What Drove You Towards a Career in Engineering?

I love it... Well, this is how the story goes...

A long time ago, when I was 2 maybe we moved from New York City to Long Branch in New Jersey. I saw my Mom and Dad tieing up thing with string and cutting it with a pair of scissors. Well as the story goes, I got ahold of the scissors and went under the desk with them, and proceeded to cut the vacuum cleaners wire. There was this large blue flash of light, I jumped up and hit my head on the desk, and started to scream. Well anyway, there is this pretty  notch in my Mom's good scissors to this day. I am still a little nut still when I rattled my brains under that damn desk.

In Long Branch, my Dad worked as a microwave instructor and brought home TMs (Training Manual) and would take them in the bathroom and read, color them.  Time passes...

The 50's was such a cool time to grow up in from Space to the A-Bomb,  I loved growing up near Radio Row in NYC, and surplus stuff, which was replaced by the "Twin Towers", later leveled again in 9/11.

I guess I built my first computer back in high school out of relays and DTLogic, Diode-Transistor Logic, and used Telephone Rotary Stepping Relays, for addressing and 'Form-H' relays for memory.

I later went in the Air Force. What can I say LOVE IT!

I love it... Well, this is how the story goes...

A long time ago, when I was 2 maybe we moved from New York City to Long Branch in New Jersey. I saw my Mom and Dad tieing up thing with string and cutting it with a pair of scissors. Well as the story goes, I got ahold of the scissors and went under the desk with them, and proceeded to cut the vacuum cleaners wire. There was this large blue flash of light, I jumped up and hit my head on the desk, and started to scream. Well anyway, there is this pretty  notch in my Mom's good scissors to this day. I am still a little nut still when I rattled my brains under that damn desk.

In Long Branch, my Dad worked as a microwave instructor and brought home TMs (Training Manual) and would take them in the bathroom and read, color them.  Time passes...

The 50's was such a cool time to grow up in from Space to the A-Bomb,  I loved growing up near Radio Row in NYC, and surplus stuff, which was replaced by the "Twin Towers", later leveled again in 9/11.

I guess I built my first computer back in high school out of relays and DTLogic, Diode-Transistor Logic, and used Telephone Rotary Stepping Relays, for addressing and 'Form-H' relays for memory.

I later went in the Air Force. What can I say LOVE IT!

I am really enjoying these stories, but yours particularly was fun. I know where Long Branch is because my dad worked at Bell Labs back in the 50s and 60s, so we lived in the Plainfields area and later Holmdel, (went to school with Hal Zahl jr). I have a screw driver with a similar "shocking" story.  To this day, I have a healthy respect for standard home AC.  Throwing a screwdriver across a room when the muscles in your arm contract is somewhat scary.

Jack.

Yes, Homedel... 4 building inside one big one. And the 100mph Club (standing start from building to the road!!)

Yes, screwdriver in the panel that happened when I worked for Interdata (Ocean Port) when they put the new panel in the High Bay from our new power station... Well, there was this huge flash of blue light and then darkness. This was the Blackout of Fort Monmouth, the horse track and most of Northern NJ.

And then there was this time when the Nike Base blew up.

Cris

Ha ha, fun times.  My life was with motors and engine control (ignition and fueling). Now I work with medical equipment and blood gas monitoring (much safer).

Jack