| Finish 1600 SF Home Addition | Year: 2009 | My Age: 48 | View | |||||
| My wife and I bought a house with 1600 SF of unfinished space. I am performing much of the work and also coordinating subcontractors. | ||||||||
| Replace Front Disc Rotors on F150 Pickup | Year: 2008 | My Age: 47 | ||||||
| Replacing the front disc rotors requires removal of the front hubs, so I replaced the wheel bearings also. This is fairly easy on a regular 2-wheel drive hub, but is more complex on electronic 4-wheel drive hubs such as mine. | ||||||||
| Design and Build a 20 ft x 16 ft Carport Addition | Year: 2007 | My Age: 46 | View | |||||
| This project included drawing the plans in AutoCAD and obtaining the necessary building permits and inspections. | ||||||||
| Improve a 16 ft x 20 ft Accessory Structure | Year: 2005 | My Age: 44 | View | |||||
| When I bought a older house, there was an accessory structure that had a good frame and roof, but the interior was unfinished and needed some other repairs. | ||||||||
| Draw Fence Plans | Year: 2005 | My Age: 44 | View | |||||
| Our subdivision covenants require approval for architectural improvements, so I drew and submitted these drawings. We also used them for solicitation of proposals. | ||||||||
| Replace the Water Pump on F150 Pickup | Year: 2003 | My Age: 42 | ||||||
| In the course of maintaining my F-150 pickup, I replaced the water pump (once), the radiator (several times), and the heater core (several times). | ||||||||
| Restore the Interior of a 1993 Ford Pickup | Year: 2001 | My Age: 40 | ||||||
| In Jan-2001, I purchased a F-150 pickup truck that had 110,000 miles. It needed some maintenance and cleaning so I installed new brake pads, shocks, spark plugs, engine drive belt, distributor cap and rotor as well as the oil. Also, the to clean the interior, I removed everything except the dashboard and thoroughly cleaned all the parts and re-installed them. | ||||||||
| Design and Build a 1500 sq ft Accessory Structure | Year: 1998 | My Age: 37 | View | |||||
| When we moved into a new house, we needed some extra storage space. I designed an wood-frame accessory structure with a concrete foundation and I framed it entirely by myself (including the roof trusses). I hired someone to perform the concrete work on the foundation and also the roof shingles. | ||||||||
| Draw Plans for Network Cabling System | Year: 1998 | My Age: 37 | ||||||
| During the internet revolution, the US Postal Service upgraded all post offices with network cabling. While I was working at the main post office in Springfield, Missouri, I supervised the installation of thousands of feet of category 5 cable and fiber optic cable, along with approximately 800 outlets including the patch panels. Afterwards, I drew the as-built plans. | ||||||||
| Build a Gravel Driveway By Hand | Year: 1996 | My Age: 35 | View | |||||
| Design Bridge Railings | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| I was working for a construction company that built bridges. One project was to improve some pedestrian bridges with handrails at a local park (Sequiota Park, Springfield, MO). I created the shop drawings that were used to fabricate the railings. | ||||||||
| Design the Grading Plans for a Private Lake | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| I have experience with surveying and earthwork so I performed the surveying for the existing topography, then created the grading plans for the lake. | ||||||||
| Draw the Shop Drawings for Stair Railings | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| These stair railings are at Parkview HS in Springfield, Missouri. | ||||||||
| Design a Truck Loading Dock Addition | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| A local warehouse had a narrow driveway access, so the owner asked me to create design plans to build an angular loading dock. | ||||||||
| Design a Cargo System for F150 Pickup | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| I was performing survey work and needed a system to carry the equipment, so I designed a system of cargo containers. | ||||||||
| Draw the Shop Drawings for An Upscale Barn | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| Draw the Falsework for a County Bridge | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| While working for a construction company that built bridges, I drew the plans and performed the structural calculations on several bridge projects. | ||||||||
| Perform Surveying As-Built on a Golf Course | Year: 1995 | My Age: 34 | View | |||||
| A golf course near Branson, Missouri, the `Top Of The Rock`, has many retaining walls and small bridges. I performed some of the surveying as-built measurements. | ||||||||
| Install a Clutch in a Ford Ranger | Year: 1994 | My Age: 33 | ||||||
| When my Ford Ranger needed a new clutch, I decided that I would use the opportunity to pull the engine and transmission to thoroughly clean it since the valve gaskets had been leaking for years. The first step was to reinforced the main ceiling joist in the attic with a steel beam. Once reinforced, I used a hand winch to lift the engine and transmission from the vehicle. After cleaning, I replaced the clutch and the valve gaskets and then re-installed the assembly. | ||||||||
| Replace Bearings in a V-6 Engine | Year: 1994 | My Age: 33 | ||||||
| I had a Ford Ranger pickup that needed new crankshaft and rod bearings so I loosened the engine mounts, raised the engine several inches with a winch, removed the oil pan, and replaced the bearings. | ||||||||
| Design Pond and Calculate Earthwork | Year: 1994 | My Age: 33 | View | |||||
| Many landowners in the Ozarks want to improve their property by digging ponds. This was one example. | ||||||||
| Design and Build a Residence Carport Addition | Year: 1993 | My Age: 32 | ||||||
| When I first moved to Missouri, I designed and built a carport addition for my brother-in-law. | ||||||||
| Design Access Road to US Highway 60 | Year: 1993 | My Age: 32 | View | |||||
| A client of mine had a parcel of property adjacent to US Highway 60 in Rogersville, Missouri. I designed and drew the access plans for the access road. | ||||||||
| Change the Differential Gears in a Ford Mustang | Year: 1992 | My Age: 31 | View | |||||
| Still a Mustang enthusiast in 1992, I purchased a V-8 model and after driving it for several months decided that I wanted better low-end performance so I replaced the differential gears. | ||||||||
| Purchase Individual Components and Build a PC | Year: 1991 | My Age: 30 | View | |||||
| When I was ready to purchase my first PC, I wanted to take the opportunity to learn more about the hardware so I arranged with the vendor to deliver all of the cards and components in their original packaging. I then assembled the PC myself and then configured the system BIOS, the CONFIG.SYS and the AUTOEXEC.BAT files. | ||||||||
| Design A Wood Deck | Year: 1991 | My Age: 30 | View | |||||
| One client wanted me to design a wood deck and produce the construction plans. | ||||||||
| Perform Contract Engineering Work For The US Navy | Year: 1991 | My Age: 30 | View | |||||
| For several years I performed engineering work for the US Navy at Mare Island Naval Base at Vallejo, California. During that time, I traveled to several naval bases including: Mare Island, California Oxnard, California San Diego, California Stennis, Mississippi Adak, Alaska Roosevelt Roads, Puerto Rico Sigonella, Italy I also had the opportunity to visit Washington DC. | ||||||||
| Study Zoning Maps and Ordinances | Year: 1988 | My Age: 27 | View | |||||
| While working as a surveyor, I studied the local zoning maps and ordinances for Woodland, California. As well as legal principles of property boundary. | ||||||||
| Procure a Company PC | Year: 1987 | My Age: 26 | ||||||
| Back when the IBM PC was the industry standard, our office was ready to begin using LOTUS 123, but we needed a PC first. Since PCs cost nearly $10,000 at the time, choosing which brand and which peripherals to puchase was a significant responsibility. I thoroughly analyzed all of the currently available PCs, their options, and their prices. We ultimately purchased one of the first Compaq 286 desktop units and we were very satisfied. | ||||||||
| Construction Punchlist Work in Los Angeles, CA | Year: 1986 | My Age: 25 | View | |||||
| I worked for a large construction company (Turner Construction Company) doing various engineering projects including final inspections for contract compliance (punchlists). I worked in the Los Angeles Office and one of the buildings that I inspected was known (at that time) as the Burbank Tower. | ||||||||
| Monitor Temperature with an Apple II Computer | Year: 1985 | My Age: 24 | View | |||||
| My Mechanical Engineering senior project consisted of using an Apple II computer to monitor the temperature of a swimming pool for a 48 hour period. The computer was equipped with two special peripheral cards. One card was a clock (these days it's hard to imagine a PC without a built-in clock) and the other was a digital/analog card. I connected the A/D card to 16 thermal sensors and wrote a program to monitor and record the temperature for each sensor at regular intervals. | ||||||||
| Study Aviation and Fly 8.5 hrs with Instruction | Year: 1985 | My Age: 24 | View | |||||
| During my senior year in college, a fraternity brother of mine began taking flying lessons. He had already obtained his marine license so much of the navigation material was very similar. I took some lessons myself and logged 8.5 hrs. | ||||||||
| Replace Memory Chips in an Altair Horizon Computer | Year: 1984 | My Age: 23 | View | |||||
| The Altair Horizon was one of the early PCs. A fraternity brother of mine had a grandfather who was and Electrical Engineer and had experimented with the computer for years. When his grandfather passed, he asked me to help him learn how to use it. The memory boards were covered with 64 memory chips each and some of the boards produced errors. Using hexidecimal arithmetic and the CP/M MEM command, I determined the address layout of the boards by removing a chip from one of the boards that was working correctly and was able to replace the malfunctioning chips. | ||||||||
| Build a Floating Dock at Lake Tahoe, California | Year: 1983 | My Age: 22 | View | |||||
| A fraternity brother of mine earned his marine license and for several summers worked for the Ski Run Marina in South Lake Tahoe, California. One summer, I worked there also and we built a 40ft x 40ft floating dock that was positioned approximately 200 feet from the shore to launch and land people that wanted to ride the parasails. | ||||||||
| Remodel a of College Fraternity House | Year: 1982 | My Age: 21 | View | |||||
| During college, our fraternity moved into a new house. However, the old house did not sell immediately and was transformed into a boarding house in the interim period. To obtain a use permit from the city, the house required some significant remodeling. I spent three summer months making the changes required by the city. | ||||||||
| Torque Wrench Design Project | Year: 1982 | My Age: 21 | View | |||||
| One project of my college coursework was to design a special torque wrench. The instruction was known as very tough and my fellow students were astonished when he awarded me a perfect grade (100%) on the project. One of the reasons for this was my use of a Fortran algorithm that I wrote to calculate the shape of the jaws. | ||||||||
| Study and Memorize Rubik Cube Solutions | Year: 1981 | My Age: 20 | View | |||||
| During the height of the Rubik Cube popularity, I also became fascinated with the puzzle. And although I figured out how to solve two of the three levels, I sought help with solving the third. I purchased a book that described the algorithms for solving the third level, I memorized them, and subsequently became the only person in my fraternity who could solve the puzzle which I did upon request (usually at parties) for years. | ||||||||
| Rebuild and Sell a Ford 289 Engine | Year: 1979 | My Age: 18 | View | |||||
| I was interested in upgrading the engine in my Ford Mustang II, so I purchased the engine block, heads, and all other engine parts individually, arranged for a machine refurbish them, and then I assembled the engine. However, I sold the engine to another Mustang enthusiast instead of installing it in my Mustang. | ||||||||
| Remove and Re-install Engine in a Ford Mustang II | Year: 1979 | My Age: 18 | View | |||||
| After building the 289 engine, I removed the stock V-6 engine from a Ford Mustang II with the intent of installing the 289. I later decided not to do this and I sold the 289 instead. | ||||||||
| Install Automobile Sound Systems | Year: 1978 | My Age: 17 | ||||||
| Since I had worked with speakers and sound systems earlier, I installed automobile sound systems for several friends (and in my own automobiles). | ||||||||
| Observe a Skilled Mechanic Restore a '64 Ponitiac | Year: 1978 | My Age: 17 | ||||||
| A close childhood friend excelled in automotive shop and became quite skilled with many tools. I spent many nights in his parent garage as he restored a 1964 Pontiac Grand Prix. He focused special attention on techniques for obtaining maximum horsepower from the engine and drivetrain which included balancing and blueprinting the engine, a high-performance automatic transmission, and a positive traction differential. He is now a highly-paid technician in Silicon Valley. | ||||||||
| Learn Carpentry and Homebuilding | Year: 1977 | My Age: 16 | ||||||
| My father is a General Building Contractor who performed the majority of the carpentry work himself. From an early age I was exposed to tools, materials, and construction. | ||||||||
| Rebuild and Sell a Ford 351 Cleveland Engine | Year: 1977 | My Age: 16 | ||||||
| As I approached driving age, my interest focused on automobiles and I took a liking to the Ford Mustang. One of the most powerful Mustang engines was the 351 Cleveland engine known for its oversize heads, valves and intake ports. I purchased the engine block, heads, and all other engine parts individually, arranged for a machine refurbish them, and then I assembled the engine. I then sold the engine to another Mustang enthusiast. | ||||||||
| Attend a Typing Class | Year: 1976 | My Age: 15 | View | |||||
| One year while choosing my class schedule, I had an open time period that was optional since it was the last class of the day. I wanted to leave it open since there weren't any classes that interested me. When they suggested typing, I asked, `What will I ever use that for?` They responded, `You may have to type a paper in college someday`. Well, I took the class. Although at that time none of us ever expected typing to play such an important role in my life, my parents decision has come to be quite beneficial. | ||||||||
| Play Chess Daily | Year: 1976 | My Age: 15 | View | |||||
| For several years I played chess daily which helped develop my logical thought patterns. | ||||||||
| Study Photography and Darkroom Processes | Year: 1976 | My Age: 15 | View | |||||
| Pictures that I photographed of lightning were published in a local daily newspaper with a circulation of 20,000. | ||||||||
| Construct Telephone Amplifier Kits | Year: 1975 | My Age: 14 | ||||||
| Radio Shack was just around the corner from our house and I visited there often. One kit I built was an amplifier that had a suction cup that could be placed on the telephone receiver that would amplify the conversation over a speaker (like a speakerphone, but back then those were very rare). It wasn't long before I had connected the speaker output directly to a tape recorder. | ||||||||
| Use an Electronic Calculator Extensively | Year: 1975 | My Age: 14 | ||||||
| My father bought me an early Texas Instruments calculator which had an LED display which could be seen well in the dark. At night, when I before I fell asleep, I would sometimes run calculations. I noticed that if the plus key was repeatedly pressed, the number in the display would double. I used to like to start with one an notice the quick progression to an enormous number. I also became very familiar with the numbers of that progression (1,2,4,8,16,32, etc.) which later were useful since they are the basis of the number systems used by computers. | ||||||||
| Build Electronic Projects with Electronics Kit | Year: 1974 | My Age: 13 | ||||||
| Seeing that I had an interest in electricity, and to keep me from rewiring the family stereo and television, my father gave me a Radio Shack 200-in-one kit. This kit contained all of the basic electronic components and which could be connected to created 200 differents electronic circuits. | ||||||||
| Experiment with Speakers and Amplifiers | Year: 1974 | My Age: 13 | ||||||
| I had quite a collection of discarded electronic devices and I used to salvage the speakers and potentiometers (volume controls) from all of them. I would then connect them in a variety of ways to a variety of devices. | ||||||||
| Solve Cryptogram Puzzles | Year: 1974 | My Age: 13 | ||||||
| For several years, I would solve the daily cryptogram puzzle in the local newspaper. | ||||||||
| Perform Parallel and Series Electrical Experiments | Year: 1973 | My Age: 12 | ||||||
| While vacationing one year, an uncle of mine gave me a book on the fundamentals of electricity he had received during his Army basic training. He also gave me some batteries, wire, switches, and flashlight bulbs which I connected together in a variety of configurations. | ||||||||
| Build an HO Scale Model Railroad Project | Year: 1972 | My Age: 11 | ||||||
| This was another project which helped develop my mechical and electrical skills when I was young. | ||||||||
| Build LEGO Gear and Motor Projects | Year: 1970 | My Age: 9 | ||||||
| When I was young, I was fortunate enough to receive LEGOs as a gift and they quickly became my favorite toy. For many years I was to continue to receive LEGOs at every gift-giving occasion. I am very grateful to my family for these gifts because besides my enjoyment playing with them, I believe that they helped me to develop basic engineering skills which have become so important now. | ||||||||