Though rockjock may have another question in mind, a logical next one in this thread is what is everyone's main occupation? I'm a graphic designer for the Washington State Department of Transportation 40 hours a week and a digital pre-press technician for a service bureau/print shop 10-20 hours a week. In my "spare" time I paint and make 3D worm westerns. mclarsen

Good Question. As far as jobs go I'm a Desktop Publisher at CopyMax in OfficeMax. I do web and grapic design for a couple of clients in this area when I'm not at OfficeMax. I'm also a full-time student at South Plains College (studying Computer Information Systems and Graphic Design.) rockjockjared

Ok here goes.. My day gig is as a NT Systems Engineer for a large on-line bank hosting company. At night I do my graphics gig. Clint

Just wanted to set the record straight. I didn't acutally start all this madness. It was FATfoe, but I'm glad he did...it's always nice to know who you're dealing with and everyones experience with design. I'm a fairly new to the Carrara Community and I'm glad to see that a place like this exists where people help eachother out and enjoy design!! rockjockjared

My official title is "Network Planner", which sounds like I pick the crappy shows on TV. Actually, I work for MegaSoulessTelephone Corporation and my job involves planning and forecasting DSL use, and I get to tell engineers what to do, as in "Yo, dude, we need some more capacity over in Townsburg, VA". Then they get to work, and I go surf on Renderosity for awhile. Heh, heh. Pretty sweet deal. Don't tell my boss, OK?

I'm in the high-end printing business (mostly 4-color offset printing, sheet fed). I do design work, ads for publications, dislays for trade shows, art for pre-press, mock-ups for clients, qoutes on products, sales support, etc. Learned keyline & paste-up with reproes, razor blades & rapidograph pens and real airbrushes. That was when type was still set in lead & computers were still punch-card machines. Really been interesting seeing the evolution of the graphics industry.

I hear you willf! I began my graphic career with those archaic tools 12 years before the first Mac. For a truly satisfying experience, everyone should have to "spec type" for a 5 column, 12 page daily (hopefully remembering the correct leading); cut apart pages of galley type; pasteup with FPO graphics or create the ones needed; create acetate overlays for additional colors or effects; get the whole mess under the camera; shoot the negs; strip them for plating and then have the client change one of the jump-stories or delete it all together and away we go back to telling the typesetter about the additional galleys we need. When I think of the amount of hours involved in getting a piece ready for print or using that new-fangled press-type or making type/layout changes compared to what we do with computers now... Long live the bits and bytes!

I'm in the professionnal laziness bizness ;) In fact, sometimes i work clandestinely in buildings : floors, ceilings, painting ... Not very exciting but it's some few bucks ! litst

Up until Friday I was the Superintendent for the Training Services Flight for our squadron. Mostly administrative type stuff; reviewing reports and the like. By specialty I am a Russian and Chinese linguist. Tomorrow, I'm starting at a new duty position as one of the resource managers for the squadron, and I'll do that until I retire next February. After I retire, who knows; I'll take whatever I can find, if the pay is right. Unofficially, I've designed numerous forms, certificates, coins, and crests for the various units I've been assigned to. Graphics and art has only been a hobby for me, I don't have any "official" training in it, just what I've picked over the years. Tony

I also started out in printing, way before computers. When I started we used a letterpress to do the numbering jobs. I somehow ended up as a technology buyer in the County's Puchasing Department. Keith

I'm a bloodsucker, oh, I mean bottom feeder, damn it, that's not it... oh yeah, I'm a lawyer. I specialize in intellectual property and general commercial litigation.

Okay, I'll tell you, but I promise you your lives will never be the same again... Currently i work for Hill PHOENIX, a Refrigeration Display manufacturer. We make those cases in grocery stroes that show off the meat, veggies, deli stuff, frozen foods and ice creams. I do the graphic design for sales literature, direct photography, graphics for a gigantic trade show booth, design logos, some web stuff, and actually model 3D illos of proposed case designs developed by engineering. (Okay, now next time you go into a grocery store, you won't help but to notice the cases now...hahahahahahahaha!) Like a bunch of us old timers, I too started off cut and paste with galley type, hot wax, clip art you actually had to clip (or hope that someone else didn't get the last slick) and typesetters who would say, "well you can cut those letters to tighten the kerning, can't you?" Oh yeah, and we were insane enough to cut rubylith for four-color illustrations.

So, Mr. Graylensman: How are those cases for keeping brains? My SO is getting tired of me keeping my spares next to the orange juice. --Terri

I do video production for the Arizona Supreme Court and Department of Education. It's a cool job, for the most part. And, no, I don't tape depositions or anything like that; I create training videos and handle logistics of live state-wide satellite television broadcasts. Exciting things like, "Conducting Probation Searches" and "Arizona Revised Statute 1180b and You: The Customer Connection." Once in a great while I get to do some 3D work for a project -- did one that was set in the future (complete CGI set) and am doing a teaser commercial for the Future Farmers of America. It involves a 3D Cow and a little hyperactive character. You couldn't pay me to go back to the mechanical paste-up days. I'd rather struggle with Microsoft Publisher than that! (PageMaker, Quark, Illustrator -- those are the layout artist's friends!)

Terri: depends on your needs. Brains are a medium-temp application, you'd probably want a gravity-coil to keep 'em from drying out...Do you want your SO to be able to help himself, or do you want to provide customer service? For the former, you'd probably go with a OSIOZA model (mobile self-service); for the latter, an OLFG can't be beat. Got $2000 lying around? Chip: Paste-up VS Publisher... damn, that's a tough one. I've helped a poor Admin type in HR struggle with Publisher. Hot wax and publisher both stink, but I guess Publisher doesn't get your hands sticky...

I use my spare brains as sort of a hot-swappable peripherals: When the one I'm using starts to overheat, it's nice to have a fresh cold one ready to go. Never was a problem before, but last week SO mistook one for some week-old pasta salad and got all bent out of shape. Sheesh, it wasn't like it was his brain that got all coated in mayo. But do you see me complaining? Oh well, I guess that's what I get for using brains made with old Commodore 64 power supplies. Anyway, the medium temp version sound like a good option. Do you have one with a built-in lazy sSusan? That would be cool (if you'll pardon the pun). --Terri

It's nice to know someone keeps a cool head around here. D'oh!!! Horrible pun penalty box, five minutes.... --

Well, you know what they say: cold head, warm heart.

Remeber the ancient Klingon proverb: "Terri's brain is a dish best served cold." Uh, no, wait a sec...