Tank, Tulsa, OK.
- Industrial Sales Rep., CE Natco, Tulsa (Oilfield Equip.)
- Sales Rep., Willis (Choke) Div., Smith Int'ntl Inc., Tulsa & Ok. City (Oilfield Equip.)
- Documentation Specialist>Sales Rep., Hexis, Inc., Dallas (Computer-Based Mapping/GIS)
- Documentation Specialist, Genioss Div., Data General, Carrollton, TX (Telecom.)
Program/Project Mgmt Web Designer, Alcatel, Richardson, TX (Telecom.)
Sr. Tech Writer/Req. Engineer, SONET/DWDM X-Cs, Alcatel, Plano, TX (Telecom.)

Contract On-Site Tech Writing/Web Development - Partial Listing:

- Teknekron Infoswitch, Dallas
- E-Systems, Greenville, TX
- Rockwell Int'ntl Inc./Alcatel, Richardson, TX (8 yrs).
- Texas Instruments, Plano, TX
- The Associates, Irving, TX
- Citigroup, Irving, TX

Contract On-Site Sarbanes - Oxley 404 Audit Testing & Documentation:

- Lennox International, Richardson, TX & Marshalltown, IA
- McAfee (Security Software), Amsterdam, Holland
- TXU (Energy Co.), Downtown Dallas, TX
- Celanese, Dallas, TX
- Haggar Clothing Company, Dallas, TX
- Match.com, Plano, TX
- AZZ, Inc., Ft. Worth, TX

Other Interesting Experience

- Spent many of my formative years and some later ones farming West of St. Louis
- Was jet mechanic in USAF (Mostly in Florida; short TDY In England, Spain, & Japan)
- Got my early pilot training from bush pilot Van Brooks, ex-crop duster & B-17 tail gunner - and a fine man.
...Continued flying and eventually picked up multi-engine and commercial pilot ratings.
- Taught English while in college and Technical Writing later (for Collin County Junior College)
- Helped a neighbor open and operate a motorcycle shop. Used to run Enduros in MO and IL.
- Other second jobs included camera sales, tomato warehouse dock work, dept.store sales,
aircraft mechanic and refueler, English as Second Language instructor, marketing and technical
writing and photography. Examples of volunteer jobs included furniture hauling (church),
PTO Treasurer (for the daughters' grade school) and photography (sort of church-related).

Click On Paragraphs Below To Display Job-Related Photos

U.S. Air Force

An airplane I know well. My last job (for about 3 and a half years) before college was working as a crew chief (mechanic) on Boeing KC-135s somewhat like this one. But this photo shows a KC with fans. In my day we had to make do with Pratt and Whitney J-57s, and we called the earliest versions of these planes "water wagons" because of the water injected into the engines on take off for extra thrust. The fanjet engines have LOTS more power and burn less fuel, and along with other mods have modernized the airplane considerably. I spent some temporary duty (with KC's I was assigned to) in Spain, England and Japan. During the Cuban crisis we once carried a courier officer handcuffed to a briefcase full of fresh U2 photos from Patrick AFB in Florida to Andrews AFB near Washington. Then we flew North to ferry a big load of new film out of Plattsburg AFB (near an Eastman Kodak plant in New York) to Forbes AFB,KS, where I think it was to be loaded in RB-47s filming the goings on in Fidel Land.

Sales And Sales Management

Tanks I have known. While working for Parkerburg Tank, I zipped about (mostly in the Midwest and Southwest) in a leased Grumman Tiger selling large bolted steel storage tanks that looked something like this one on Superior Tank's homepage.

The Tiger was a great airplane for a flying salesman, as it got in and out of small airports easily and took little space in a hangar or tie down spot. It was essential to covering a large territory (many states) with a minimum of travel time.

More big machinery. I was Advertising and then Marketing Manager for Rickel Mfg., back when they were building Big A spreaders that looked somewhat like the big yellow machine here. As I recall, under ideal conditions these could cover about a thousand acres a day in Kansas. My work at Rickel was probably the most fun of any job I've had.