My Job

Whenever somebody asks me what it is I do for a living, I always hesitate for just a moment. There's not a fast answer like 'I'm a nurse' or 'I'm an accountant,' it's more like 'I'manx-raytechnicianandItestx-rayequipment.' Did you get that? No? Well, don't feel too bad, most of my family members don't really know what it is I do either. I imagine whenever people ask about me (assuming they do...) my parents say something like, "Oh, she does something with x-rays" or "She used to do something with lasers, I'm not really sure what she does now."

Back when I was fresh out of high school, I had no idea what it was I wanted to do. So, I headed over to the community college and spent a year and a half working on an associates degree in "General Studies." I was one semester away from getting my degree when I decided to dump that idea and head over to tech school. Why? I'm not really sure why actually. I'll tell you what happened....

I knew I didn't have much time left to figure out what I wanted to do next so I headed over to the library one day and picked up a book full of career listings. I scanned through the book, flipping pages and reading all the different careers available. Somehow I came upon the "Electrical Engineer" and "Electronics Engineer" listings and thought, Huh... why not? Looks like I could make a decent amount of money doing that.

To tell you the truth I didn't really know what the difference was between the two at the time, but an ill-informed career counselor at the tech school told me the Electrical Engineer was more of a designer/book nerd/work at a desk person, and the Electronics Engineer was more of the hands-on end. Completely wrong, but I figured the hands-on approach sounded better, so I chose to get my degree in Electronics Engineering.

I'd originally planned to go through and get my bachelor's degree, but the tech school I went to was really expensive and I didn't think the quality was that great, so I quit after getting my AAS Degree in Electronics and headed out to get a job. Because I only had an associates degree, this put me into the technician category instead of the engineer category. Which, to tell you the honest truth is completely fine with me. I'm not sure if this is true everywhere, but at my current job, the engineers do all the calculations, solve design problems, and do a lot of the thinking work. After they figure out what needs to be done, they tell me, the technician what tests to run, what equipment to use, and what products to build. So I get to do a lot of hands-on work with tools and test equipment.

So what do I currently do? Well, I'm basically an engineering technician for the "Research and Development (R&D)" group at Varian Medical Systems, which designs, tests, and manufactures x-ray tubes. They use these x-ray tubes in all sorts of areas such as CT scanners, airport baggage scanners, mammography, angiography & cardiology, radiographic imaging, etc. My job is to help test the new tubes and help fix problems with tubes they currently produce. I get to build and test x-ray tubes, write up build procedures for the manufacturing areas, order tools and parts, and write up technical reports.

I really think I lucked out as far as choosing a career that suits me well. I had no idea what I was getting into back when I chose my career, but somehow I managed to pick something that allows me to use my strengths and do things that I enjoy. I have a team of intelligent people I get to work with everyday in the engineering group, but I also get to work with all kinds of people all over the plant. I'm constantly doing new things and every day is different. Some days I'm working on spreadsheets or writing reports at my desk and other days I'm covered in dirt and grime with a wrench in my hand. Plus since this field isn't very popular with the women folk, I pretty much work with men all day. For me that's a huge bonus. All the women may hate me for saying this, but I'd much rather work with men. Less drama, more humor. Plus, they'll eat all the treats I bring in without whining about their hips getting huge. Win/win!

I hope this helped to explain what it is I do. Life sure is interesting in how it turns out. Things have a way of working out for the best sometimes, and I'm glad in this case I was able to find something that makes me happy.

Variety is the Spice of Life

1. My first post: My First Memory- Fitting eh? This blog started as a way to write my life story (thus the name...) and I figured what better way to start my life story than to write my first memory?

2. The post I enjoyed writing the most: Dreams- This was a hard decision. There are a lot of posts I like to do. Most of them actually. I really like doing my "I Can Vouch for That" posts and my childhood memory stories, but I think I looked forward to working on this one the most. It was exciting to wake up just about every morning and have at least one cool thing to write about. And it was fun to read back through my dreams and see what the common themes were. It's amazing how much you remember about your dreams when you make a conscious effort to keep track of them.

3. A post which had a great discussion: Then I Wake Up and Realize it Was All Just a Bad Dream- I had fun trying to make my decision on this one. There are so many funny and great comments on a lot of my posts. Ultimately I really liked this one the best. Keep those comments coming! That's definitely my favorite part of blogging.

4. A post on someone else’s blog that I wish I'd written: Thank You, Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, or, Maybe I Like Food Just a Little- Geez this was really hard to choose. There are so many wonderful blogs that have so many wonderful posts and I covet every single one of them. However, Rachel, my incredibly witty, funny, adorably fiery sister-in-law garners most of my blog envy. She's an incredible writer and I love how her personality is so apparent in her posts. This post is definitely one of my very favorites.

5. My most helpful post: I Can Vouch for That- I really like doing these posts. I'd say these are my most helpful though because I'm always getting people asking me what that one product was that I recommended on my blog. I'm pretty much like a small scale Oprah. I should be getting royalties.

6. The post with a title that I am proud of: These Mutilated Home-Made Tortillas are a Product of My Love for You- I've somewhat recently discovered that I really like to come up with post titles. It's kind of fun!

7. A post that I wish more people had read: The Ping Pong Table- I don't know if I could really pin point a post that I thought people hadn't read. I think some posts just don't generate as much commenting as others, but I don't think it necessarily reflects the number of readers. However, I think maybe some of my earlier stuff gets overlooked simply because it's too daunting to go through all those past posts and "catch up" on all of them. That's why I picked this one.

8. The post I think is the funniest/most clever: They're at it Again- This pretty much sums up the quirks and craziness that lurk underneath my seemingly calm demeanor.

9. The post I want to erase: Why You Will Never See Ads on My Blog- I was having a bad day and this just ended up sounding like I was fishing for compliments. You all dealt with it very well. I would have written something along the lines of "stop your whining." I really hate this post but I figure it's all part of the learning curve with this blogging stuff. I try to put more thought into whether I really like posts before I post them now.

10. The post that I spent the most time on: Wildflowers 101- You have no idea how much time I spent editing photos and identifying those flowers. It seriously took forever.

11. The post I spent the least time on that produced the most comments: Is Lady Gaga a Man?- Sometimes you write those quick and dirty posts that take about 5 minutes and they somehow manage to generate a large amount of response. I don't know why that is, but I wish I could crack the code.

12. My most visually interesting post: Bragging Rights- I can't really take credit for the visual interest in this post as all the photos are my dad's! But, it's by far the most pleasing to the eye...

13. The post that reflects my personality the most: My Biggest Fan- There you have it. Proof that I'm insane. Or a narcissist. Or possibly both.


I'd like to know what you think are your best posts. Feel free to steal these questions and answer them on your own blog!

I got the idea for this blog post here.

Because You Just Can't Get Enough

(Yes I know I'm copying some of you guys' posts, but oh well. It's not like you came up with the "about me" questions either)


1. Were you named after anyone?
Yes... my mom was watching some soap opera at the hospital after she had me. Judith Light was on there and she was playing a character named "Karen" and my mom thought it was a good name.

2. When did you last cry?
Geez, I don't even remember!

3. What is your favorite lunch meat?
Um, I know this sounds weird, but I really like bologna (think Cold Cut Combo from Subways). I also like turkey with pastrami.

4. Do you still have your tonsils?
Yes

5. Do you untie your shoes when you take them off?
Yes, because I'm usually in too big of a hurry to untie them when I need to put them back on!

6.What is your favorite ice cream flavor?
It depends on the day, but I really like Bananas Foster from Haagen Daaz. Actually just about anything from Haagen Daaz. And also Chubby Hubby from Ben & Jerry's.

7. Shoe Size?
8 or 8 1/2

8. Who do you miss the most?
My Grandpa Holley

9. Last thing you ate?
Sauerkraut Chowder

10. What are you listening to right now?
A guy in my office yelling at his computer.

11. Who was the last person you talked to on the phone?
My hair salon calling to confirm an appointment a couple days ago. I hardly ever talk to anyone on the phone!

12. What's the strangest thing you've seen?
A couple was driving down the freeway in an old 1957 BelAir convertible one summer next to my car. They were a younger couple and looked pretty retro (ie woman had a scarf over her hair and red lipstick, etc.). The man had his arm around the girl. And then I realized the girl was a cross-dressing man. Weird.

13. Do you wear contacts?
No, but I have before. Not worth the trouble for my low prescription.

14. What is the worst thing you've ever eaten?
I got a pasta dish at McGrath's Fish House once that had orange zest and scallops in it. I couldn't eat it. I didn't eat scallops for a long time after that. Not a good pairing. I also had some really gross fried oysters there once too. I don't eat at McGrath's anymore.

15. Last movie you watched at the movie theatre?
Avatar I think?

16. Favorite Dessert?
Pie... usually banana cream or mixed berry

17. What books are you reading?
The Time Traveler's Wife & Prospecting for Trout

18. What did you watch last night?
Jeopardy! I love that show.

19. The furthest you've been from home?
England

20. What's your special talent?
I don't know if it's that special but I'm pretty good at cooking stuff.

21. Favorite singer right now?
Hmmm... I don't listen to much these days. But I'm always in the mood for Brandi Carlile. And I really like Fiona Apple's "Extraordinary Machine" album.

22. Right or Lefty?
Righty

23. One thing you want to do before you die?
Go to New Zealand and catch some of those gigantic browns!