I have retired!

...

I think a lot of people don't realize that plcs.net started at least as far back as 1999. The old version was red or pink and blue.
2002 is when Phil changed the forum software to what you see today.

Yes we started using vbulletin in 02. Around 99 we used bbmatic forum software and yes pink/blue. Good to see the memory is still there Peter hahaha :whistle:

The site started in 96 and I believe our first forum was added in 97 on wwwboard and then 2 more programs before settling on vb.

Good luck and I expect we'll see you still popping in... once a tech guy always a tech guy :nodi:
Enjoy,
 
@ganitenator. I will still be around when I have internet.
I never did figure out what a ganutenator is.
Also, haven't you moved a few times over the years?
You have been around a while too.


I think a lot of people don't realize that plcs.net started at least as far back as 1999. The old version was red or pink and blue.
2002 is when Phil changed the forum software to what you see today.

I borrowed the word "ganutenator" from this old salty tech that used to say "Bring me the ganutenator". He used it as watcha-ma-call-it or thing-a-ma-jig.
 
Good luck on your retirement Peter.

I visited Alaska with a rented truck camper a few years back and really loved it but I guess AK isn't to everyone's taste and Northern California sounds good too.

I'm ten years behind you and just looking for my first truck camper.

All the best,

Nick
 
Good luck on your retirement Peter.

I visited Alaska with a rented truck camper a few years back and really loved it but I guess AK isn't to everyone's taste and Northern California sounds good too.

I'm ten years behind you and just looking for my first truck camper.

All the best,

Nick
Are there any places in the UK to camp?
Here there are national forests. There are state camp grounds but they pack the camp sites too close together. I would rather be in the sticks. I don't need a developed camp ground.

If I lived in the UK I would consider a narrow boat. There are small canals that go all over the UK.
 
There are places to camp but unfortunately they are camp sites either controlled by a resort and pretty well packed, however, some farmers will allow camping in their grass fields at a small cost but as they are working farms it can be difficult. GB has little land where you can roam freely except national parks owned by the national trust & camping is strictly controlled to camp sites.
The problem with camper vans is the size in general, many roads in the scenic areas are only wide enough for two cars or in some places one car with passing places.
Canals are great, I know of a number of people who have taken an old working Barge & made it into quite a luxury home, great for travelling around England, plenty of pubs to have a drink & meal many on the actual canal side.
 
Are there any places in the UK to camp?
Here there are national forests. There are state camp grounds but they pack the camp sites too close together. I would rather be in the sticks. I don't need a developed camp ground.

If I lived in the UK I would consider a narrow boat. There are small canals that go all over the UK.


Same goes for France, if you like that way of transport. Boats can be quite expensive though, both rented and bought. And don't forget to take European fuel prices into account. A few years ago a friend almost bought a small boat in the south of France, with the intention of spending one summer holiday getting it back home (which was in the north of France at the time). He backed off once he had calculated what the cost of fuel would have been to get the boat across France.



Large parts of Europe are rather densely populated compared to rural north america. Due to the large number of people whatever wild grounds we have left needs protection in order to preserve some of it for future generations. Hence free camping is very much limited. Asking politely and being most respectful when permission is granted will likely get you a place to spend the night e.g. near a farmhouse, even though you may have to ask around a few times at different places before a land owner agrees with you.



For hiking parts of the UK have a long standing tradition of "the right of way", were hikers can legally pass over privately owned land. This tradition is most explicit in Scotland. It is however about passing over land on foot, not in motorized vehicles. And it is not about camping.



Parts of Scandinavia lend themselves well to spending the night somewhere in the wilderness if you'd like to spend some time in Europe that way. In many parts of Scandinavia they also have cabins in the countryside that are free to use for folks traveling the wilderness.
 
@Peter, The best places for getting away from things in the UK are in Scotland and it is quite well suited to truck campers to access the most out of the way places. My office is next to the Leeds to Liverpool canal and my wifeÂ’s office is about 10 miles East on the same canal; we joke that we should get kayaks and meet for lunch.

@Parky. A truck camper is not the same as a camper van. People in Europe more often use the term “Demountable”. The camper part sits in the bed of the pickup truck with a bed over the cab. Anywhere the pickup can go then so can the demountable. I recently bought a truck and I’m now looking for a suitable camper but there aren’t many for sale second hand in the UK.
 
Parts of Scandinavia lend themselves well to spending the night somewhere in the wilderness if you'd like to spend some time in Europe that way. In many parts of Scandinavia they also have cabins in the countryside that are free to use for folks traveling the wilderness.




We bought a vacation to Sweden and Norway many decades ago that gave us two weeks of camping passes; I don't know if they were universal, but they were valid at every campground we tried. The best part was that every campground had a sauna, even the one where the "campsites" were in a section of a farmer's field with the hay knocked down.
 
I have thougt about this some more

Congrats on retiring, all the best!

What's some lasting advice you can give me, I'm a bloke in mid-20s. Doesn't have to be academic related, just any life advice is good.

Thanks,
Be adaptable. Life can be strange. I never thought in my wildest dreams I would end up where I am today.


There will be opportunities that will come your way and you must be able to recognize them as such.


I got laid off from my job in 1985. I looked at jobs in the aerospace industry in CA. I had a friend that tried to get me to work down there. There was a bounty for finding good engineers. I remember interviewing at Northrup in downtown LA. I think they called this the Hawthorne plant. The person interviewing me was interested voice controls for jet fighters. I told her ( the manager ) it wasn't going to happen. It still hasn't as far as I know. I dodged that bullet. Voice recognition works in many applications today but still not for fighters. Do any of you guys play video games? Would voice controls work?


My second interview was at Northrup Technical Center. This was tempting. I would have access to Cray ( super computer s ). The interviewer was a PhD with long hair and kind of hippie like but he was smart, much smarter than the manager of the voice control project. He had a big office and he sat cross legged on a couch.



If you know you are smarter than the person interviewing you then walk away. You will not be happy. You will be working for the pointy hair boss. ( see Dilbert )



We talked about optimizing problems. One topic that came up was avoiding anti air missiles or how to make them better. This was a good exchange. We also talked about optimizing logs/wood since this is what I had been doing and the interviewer had know idea that is what was being done. In the saw mill industry. I was asked to come back for a second interview but I had already decided to work at Delta. I took about a 25% pay cut but I had faith in what I could do by myself.


Delta Computer Systems was essentially a hobby that paid money at first. It wasn't till about 1988 that we got serious. In 1992 we deposed, bought out, our old president and I took his place. I was different in that I realized that there is much more to building a better mouse trap. The world does not beat a path to your door without marketing. Always be marking. Be marketing yourself. Find ways to market yourself without bragging. For instance there are only two people on this forum that have a clue what I can do but I don't mention it. Write a magazine article about a little know subject. This usually requires a little research.


BTW, I never had a couch in my office and it wasn't as big as the long haired PhD but I do have a nice Lazy Boy recliner in my office.
 
Congratulations for your retirement, and good luck on your adventures.
Your camper looks awesome.
And thanks for all your valuable input in the forum :geek:
I hope we shall hear from you in the future.
 
Be adaptable. Life can be strange. I never thought in my wildest dreams I would end up where I am today.


There will be opportunities that will come your way and you must be able to recognize them as such.


I got laid off from my job in 1985. I looked at jobs in the aerospace industry in CA. I had a friend that tried to get me to work down there. There was a bounty for finding good engineers. I remember interviewing at Northrup in downtown LA. I think they called this the Hawthorne plant. The person interviewing me was interested voice controls for jet fighters. I told her ( the manager ) it wasn't going to happen. It still hasn't as far as I know. I dodged that bullet. Voice recognition works in many applications today but still not for fighters. Do any of you guys play video games? Would voice controls work?


My second interview was at Northrup Technical Center. This was tempting. I would have access to Cray ( super computer s ). The interviewer was a PhD with long hair and kind of hippie like but he was smart, much smarter than the manager of the voice control project. He had a big office and he sat cross legged on a couch.



If you know you are smarter than the person interviewing you then walk away. You will not be happy. You will be working for the pointy hair boss. ( see Dilbert )



We talked about optimizing problems. One topic that came up was avoiding anti air missiles or how to make them better. This was a good exchange. We also talked about optimizing logs/wood since this is what I had been doing and the interviewer had know idea that is what was being done. In the saw mill industry. I was asked to come back for a second interview but I had already decided to work at Delta. I took about a 25% pay cut but I had faith in what I could do by myself.


Delta Computer Systems was essentially a hobby that paid money at first. It wasn't till about 1988 that we got serious. In 1992 we deposed, bought out, our old president and I took his place. I was different in that I realized that there is much more to building a better mouse trap. The world does not beat a path to your door without marketing. Always be marking. Be marketing yourself. Find ways to market yourself without bragging. For instance there are only two people on this forum that have a clue what I can do but I don't mention it. Write a magazine article about a little know subject. This usually requires a little research.


BTW, I never had a couch in my office and it wasn't as big as the long haired PhD but I do have a nice Lazy Boy recliner in my office.

Thanks Peter. I do agree with you that opportunities come and go. As far as being adaptable, I think this would depend on what you want out of life. Some people want to raise a family and spend time with kids, so they work locally and take that pay cut, and don't make career their top priority. Some people want to run successful businesses, make a lot of money, but don't care too much on settling down in a city, and are always on the move. Both pathways lead to their own rewards and require certain adaptations and sacrifices, but the question becomes, what is it that you most need and most desire from this life? The answer to this question I think will determine if one needs to adapt a new lifestyle or not? Maybe I am way off in my thinking, but that's why I talk with you, cause I am naive, haha
 
@alive15, after I was laid off in 1985 went to work for Delta for about 25% less than I was getting at my previous company.
I just saw an opportunity in Delta.


About being adaptable. I didn't know much about hydraulics in 1985. My degree was in electrical and computer engineering. Then I also had lost of training in Adm Rickover's nuclear navy. I think this was more important than my degree since I have done little or no electrical engineering. The computer engineering allowed me to read a spec sheet for a CPU. Life can be weird.


but the question becomes, what is it that you most need and most desire from this life?
To win, be best.
"I consider it a challenge before the whole human race and I aint gonna lose"
This would be difficult in many fields but in hydraulic servo control there was little competition back in the 1980s when it came to technology.

Delta is very small considering the big international companies we compete with. However, our business is 41% export now. All I want is our fair share and a little more.



Our second "opportunity" came when were renting in a business park. The park changed hands so now the new owners raised the rents on everyone significantly. Since we were already busting at the seams we decided to move and build our own building in 2008 during the crash. It was tough getting a loan ( difficult to do when you haven't had a credit rating for over 25 years ) but we qualified just before Christmas so work would continue. The construction workers could continue too and worked until late may 2009. Everyone had a good Christmas. We will have paid off the loan at the end of this year. Delta Computer Systems, rents the building from me and my business partner. That will be one source of our retirement money.


We were urged to build our own building years before but it took raising our rent to really give us the incentive to build our own. We should have done it earlier.


My point is that sometimes new challenges are new opportunities.


Maybe I am way off in my thinking, but that's why I talk with you,
No, as long as you realize the compromises you are making. I know what compromises I have made.



cause I am naive, haha
Everyone is naive starting out. The trick is to learn how the game is played as quick as possible. Schools are awful at teaching this.
 
One more thing.
I believe the world is made up of makers and takers. Most if not all on this forum are makers. The new order will penalize makers to pay for the takers. For too long I have felt that I exist only to support takers.
It is a good time to retire. As it turns out I am still working a little but less that 10 hours a week. I am tired of working just to pay taxes to the takers.
 

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