Were I have worked
San Francisco Board of Education - 1972 - 1974, this was part time work while I was going to school, but it was actually a commercial art job. I drew workbooks for elementary school kids in SF. It was fun and a kick when I gave my notice saying I had to go to Germany and join the Army! I developed a lot of my art skills doing this work.
US Army - I went to UH and USF on an ROTC scholarship. There while learning the usual stuff you learn in college I was trained in leadership under unusual and stressful conditions. Between my Jr. and Sr. years I went to Airborne (parachute) School. After leaving college in 1974 I was inducted into the army, missed Viet Name but got Germany. On the way to my Basic Officer Course I went to Ranger School. My Assignments included tours at Ft Knox, Ky, Federal Republic in Germany, Temporary Duty in Korea, and Los Alamitos, CA. My Primary specialty was Armor (Tanks). I got out in 1986.
Price Savers Wholesale Warehouse - When I got out of the Army I was not clear what I was going to do. I ended up in on the building of a wholesale Warehouse on the order of Costco and Sams' Club in Southgate California. This company was based in Orem Utah and I went there for my orientation. I was the HR Manager and later the Hardlines Lead for the store. I believe they were bought by Costco, but that was a few years after I took the test for State Fund to be Workers Compensation Claims Examiner..
State Compensation Insurance Fund - I took a test to be considered as a workers compensation insurance examiner on a lark. The test date was set up through a Southwest College Job outreach program headed by Mrs. Turner in Los Angeles. I did well, I always seem to do okay on tests and six month later I was called up to the corporate insurance world as an examiner. From the late 80's to the early 90's I was in my formative training years for this career and served the the Monterey Park and later the Los Angeles office of State Compensation Insurance Fund (SCIF). The company was not a state run company, but it was semi-government and had a government attitude, kinna like the army. I missed that when I left. During this time I mostly worked on N3F projects and times were pretty hard for the family so I did little art and did not have the resources for the free wheeling mailing and such that it took to maintain the fandom life-style.
CHUBB and SONS INSURANCE - a headhunter got me an interview here. Basically the same job as SCIF, but more pay and a more professional work culture. Finances started to get better so you saw a bit more art from me. around 1993 I was diagnosed with adult onset diabetes, I was devastated and it effected my art and so on. There is almost no art anywhere from me from 1993 - 1995 when I started to get over it. I am told I should have quit working, but I could not. N3F was not so understanding and for my lactivity, and who could blame them and I was axed as the president during this time and Cat Mintz took over.
Golden Eagle Insurance - I left Chubb to Golden Eagle for money. Golden Eagles was considered a sweatshop of Workers Comp. Initially I rode my motorcycle from Ontario California to San Diego, 112 miles one way. Then I finally moved to San Diego. I actually enjoyed the commute and since I had a radio on my bike I enjoyed drive time radio and had little traffic problems due to the two-wheeler. By the way you can ride a bike in California 90% of he time year-round without weather woes. I was made a supervisor there and though in 1995 got some commercial art work, I was really too busy to do very much fan activity. GEIC was taken over by the state and sold to Liberty Mutual, times got hard, I got out.
Kennan Insurance - This was in Torrance California.1998, I kept the apartment in San Diego which meant I commuted from Sand Diego to Torrance, again 100 miles plus. I was again doing workers compensation, but more customer interaction. Actually I stayed with my sister in East LA during the week and went home on the weekend, I usually tried to sneak home on Wednesday or so. There is no fannish activity during this time I was too busy driving back and forth
Sierra Insurance - About the same as Kennan except the drive was longer. During this time I started to feel like I should be doing more and my eyes began to wonder. I lived in Sa Diego and the work site was in Los Angeles area, I stayed with my sister Penny during most of the week and went back home on the weekends. It was a hell of a time.
Lyra Technology - I left CA for GA. Incredible adventure as the Director of Business Development and Operations. I was able to use my management and organizational skills to bring stability to small IT firm in Atlanta area. I was there for a year in 2001- 2002. We were hit hard by 9/11 so I had to leave and come back to California. the big thing though was that I spent a lot of time on the computer there and the Ultrazine group caught up with me there, at a time I was feeling lonely and depressed (from missing my family since they stayed in San Diego) I caught up with my fan family. Also I was very near my ole friend Jim Gray so we got to socialize and I went to a convention with him, my first in 15 years. I was on line a lot with Jerry Foley and George Lane and Matt Love came to visit and we had a blast! It was during this time I started on a revived No Sex issue #19.
Willis Corron Insurance - Gotta work, gotta pay the bills. This was the job that got me back going after the Lyra Technology experiment. It worked well because it was near to home. It did give me more time for my family and hobbies which was lacking in all the commuting before or living in another state. During the break between Lyra and this job I got my web site structured on my DSL host. The company later changed its name to ASC. I worked here as a Temp Examiner, which pays more but has less stability unless you are good like me.
Cambridge Integrated - Still working as a Senior Examiner on Temp Assignment, I started working at Cambridge in October 2002. Cambridge is just getting into the TPA situations, in this case i am looking at overflow Fremont claims. Similar situation to the Legion files I was handling at Willis, but a bit more stable.