Tuesday, June 30, 2009

What you learn.

When I was in high school I decided to take typing, mainly because the class was predominantly girls and I was a teenage boy. I enjoyed the class and earned a passing grade. Since that time I have attended numerous seminars, obtained two college degrees and learned a lot of ways to do things. But it still amazes me how much I use that old typing class.

I went into the army in 1970 I met with the "counselor" I asked him what my scores indicated my army career was going to be. His response "Oh, you can just about do anything you want." Prior to that I was working in radio as an announcer (loved the job, hated the pay) and asked if they had something like that. He searched and found "radio telephone operator" which we decided was what I needed. After I finished basic training I was surprised to learn that a "RTO" was the guy wandering through the jungle with the radio on his back (this was at the apex of Vietnam). I quickly volunteered to take on the Radio Teletype Operator training, at least there you were in a truck and had metal sides between you and hostiles, and you weren't at "the front line". I worked hard and excelled at the school, kicking my typing speed to an all-time school record.

I was assigned to a tank battalion and spent a most of the time at the motor pool and working on the communication trucks before I was offered the company clerk job because of my typing speed. This was great, I worked in an office and got to hear what was going on before the rest of the "grunts". Typing definitely got me through my two year hitch in the army. When I left the army my first job was operating teletype for the local Ford dealer - they were "state-of-the-art" in parts inventory and I spent a large part of the day entering parts numbers.

I went back to college (god bless the g.i. bill) and finished my undergraduate degree. Out of college I went to work for a major oil company that encouraged involvement with local professional organizations. I volunteered for editor of the newsletter, based on my typing, some journalism, and a publication I helped edit as an undergraduate. I had a ball and discovered Apple Computers! Spend a few years looking for oil and editing guidebooks before the bottom dropped out of the oil industry. I went back to school and finished my master's and tried my hand at teaching. Again loved teaching but hated the politics (pay was so - so). I was looking for a job/career and wondered into a local copy shop. The fact that I had bought a mac to complete my thesis, had typing skills and was willing to work cheap landed me in desktop publishing. We started out with a couple of Macintosh Classic and a couple to part-time students and have grown to 4 Mac Pros, a couple of Mac Books and a couple of Mac Book Pros and a staff hovering around a dozen offering full service design. It's been fun to learn and it also gives me a chance to teach as I train new students every year in the art of desktop publishing.

It's interesting that a typing class I took back in high school has stayed with me through my entire life and has contributed to a full life with lots of fun. You never know when you learn something how you're going to use it. Sometimes it's just great to learn and see where it takes you.

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