My mother had at least three jobs when I was growing up and afterwards. I'm not sure how many jobs she had when I was too young to know what she was doing. My father had a lot of jobs, not so much because he lost jobs as he was always trying to move up in the world or to stay interested in what he was doing. He had at least 13 jobs but the thing that impresses me most are all of the technologies and areas he worked. He got his EE (electrical engineering) degree after time in the air force during the Korean war. He worked on electricity producing steam plants, an ion engine that was launched into space to be tested (it worked), aircraft instruments, optical thin films, lasers, LCD displays, sold Kenworth trucks, ran a pottery manufacturing company, managed an electron beam photo lithography group and ran an electronic instruments division for a company. He would read a few books on a subject he was interested in, get a job in that field and then he excelled. I really admire that about him.
As well as doing all those things he bought a mountain house that had partially burned, redesigned the roof so that there was a larger interior section and did a lot of the rebuilding himself (with help from me, my friends and our relatives.) After doing that he bought some property in the Santa Cruz mountains, designed a house and built most of it mainly on his own with a few helpers. After doing that he planted a vineyard on the property and learned how to maintain wine grapes.
During his time in the Santa Cruz mountains he did rowing a few times a week. Up until early March of this year he would go rowing on San Francisco bay with partners or by himself. They often row from the Aquatic Park area either under the Golden Gate Bridge or the Bay Bridge. He usually rows in support of swimmers who need help during the Escape from Alcatraz swims.
He's an amazing man.
