Mchawkman

I work as an estimator, but in my spare time I have been teaching myself how to use Blender.

My father was an engineer for the Southern Pacific railroad for 44 years. He retired in 1996, right before the UP / SP merger. In the '70's and '80's he often took me to work with him, mostly when he was working night jobs out of Stockton, CA, and Lodi, CA. Occasionally he would take me on the Kentuckyhouse Branch job (up to the Calaveras Cement plant), and the Ione Local, and once I even went with him on the Oakdale Local. All of these (I think) are looooong gone. Things were different on the railroad back then; there were no in-cab computers, cameras, and the only thing he ever had to worry about was some official "...waiting in the weeds." I realize now he took a lot of chances taking me with him, but the old heads he ran with were nothing but kind to me, and (to the best of my knowledge) he was never reprimanded, or written up, or whatever would happen to a hoghead who got caught with his teenage kid sitting in the fireman's seat. I will never, ever be able to repay him for the experiences he gave me. As a father myself now, my one big regret is that I can't offer my own son and daughter something of similar experience ("Hey, kids! This is how I fill out a spreadsheet! Isn't that AWESOME!?!" ) And that kinda makes me sad...

Thus a bit of background on me, and some explanation about my subject matter...