ECN Forum Forums General Topics of the Trade General Discussion Area Were you born this way?

Awwww..Shoot! I'm not a gaffer then....

Thanks for clearing that up! (I think electure, dspark and others were too nice to burst my bubble! )...

When I was a kid, My Dad was a pack rat. One part of the barn was filled with anything you could think of including electrical items. (mostly old stuff) This was a paradise for us young kids. I remember rigging things up to see how they work. An old light socket and a cord taken from an old appliance and I had made my first working lamp. Next step was to add a switch. After tripping a few breakers I had that perfected. I also recall opening a main panel and seeing the ground and the grounded conductor bonded I decided these 2 conductors do the same thing and therefore it should not matter how I hook them to a recep. This resulted In a few improperly wired devices around home till I was set straight on that subject.
Electricity always held a fasination for me and still does. I have since taken some courses and am working in the field as a maintenance electrician. I still love experimenting with rigging up various types of controls etc. but now I do it with proper procedures and safety in mind.

Thanks for clearing that up! (I think electure, dspark and others were too nice to burst my bubble! )...

'66...
I followed your adventures at the full moon festival...oh, that even 10% of the "electricians' were 10% as concientious about outdoor remote venues as you were, although, your experience and knowledge kind of made it a little more complex than it needed to be. i.e. Rule #1 about (many) sound guys: They're deaf anyways...(!)
Some "Gaffers" could only have the term applied to them by the number of gaffes they make on a job

[This message has been edited by mickky (edited 08-25-2001).]

[This message has been edited by mickky (edited 08-26-2001).]

My grand-dad was a maintenance electrician at a large factory in Indianapolis, and sometimes on Saturdays (when he could sneak me in) I got to go with him and watch and hand tools to him. He told me my family watched one time (from a distance) as I climbed up on the kitchen table to stick a skeleton key into a receptacle there. It knocked me off the table, and before my folks realized what I was doing, I climbed back up and did it again. Grand-dad said I was "practicin". I was probably two at the time.
I got into the apprenticeship right out of high school, and ten years ago I received my Master's License.

Pauluk, my grand-dad also got me interested early in about everything electrical/electronic. He brought me books on Faraday, Edison, Morse, Bell, and others, as well as working parts from his factory that was replaced during maintenance work.

He would have loved computers. Probably would have had to drag him away from one for dinner...

Virgil, About 20 yrs ago I lived next door to a Gaffer for one of the major studios.
Some of his accomplishments include:
...Putting quartz light on end of 20' of 1/2" GRC, standing it up in back yard, and pouring concrete for a base. Great 'til the lamp burned out. No way to change it.
...Built very nice doghouse on driveway, couldn't find tape measure, so used a level to measure. Driveway was sloped, so was doghouse when he put it in the yard.
...Emptied aboveground pool by taking the side off. Flooded house through open patio door. Next year, not wanting to repeat this, closed glass sliding door,took side off pool. Water blew out sliding door, shattered glass went everywhere, flooded house. His wife ran off with the neighbor's gardener shortly thereafter.

I'm sure they're not all like this, but with your multitudes of talents and accomplishments, I wouldn't sweat the loss of the title gaffer Most gaffing I've seen is done by deckhands on fishing boats.

PS I think DSpark and myself are 2 of the last guys you'd find blowing smoke up your *** just to be nice. I'm a true believer in your skills, or I wouldn't say so.



[This message has been edited by electure (edited 08-26-2001).]

Thanks Scott...

I wouldn't be half the electrician I am without y'all here at ECN to "hold my hand" through some of this stuff!

(Boy I hope Bill doesn't get the idea to start charging for this!?!?)

The fellow dating my oldest sister helped my curiosity, he took time to expain what he knew, and I "helped" him put together a heathkit clock/radio. "We" built a jacob's ladder and he had one of the first LCD watches ever made... It had obviously handmade 7 section displays and the "backlight" was discoverd to make a geiger counter tick like a pair of maracas!... he quit wearing it...

He now works for a fire alarm company and is an apprentice electrician... Ironic, huhn! Not only that, but his boss and company owner is a journeyman, so his time doesn't count and he'll never be able to take his journeyman's test as long as he works there! This guy was my mentor! Other than Mr. Hixson, he was the one most responsible for my career! Wow... what a strange world...

Also, the same guy got me into cars and motorbikes... a real "big brother"... He was very patient with the annoying little boy with all the questions when what he really wanted was to be alone with my sister! That doesn't go unnoticed... A very influential man... (Thanks Larry...)




[This message has been edited by sparky66wv (edited 08-26-2001).]

Was that the guy who wired the Organ Cave Tourist area? Same setup... the original bulbs cycling on and off... No one wants to carry scaffolding into a cave!

It may have been fixed by the new owners, there were scores of other problems too...

I got started at 7 years old. My grandfather was a union electrical contractor starting the business in 1920. Three of my uncles were union electricians. Saturday mornings as a little kid my grandfather would take me with him on residential jobs and have me install swiches and plugs. At the age of 19 I became an apprentice in the local, but by this time I also had many years of electrical training behind me. I was a 1st apprentice and foreman on several small commercial projects for my grandfathers firm. I was followed into the local by 5 of my cousins.