Think this is what John2 had in mind for this section....
Born/raised in Fenton, Iowa
Graduated from Sentral Community High School, May 1971
Spent that summer still mowing the few lawns I had for a few years
That Sept. went to work for Hood's Super Value grocery store in nearby Algona IA
By Dec. 1971 was ready to quit. But instead of looking for another job in the area, I "went off the deep end" and filled out a card for a 3 month class at the long defunct Atlantic Schools, which was headquartered in Kansas City, IIRC, with two other small campuses, one back East somewhere (no longer remember that location) and another in Inglewood, CA. Of course I just HAD to pick the Inglewood location.
Did not head for Southern Calif. until near the end of March 1972, Parents and oldest brother did not want me driving out in the middle of the year.....
Oct. 7th 1972, started my career with Avis Rent-a-Car.
Of course, got hooked on the California Racing Association sprint cars, primarily at Ascot, which was less that 5 miles from where my brother lived.
Involved with a Figure 8 team from the latter part of 1976, thu the 1977 season. that ended when the owner/driver threw his back out trying to build another car for the '78 season. That ended that.
Moved to the Orlando area in 2001, ending nearly 29 years working for Avis.
Late 2001 hooked up with a small operation called Superior Fire, a company that serviced and sold fire extinguishers along with EXIT and emergency lights.
I really liked that job, even more than working for Avis. Probably because it was a very small operation owned by my boss. For me I felt it was the best job I ever had, even today.
While in FL, went back to school at ITT Tech for 2 years, getting an AS Degree in Information Technology-Mulitmedia.
In 2005, ended up following my "roommate" when she took a transfer to the Albuquerque location of the engineering company she was working for.
About a year later, after working for Target & Home Depot, got a job at URS Corp (now swallowed up by a larger corporation after they bought out 2 other companies), as a CADD Tech in the Roadway Design dept. where my roommate worked.
She took a transfer to Brisbane, Australia in Sept 2008.
I stayed behind for various reasons.
My job fizzled out Sept. 2013 when I was let go.
Out of work since then.....could not land another job, even when a couple sounded like good prospects, but alas, things did not go well for me.
Even going thru ITT Tech, did no good, as everything they sent me called for much more experience than I had.
Near mid 2015 I was basically facing homelessness........
Help came from my oldest brother in a huge way....
I was offered the chance to either move back to their house in SoCal or to their house in Fenton.
That was a no brainer for me......I chose my old small town of Fenton.
I arrived Memorial Day weekend.
Late August 2015, I got a "job" of driving an elderly lady around to various appointments or when she wanted to go somewhere
May 2017, that job disappeared when she passed away.
Shortly after that I started driving another elderly couple around and am still at it as of now, but those days are numbered too, as they are close to heading to care facility
Did pick up another couple for a short time this year, but they just moved to a care center.
Got myself elected to City council here in Fenton....have until next Sept to see if I want to run again.....
There is the abridged version of my life......
