What do you do for work when you aren't using the company computer for chatting on Gwenz forum? I noticed weekends and holidays are especially void of chatter. James

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

Answers

I work for myself so I can post on forums whenever I feel like it. Of course I probably end up posting less sometimes cause I've gotta get stuff done. I definitely work on the weekends.

When I worked fulltime for another company I didn't post in forums. But I had my own computer at home.

I think it's partly that people post at work, and partly that they want to have weekends to themselves to get out and do stuff. "Everybody's working for the weekend..."

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

I own my own business (a regional magazine) so I work on the computer everyday. I kinda use Gwentown as a "coffee break" thing and it's really the only one I post to. I do occassionally read others. I recognize most of the peeps and feel like I "know" them in a superficial way and I enjoy reading the off-the-wall stuff. I think Gwen is a great moderator, because she allows disparate views, and she's got wild input of her own in the diary, etc. The forum (as I've said before) has a loose kinda feel I enjoy. The posts are generally intelligent, witty and insightful. I've taken to occassionally checking in on the weekend just to see what's going on. TV sucks and I'm constantly on-line anyway checking news reports and doing some editing anyway.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

I do bookkeeping for my dad from my house. His business is in CA and I'm in TX. I've been doing it for the past 8 years. I guess you could say that I'm one of the original telecommuters.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

I am the receptionist in a dentist's office. I'm not allowed to have internet access at work, so I have to settle for reading magazines and occasionally sneaking in a game of Solitaire.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

Until recently I was a welder for a small factory, now I make gas filters for another small factory.I am not allowed to use the computers at work so I have to wait until I come home.Gwens forum is my way of unwinding from a long days work.I usually do not post but I like to read what everyone else has to say.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

I work for a company that builds custom machinery here in S.W. Ohio. The machines are mostly for the automotive industry, a lot of robotics and "idiot proof" automatic machinery. I am Quality Control. I could but do not post from work only from home.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

I am a reformed academic, so I am one of those well-educated people for whom there's no real profession because I left halfway through. Presently I do temp work - I have different plans for the future, but for now I stick with temping because the flexibility works for me at the moment. The experience is a unique one. I keep threatening to begin a web page of my own about it. :)

This forum is the only one I post to, as well. The group is small, eclectic, and fun. :) No one is in a race to see who can be the biggest jerk, like on some other sites. Whether or not I post here from work depends on the job I'm on.

-- Anonymous, November 25, 2000

I got mentally abused as a Ph.D. mol. biol. research scientist because I have ethics. I'm taking a break now to get stronger and try to regain some realistic perspectives. When things would be too unbearable I'd escape here. Looks like I'll have to go back in a few weeks unless someone wants to open a coffee house-book store with me or can think of some alternative career which would allow me to support my daughter. My networking is not working fast enough and I don't think the net is going to catch me. I decided spending too much time on the forum at work put my employers ahead of me in the "who can sue first , who can fire first" race.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

I work in a rare book and manuscript archive. I'm finishing up my graduate degree (in something completely unrelated to what I do now) in May, which leads my family and friends to believe that I will then search for a more lucrative job. Little do they know that I may continue making crap money and being mostly happy with it...

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

I'm a secretary (ahem, Communications Coordinator) for a non-profit health education center located at a state university. I goof off all day because my work is unfulfilling. Even more so now that I have my bachelor's degree. I've been looking for something in my field (PR) for almost a year, but since I planned to stay in my smallish hometown where my family is, it's been tough. I'm treading water until next summer when, if all goes well, I'll move out of the area with my boyfriend who will be in grad school. To a different smallish town. Ah well.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

I've worked at the same company for six and a half years now. For the first three years I was a Unix systems administrator. I rose through the ranks and when they needed someone to manage the internal support helpdesk, I volunteered. After doing that for three years I also now manage all the other Unix sysadmins, the information resources group (which tracks maintenance agreements, licensing, etc.), the Oracle Applications support team and just in September I formed our first Web development / IT applications department. I have too much to do, but I always make time for Gwen. :-)

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

Mostly I'm a mommy, but I have a freelance photography business. I used to work for newspapers, but now I mostly do weddings, babies, etc. I don't do as much as I should, but one day, one day........

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

Well, congratulate me, because my fledgeling mural-painting business is off the ground and I'm working again after two years of stay-at- home mommyhood. :) Oh, and I substitute teach a few days a week, but that's not nearly as cool as being an artiste.

Oh yeah, and I'm the PTA's bitch.

-- Anonymous, November 26, 2000

Hmm...it's hard to answer. Technically, my title is database manager, but most real dba's would laugh if my face if I said that. I work for an advertising agency, and most of what I do is direct mail prep and some light programming. So, I kick off a big job, and turn around to computer #2 and check up on mail and Gwen for a few minutes. My daughter calls my job "Mama's boring work" -- she knows my REAL work begins after I get home.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

I'm a technical writer. I hate it, but then I remember I spend most of my day goofing off, and shouldn't complain.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

I almost hesitate to talk about my job, not because I’m ashamed nor, conversely, because I am proud. However, given that this isn’t a face- to-face thing I may as well throw caution to the winds.

I make the harpoons that they use to kill whales. Actually, that’s not strictly true – I mean, I don’t make the whole harpoon. I engineer the spring-loaded platform which lies behind the tip, and which sets off the explosion – we call it the trigger. For a skilled engineer, it’s not that difficult, certainly not when you’ve been doing it for six years. The only real technical challenge comes from calculating the pressure needed to make the cartridge explode at the right moment – when the harpoon head has penetrated the thick outer skin of the whale, causing a controlled, lethal blast. If the trigger mechanism is too sensitive, the head can explode on the outside of the whale, causing cosmetic damage – another shot will be needed to kill the animal.

As an example, for one of the smaller whales – a Minke for example, the tip generally needs to be set at a pressure of 2,200 lbs/psi, to be effective, but for a Sperm whale, the psi is roughly double that.

People generally react with horror when I tell them what I do. Naturally, I’ve thought about my job a hell of a lot, and come close to quitting many, many times. Just for the record, though, here’s what I think.

I think it’s wrong to kill whales. Really. It’s strange, but the ethics of killing other animals does work in degrees – it’s not wholly right or wholly wrong. I think that killing farm animals is questionable, but you can make cases for both sides, but when it comes to whales, there’s no question. I’ve tried to factor cultural arguments into my relentlessly Euro-centric world view, but it makes little difference. Even our bigger customers – the Japanese whaling consortiums, Kawabata, or Ozuike – have been unable to persuade me of the ethics of what they do, and I get on with them pretty well.

So why do I carry on? Well, partly because I have a family to feed, I’m well-paid and if I were to take my experience elsewhere, I’d probably end up helping to create weapons that are used on humans. But partly, also, because I think I’m good at what I do. And that matters in more ways than one.

The whaling companies use our harpoons because they kill the whale first time. That makes the whalers sound vaguely humane. Let me assure you that’s not their primary motivation. Firing a single harpoon is safer for the crew, and cuts the chances of the whale getting away. It’s also cheaper – each harpoon costs the equivalent of a crewmember’s monthly wage, more or less.

But, for me, this is important. None of our competitors make harpoons with as high a one-shot kill-rate as ours. If the whalers are going to continue hunting, I’d rather they were using our harpoons than ones that could leave the whale maimed but alive, or crippled, and sinking in a slow tornado of blood to the sea bed.

What do you think?

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

I read the first sentence of the second paragraph and thought, "The FUCK?" Then I scrolled down, saw the name, and said, "Oh, okay."

Yes, your harpoons sound more humane. But what I really want to know is whether you can send me some whale blubber so I can make my own lipgloss at home.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

Secretary for a microbiologist at a university. I have the most relaxed boss in the world of academia plus 75% tuition assistance. So at 27 years old, I am going back to school starting this spring (assessment tests next week). So I'm a secretary/student/aspiring musician/writer. Not very original vocations or goals, but if you throw in my stable of human ponies that I rent out through my prospering escourt service for bdsm parties, I come off as being a little more interesting.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

I work for the Federal Government and if I told you I'd have to kill you (no, seriously). I rarely post from work (and then only on breaks or during lunch) cause I'm suppose to be stopping everyone else from abusing the internet; you know, fox in the hen house syndrome. I am home today so can post all I want now that I can finally get back on line after my husband upgraded our system last week. (Paul, I thought you made harpoons to shoot whalers when I first read you post. Wishful thinking I guess.)

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

(As a point of clarification, it's "Pale" that designs harpoons, not "Paul.")

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

Hey Luchina, I got snapped up by the parent council, too! (Small-town Canadian version of the PTA) I don't know how long I'm gonna last, though. We are totally seperated at birth.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

Deb(mirth@) I'm a photographer too. I do it for fun and also teach it. Are you mainly shooting weddings or do you do some commercial work? I shoot landscapes and still life along with portraiture. My last money making job outside workshops was shooting an orchid catalog. Cool profession. Where you located? Let me know if you need help. james

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

Totally! I think we Kindergarten moms have "SUCKER" stamped on our foreheads. I'll be *so* much smarter next year. Damn Stepford PTA moms...damn them all to hell!

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

Hey Pale, I want to buy one of your harpoons. I'm gonna mount it on the top of my pick-up. That way I can stand in the back while my wife drives. I want the pressure heads strong enough to pierce metal before the charge goes off. This will be too cool. The next time some dumbfuck goober cuts me off on the freeway, I'm gonna blow his fuckin' gas tank. Merciful killing of whales...what a concept. Why not move to Texas and go to work for the prison system? Those candy- asses are using lethal injection. Exploding harpoon heads sounds MUCH more sporting. Give 'em a 50 yard start...then it's "gentlemen, you may proceed!" Exploding convicts! Think of the photo ops. eeeeeew. On The Cover material.

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

I have a masters in LIS, but I'm not a librarian. I'm supposed to be an "information specialist" but in my place of employment, I think the more accurate title would be "peon who knows where all your stuff is, your passwords, where we filed the budget for next year and how to disable your database, so please don't ask me to answer the damned phone, thankyou."

-- Anonymous, November 27, 2000

Luchina--Fuck! I know! I walked into the boy's class and heard, 'Well, maybe Mrs. Jeffery will represent us....' Before I could say, 'Huh?' I was signed up and the next thing I knew I was in a room with 20 other women arguing about 'Unicef' boxes. The assistant kindergarten person had said, 'Well, Deb'll tell you if she doesn't agree.' Which they though was 'cute' in theory, but when it came time I was hollering at them, they didn't think I was cute anymore.

Hey, James. I live in Alberta. I worked for papers in Calgary and Ottawa, and newspaper work is my true love. I had to give up newspapers because of, well, family stuff (It's too much to explain here) And now am doing family stuff, weddings, brand-new babies. I should be doing up contact sheets of a new baby and some passport pictures right now, but, well, I'm here. The woman I'm doing the new baby shots for is a repeat customer from the summer; I did family shots for father's day. Anyway, her mom said, 'Deb should do more of this, she'd make a fortune,' and Kelly said, 'Small problem, Mom, she hates people.'

So, dude, any help or advice is gladly taken.

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

I studied film production and film studies. I love films. At the moment I'm working for my hub's ad agency in Cyprus. I produce TV commercials and concept photos and a whole load of really boring stuff in between. I actually really hate advertising, but I'd rather be on the savvy side of the business. My department is separated from the rest of the guys, which is good, I get to run around more, which is tiring when I'm really busy, but liberating when I'm not because I can pretend I am and go shopping or see my niece. I take photos of people in natural light, it's my favourite thing to do.

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

Sorry Paul; must be time to change the bifocal contacts again!

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

It's okay, Oma, no harm done! :-)

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

Okay, if Pale Blue can admit that he makes whale harpoons, then I guess I can admit that I am a lawyer. Hey, not all lawyers are bad you know. Like we say in my office "It's the other 90% that make us look bad." And I am self-employed so I can go online whenever I like - but, I am usually too busy. Sometimes, like right now, I make myself take a break. I am by no means wealthy, but I make a good living and I like what I do.

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

deb, in the states we have the Proffessional Photographers of America or PPofA and I think there are some affiliates in Canada. They can really help your bussiness. I work in mainly black and white doing landscape and still life fine art. I use my 4x5 mostly but have everything from subminiature to 8x10. I shoot portraiture with my 6x6 MF. James

-- Anonymous, November 28, 2000

Uh, LindaC? I think Pale was having us on. But it smoked you out, huh?

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000

oh thats just meen plate blue!!! whales are are freinds!!1

i used to do phone sex but now i just work at the gas stashen

-- Anonymous, November 29, 2000