Wow, what an impressive group of people. Thanks for this thread.

My other (main) hobby is woodworking. Furniture, etc. I also like to tinker with my old jaguar that is on the other thread and am a history nut...dogs are up there two. Currently a long haired German Shepard and a 57 variety dog. I have two kids, one a junior in College and one a Junior in High School...

In my day job, I manage some of the engineering research pursuits at Carnegie Mellon University. My background has been in technology in various industries over the years.

Hi Mustang,

Hope you are well, can you post some pictures of your Cross Stitching that will be interesting to have a look at.

Regards Trev

HI Trev, as you asked so nicely.

Here's a couple of designs I've done, this is what I do over the winter months.












These I did for my Aunt and Uncle and one for my cousins wife after he was killed in a RTA some years ago know, They liked them so much they asked for one of each design so I had to do them both twice. The frames are also willow.

WOW Ian, that is some serious art there. Very well done. If those are your designs then a salute to your skills is presented. I did a bit of cross stitch years ago (nothing as involved as this) and it was quite fun.

Happy Easter,

wyatt

Hi Derek, no we just get the same as everyone else, these took years do finish.

You get to an age where the question 'What do you do' can be difficult to describe.

I've always loved building models, started in the early 70's and haven't stopped, although the ones I build these days have to be on the larger scale due to deteriorating eyesight. This love of model building led to my first job.

I completed 15 years with the Australian Air Force. I actually joined the air force to work on planes, but in those 15 years never got to work on one. I became a guidance system specialist so every time I got posted I went straight to the workshops.

I became so good at it that I was picked up by a US Defence company and then spent 10 years living in London working in over 25 countries around Europe, the Middle East and Far East fixing guidance systems.

Got tired of that and came back to Australia. I now modernise Air Traffic Control Towers around Australia, ripping out the old 70's infrastructure and installing new multi touch screen consoles, usually 5 consoles per tower (these replace the old single bench where they stand at in the pic below). Now they get to sit in comfort.

In my down time I also install facial recognition and behavioural analytic systems at government agencies around Oz. I've attached some pics of the good ol' times in the RAAF. I always had my camera close on the base so was able to capture a lot of good stuff - 100's of photos. Plus a shot of my business travels with the family - did a lot of work the for the military in the Middle East. The last is a shot of one of my towers. Old long bench about to be removed and replaced with 5 flashy new consoles. The new consoles are placed around the periphery.

Now I'm just looking forward to retirement... and more model building. :-)