mrfixit
Chief Chaotic Engineer
Hi, I'm Tom- and I'm a learnaholic.
Seriously, I get asked on occasion how I know what I know and how I don't know what I don't=
Its complicated.
This is in no way comprehensive: I've done a lot in my life. If I have left something out, I'm sorry.
Cleaning, I know. My pre-trucker days and my handyman jobs have taught me a lot- hence the "mrfixit" moniker. I was a Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner both full-time and part-time after college and while I was in Radio, since radio didn't pay a truly living wage.
Since I was in so many homes on a daily basis, I kept running into people who needed jobs done around the house, and took on whatever I could. Sometimes, this meant working with other contractors, plumbers and electricians, so I learned even more.
When I left Radio, I spent a short time on Long Island, NY, and was hired at a chemical supply company because, of course, my experience with Carpet, upholstery, and bare floor cleaning.
I was put to work in the service area, repairing machines- something I had to do to my own machines, so I was familiar with the how-tos.
Safety Kleen hired me away from them, liking my chemical and mechanical knowledge plus my communication experience, and I was an assistant environmental engineer, acting as branch laison with EPA,DOT, OSHA, DNR, And a dozen other sets of initials.
Got really tired of the crap on Long Island, tried to transfer, only to be told that my supervisor would never let me go... So I got rebellious and looked around for what I could find that would allow me to live almost wherever I chose- Trucking was the only thing that would even come close to meeting my pay grade, so there went I.
Over the road, I learned even more, as I would travel to many different businesses and industries, and would always be asking for a tour of the place to deter boredom while waiting.
In the struggle to find suitable employment after my injury, I have studied, learned and investigated many different ways I might be able to make a living and not have to struggle for social security. As it has turned out, I was able to pull from my Radio days one marketable skill for a gimp- Writing.
I write copy for web pages, writing for many commercial radio ads in the area, and technical writing, where I have to take large, impersonal, mostly mechanical ideas and make them interesting on the web and in the manuals. I've learned a lot that way, even in just the last few years.
I much prefer watching PBS to commercial television, but am not a die-hard fan of either. When a question comes to mind, I search for the answer wherever it may be found- I am not above giving a business a call and picking their brain for details and interesting stories about their products... All of which helps me as I struggle to build this business.
I've been hospitalized a few times and have 3 chronic illnesses, I'm going blind in my right eye and am clinically fighting depression- so I understand illnesses and frustration. I've been divorced once and I had 2 sons whose mother refused to let me see them until she couldn't stop it anymore, and have known the joy of being reunited with them. In the meantime I was the adoptive father of a boy whose real father abandoned and ignored him, only to later try and reunite with him with the emotional upheaval that causes.
I've had several problems in my marriage of 26 years, buy I've witnessed 3 births, with one of them at home. I have never cheated on my marriage, but know what it feels like to want to.
My brother-in-law, a professional pharmacologist, destroyed his life with alcohol and drugs and wound up dying alone in an apartment where my wife found him lying in a pool of his own blood, and I saw what the real horror of it all does to her.
Through it all, my Faith is the only thing that has kept me, literally, ALIVE. Even then, my learning there is not over- I learn more every day!
Over all these years, the only times I have taken my vehicles or equipment to a shop are when I do not have the necessary equipment or time to handle it- sometimes when I was out on the road, or (more recently) I don't have the shop or physical function. Again, what I didn't know, I looked up. I've gotten a lot of scars and made a lot of errors, but the errors only reinforced how it should have been done.
So- for those of you who wonder how and why, these are just the tip of the iceberg in what makes me what and who I am
May God have mercy on my soul.
Seriously, I get asked on occasion how I know what I know and how I don't know what I don't=
Its complicated.
This is in no way comprehensive: I've done a lot in my life. If I have left something out, I'm sorry.
Cleaning, I know. My pre-trucker days and my handyman jobs have taught me a lot- hence the "mrfixit" moniker. I was a Carpet & Upholstery Cleaner both full-time and part-time after college and while I was in Radio, since radio didn't pay a truly living wage.
Since I was in so many homes on a daily basis, I kept running into people who needed jobs done around the house, and took on whatever I could. Sometimes, this meant working with other contractors, plumbers and electricians, so I learned even more.
When I left Radio, I spent a short time on Long Island, NY, and was hired at a chemical supply company because, of course, my experience with Carpet, upholstery, and bare floor cleaning.
I was put to work in the service area, repairing machines- something I had to do to my own machines, so I was familiar with the how-tos.
Safety Kleen hired me away from them, liking my chemical and mechanical knowledge plus my communication experience, and I was an assistant environmental engineer, acting as branch laison with EPA,DOT, OSHA, DNR, And a dozen other sets of initials.
Got really tired of the crap on Long Island, tried to transfer, only to be told that my supervisor would never let me go... So I got rebellious and looked around for what I could find that would allow me to live almost wherever I chose- Trucking was the only thing that would even come close to meeting my pay grade, so there went I.
Over the road, I learned even more, as I would travel to many different businesses and industries, and would always be asking for a tour of the place to deter boredom while waiting.
In the struggle to find suitable employment after my injury, I have studied, learned and investigated many different ways I might be able to make a living and not have to struggle for social security. As it has turned out, I was able to pull from my Radio days one marketable skill for a gimp- Writing.
I write copy for web pages, writing for many commercial radio ads in the area, and technical writing, where I have to take large, impersonal, mostly mechanical ideas and make them interesting on the web and in the manuals. I've learned a lot that way, even in just the last few years.
I much prefer watching PBS to commercial television, but am not a die-hard fan of either. When a question comes to mind, I search for the answer wherever it may be found- I am not above giving a business a call and picking their brain for details and interesting stories about their products... All of which helps me as I struggle to build this business.
I've been hospitalized a few times and have 3 chronic illnesses, I'm going blind in my right eye and am clinically fighting depression- so I understand illnesses and frustration. I've been divorced once and I had 2 sons whose mother refused to let me see them until she couldn't stop it anymore, and have known the joy of being reunited with them. In the meantime I was the adoptive father of a boy whose real father abandoned and ignored him, only to later try and reunite with him with the emotional upheaval that causes.
I've had several problems in my marriage of 26 years, buy I've witnessed 3 births, with one of them at home. I have never cheated on my marriage, but know what it feels like to want to.
My brother-in-law, a professional pharmacologist, destroyed his life with alcohol and drugs and wound up dying alone in an apartment where my wife found him lying in a pool of his own blood, and I saw what the real horror of it all does to her.
Through it all, my Faith is the only thing that has kept me, literally, ALIVE. Even then, my learning there is not over- I learn more every day!
Over all these years, the only times I have taken my vehicles or equipment to a shop are when I do not have the necessary equipment or time to handle it- sometimes when I was out on the road, or (more recently) I don't have the shop or physical function. Again, what I didn't know, I looked up. I've gotten a lot of scars and made a lot of errors, but the errors only reinforced how it should have been done.
So- for those of you who wonder how and why, these are just the tip of the iceberg in what makes me what and who I am
May God have mercy on my soul.
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I've had the pleasure of speaking to Tom on the phone several times and he's a real standup guy. Would love to sit and pick his brain all day-- but dammit that radio voice of his is intimidating 
Tom has an incredibly well modulated radio announcer voice.....not the "Wolfman Jack" type and definitely not like "Billy Mays"! 
