[geeks] Discuss this quote...

[Sridhar Ayengar]

Bill Bradford wrote:
> On Mon, Aug 27, 2007 at 01:22:15PM -0400, Sridhar Ayengar wrote:
>> I've taken classes at the local BOCES every now and then.  Learned more 
>> there than I ever did in school.
> 
> Around where I grew up, we just called that the "Vo-tech", "Vocational
> Technical School".  I think BOCES is similar.
> 
> Back home:
> 
> http://www.caddokiowa.com/
> http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caddo-Kiowa_Technology_Center

Yeah, that looks like something similar.

> Looks like they've gone a bit higher tech than when I attended during a 
> summer in the early 90s.  At the time, they still had some IBM ATs and
> DisplayWriters around.  I had more fun in the welding class than the
> computer department, since I was already way above the level of what they
> were teaching IT-wise and had better equipment at home. 8-)

I never took their welding classes.

To learn welding, I went to my friend's father who was a scrap-metal 
dealer, so he had a bunch of cutting and welding gear around.  He had 
one of his guys show me the basics (first with a torch, and then with a 
MIG setup), and then he gave me a bunch of plate metal and told me to 
practice.

After I was done with the metal, he'd have his guys cut the pieces back 
up and send it off to the foundry.  A few days later, he'd give me some 
more plate to "play" with.

Eventually I got good enough that I could set myself up with a MIG 
welder and a bench vise and make steel cubes.  My beads didn't require 
much grinding either.  I'm probably a lot *ahem* rustier now though.

The first project on which I used my skills was a model dump truck I 
made with a bunch of friends with a single-cylinder diesel engine.  It 
even had a real hydraulic dumper.  (One of my friends was an apprentice 
hydraulics mechanic at the time.)

Peace...  Sridhar