me46newgo8tsolife

Nathan
and I

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    I went to UMO and graduated in 1972 and then became a high school earth science teacher in Berlin, NH. I was offered a job with the Maine State Museum in Augusta and dutifully thanked the school for the next year's contract, but said I'd had a good offer closer to home. I worked at the museum as a summer job in anticipation, but the Legislature didn't fund the position. After that, I was looking around and took a job lasting three days at Lippman Poultry as an eviscerater. (I don't put that on my resume.) I saw one of the SHS grads in the lunch room and we looked at each other thinking, "You ended up here?" I soon got a call working as a biologist at the UMO's Darling Center in South Bristol. One person I was writing to asked if it wasn't a fat farm started by Zsa Zsa Gabor. I was there three years and, as it was populated by graduate students, I was inspired and went to State University of NY at Buffalo for a M.A.. Unfortunately, the reason I went there was that I had a series of ten photocopies of articles about what I wanted to study written by one of their professors, but hadn't read them yet. I could have gone to U Michigan, but Buffalo had better money. I shoulda gone to UMich. When I finaly read the articles, I discovered the tenth one was a retraction of some of the conclusions as the writer had a lab assistant who had faked some of the data he used. My advisor was native Norwegian and was as warm and as enticing as left over oatmeal. I survived. I did develop a friendship with the mineralogist there, who was more like Johnny Carson than a scientist. He even sounded like him and had a vague resemblance except that he was six inches taller. I was later accepted in a Ph. D. program, but found that I wasn't getting any attention from him as an advisor. One of the older undergrads decided she wanted to get a MS degree and was also accepted, and my advisor and she hit it off very well. They eventually got married and she got a Ph. D., although he wasn't single when they met. Myself, I was married in 1970 and Nathan was born in 1974. My wife suggested I get a real job as I found myself two years into a Ph. D. program that wasn't going anywhere, except for my advisor and his chickie. That's how I ended up as staff mineralogist for Ward's Natural Science Establishment in Rochester, NY. In 1987, the owners of Ward's wanted to retire and decided to sell the company.
     I've been a consultant since the company I was working for went up for sale, after they had a "reduction in force" to make themselves look more profitable. I started as a computer cataloger for a private mineralogical library. I told them I wasn't a typist, but they thought it was more important that I understood the books I was working with. Three other major book collectors joined the bandwagon and I had a number of good years. In essence, I became a migrant worker. In 1993, my wife died of cancer and have been single since then. In the mid-1990s, I was an expert witness for International Paper Co. for several years and that was really good. Since 911, my business has dwindled and have been mostly a writer for hospitals and schools, but my boss and principal employer at one of the hospitals was forcibly retired last August and that meant that she'd not have anymore writing projects for them. As it turns out, she called yesterday and I'll pick up a few hours writing for her this afternoon on a Salvation Army grant proposal. I did do a site appraisal last year at the Newry mines for the new owners and that was fun.
     Last year, I convinced Nathan to go back to school after being out for ten years + and he has been doing all A's since then. Have stayed up many a night tutoring him with his homework. He will probably get a B in math this term but a lost 4.0 makes you humble.
     Of course, the summary of a life can look a little dry. I have had 14 books published, but as they're all non-fiction, they don't offer any royalties. Also had about 235 articles published, one in German, although I didn't do the translating. I have co-authored articles with Russians, Bulgarians, Czechs, Canadians(!), some Belgians, et al. Am currently the vice-president of the Geoliterary Society of which I was a founding member in 1984 and have been active in similar capacity with a number of local to international organizations. All of this and just over $5 will get you a cup of coffee at Starbucks. Also have an historical murder mystery in the works which begins in Skowhegan before it was Skowhegan and it takes the son of the victim ten years to figure out who the murderer was. The family leaves Maine just after the Year Without a Summer. (Of course, many would think that could be just about any Maine summer.) Be sure to go the movie when it comes out - ... after I finish writing it.)
That's it in a nutshell, from the nut himself. Your turn.

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