The Odds Are Against Us, But We're Gonna Get It Done.

A guy at work just said that and I thought, fuck that could be the title of my autobiography. I think back to all the shit in my life and I've turned out pretty damn good. I've built a hell of a life for myself, I've had some help here and there but the majority of it was me, never giving up.

At one point, long ago, I got it in my head that I wanted to get as many different degrees as I could. Well then I thought about that when I got older, a degree just means you know how to take a test and do paperwork. Now I have certifications in more things than I could ever imagine. Certified welder, low voltage certification, machinist certifications, tower certifications that I keep up to date, first aid, IT networking certs, a few old ASE certs but again that just means you can take a test and countless more I can't even name. I can fix damn near anything, I can design anything that's in my head, I can build anything that's in my head, and if I can't do it, I can learn it. I'm not so stuck in my ways that knowledge is below me, if you aren't learning, well then you aren't living.

I've got a Bridgeport in my shop, a 10 foot engine lathe, more welders than I can look at, and tooling for everything I own, all bought and paid for by me. I have a habit of buying tools that I don't know the exact function of, like old tools, well because they look cool and you never know. I can repurpose anything to do anything and I know that sounds like I line but if I don't have it, I build it.

I've got a house that I'm years ahead on payments, new car, old car, older car, truck, motorcycles, side by side, and I just worked my ass off to get what I want.

I'm an electrical engineer, machinist, designer, fabricator by day and by night I'm all that and a whole lot more. My passion in life is motorcycles and machining. I could run a manual machine for days and it never gets old, unless it's production on the same part over and fucking over again.

They call my shop the local hardware store because I don't ever buy one of what I need, I load up because I hate being in the middle of a project and needing to run to town. My neighbors are astonished by what I have in my shop. I'm the local, hey can you fix this or build this kind of guy. 90% of the time I drop what I'm doing and help, but I'm learning to do that less and less as I get older. I never charge more than a case of beer and I cut back beer to damn near nothing, so I'd rather have my time to work on my projects.

It's hard to believe but there was a point in time where I was pretty much homeless, Randomly staying here and there but I overcame it. I've been robbed at gunpoint, I've been drugged and robbed, beaten, abused, and I've had countless people walk out on me because they thought I wasn't going anywhere or I was stuck in my ways. I put this brain of mine to work and now I've got almost everything I could ever dream off. When you think you have lost it all, you just cleared your slate to do it the way you want. It's not a matter of what we burn down, it's what we pull from the ashes that truly defines us.

If this is saying anything, it's hard work pays off. Nothing was ever handed to me other than knowledge. There are a few people that never gave up on me and gave me a spot when I had nothing else. So don't think the universe ever owes you anything, you only get what you work for. I'll teach anyone to do anything if they put in the effort to learn it, otherwise don't waste my time or yours. I can teach physics to a monkey if I can relate the material.

At the end of it all, when we all breathe our last breath, the only things we have to leave behind are the things we worked for and the knowledge we passed along to the world. Share it where you can and remember, a hard working job is often times better than anything that degree will get you.

Grow, learn and shine your damn light for all to see because you never know when someone is going to need a beacon of hope. You can have all the knowledge in the world but if you don't share it, what's it worth?