Asking the experts

@Capt MJ, why does this story not surprise me? I did much the same on a manual Smith-Corona (which I also still have) but I was not smart enough to charge faculty rates. With my extra spending money, I splurged on five for a dollar tacos every Sunday night. You can tell that was in the dark ages and I am older than dirt. My kids at USMMA have taken up where I left off, charging for haircuts and shoe-shines and selling a myriad of discarded items on eBay.
 
kpmom2013 said:
@Capt MJ, why does this story not surprise me? I did much the same on a manual Smith-Corona (which I also still have) but I was not smart enough to charge faculty rates. With my extra spending money, I splurged on five for a dollar tacos every Sunday night. You can tell that was in the dark ages and I am older than dirt. My kids at USMMA have taken up where I left off, charging for haircuts and shoe-shines and selling a myriad of discarded items on eBay.
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Brilliant. My parents taught me the difference between “needs” and “wants” early on. Needs they would happily support; wants were mine to fund. Of course, we had Discussions on what classified as a “need.” I recall the look on my father’s face when I bought my first expensive “little black dress” (bought at a Loehmann’s, of course, and I biked there to get it, since I didn’t own a car) as a college junior. My mother just told him, “That’s her money, Ed.” With The Look. 😁
Enough. Back to thread.
 
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Capt MJ said:
Let me stand in support of my SAF colleague @cmakin .

Before I went off to college I took a typing (21st c.: “keyboarding”) course at the local community college. At that time, with mainframes and dummy terminals, a few years away from PCs, few college-bound people knew how to type using the QWERTY method. People going to “secretarial college” or office admin schools did. From my summer job earnings, I bought a lake blue Smith-Corona electric typewriter. At that time, college writing assignments could be submitted written or typed. Mine, of course, were cleanly typed, with lovely footers, headers, bibliography, etc., all per Strunk & White Manual of Style. Over the course of 4 years, I built a profitable little business. I would type your papers for $1/page, exactly as written. Correction of spelling and grammar errors, $2/page. Consultation on outline and other writing tips, negotiable flat fee depending on paper length. I would not write anyone’s paper. I knew exactly how much I could type over a weekend, and would book in advance, then take no more. I would not do allnighters for anyone. I always threw in a nice binder and good quality paper. Professors noticed, and I got work from them. Faculty rates started at $3.50/page. One of my other campus jobs was letting people into the dorm after hours on the weekend, after they showed their ID, as we weren’t quite at the electronic key pass stage. I did a lot of work then. This was my “fun money” in college, for beach weekends, mountain hiking trips, eating off-campus. Though my scholarship paid for all tuition, books, room and board, and summer research projects, this was my first taste of serious money I earned for myself for discretionary spending.

I still have that blue Smith-Corona, in a storage tote, still in its case. Maybe it will be “antique tech” one day. It looks like the photo attached.

I apologize for the trip down my own memory lane away from thread intent!

View attachment 9061
Click to expand...
That is fantastic! Entrepreneurship at its finest level. My dad bought me an IBM selectric that was surplus at his office. That typewriter was amazing. I wish I still had it.
 
Capt MJ said:
Let me stand in support of my SAF colleague @cmakin .

Before I went off to college I took a typing (21st c.: “keyboarding”) course at the local community college. At that time, with mainframes and dummy terminals, a few years away from PCs, few college-bound people knew how to type using the QWERTY method. People going to “secretarial college” or office admin schools did. From my summer job earnings, I bought a lake blue Smith-Corona electric typewriter. At that time, college writing assignments could be submitted written or typed. Mine, of course, were cleanly typed, with lovely footers, headers, bibliography, etc., all per Strunk & White Manual of Style. Over the course of 4 years, I built a profitable little business. I would type your papers for $1/page, exactly as written. Correction of spelling and grammar errors, $2/page. Consultation on outline and other writing tips, negotiable flat fee depending on paper length. I would not write anyone’s paper. I knew exactly how much I could type over a weekend, and would book in advance, then take no more. I would not do allnighters for anyone. I always threw in a nice binder and good quality paper. Professors noticed, and I got work from them. Faculty rates started at $3.50/page. One of my other campus jobs was letting people into the dorm after hours on the weekend, after they showed their ID, as we weren’t quite at the electronic key pass stage. I did a lot of work then. This was my “fun money” in college, for beach weekends, mountain hiking trips, eating off-campus. Though my scholarship paid for all tuition, books, room and board, and summer research projects, this was my first taste of serious money I earned for myself for discretionary spending.

I still have that blue Smith-Corona, in a storage tote, still in its case. Maybe it will be “antique tech” one day. It looks like the photo attached.

I apologize for the trip down my own memory lane away from thread intent!
Click to expand...
And I have no idea where my old typewriter is. I can't even remember if it was an Underwood, Royal, or some other brand.
 
@cmakin, I didn't bring a typewriter to school initially, but my parents sent me a portable Remington about half way through my first trimester. I wasn't a great typist and basically used the ‘Columbus Method’; find a key and land on it.. I could hunt and peck pretty fast, but certainly not fast enough to make any serious money doing it..

Back in the mid 80’s the IBM Selectric typewriter [with interchangeable type ball] was the cutting edge typewriter almost every Chief Mate had on his desk.. We really thought we were living 'high on the hog' when we started getting the IBM 8086 computers equipped with duel 5 ¼ inch floppy drives, ProWrite [and Lotus] software and an Okidata tractor feed dot matrix printer. Here’s a photo of the 'Mates' office on an APL C-9.. you can see the Selectric gathering dust just beyond my computer CPU.. I eventually gave it a 'float test' in order to clear up some desk space.

C-9 Chief Mates office.jpg
 
deepdraft1 said:
@cmakin, I didn't bring a typewriter to school initially, but my parents sent me a portable Remington about half way through my first trimester. I wasn't a great typist and basically used the ‘Columbus Method’; find a key and land on it.. I could hunt and peck pretty fast, but certainly not fast enough to make any serious money doing it..

Back in the mid 80’s the IBM Selectric typewriter [with interchangeable type ball] was the cutting edge typewriter almost every Chief Mate had on his desk.. We really thought we were living 'high on the hog' when we started getting the IBM 8086 computers equipped with duel 5 ¼ inch floppy drives, ProWrite [and Lotus] software and an Okidata tractor feed dot matrix printer. Here’s a photo of the 'Mates' office on an APL C-9.. you can see the Selectric gathering dust just beyond my computer CPU.. I eventually gave it a 'float test' in order to clear up some desk space.
Click to expand...
Oh, yeah. When I was sailing CE on an ATB in the 80s, we got a "portable" Compaq. Remember those? There was a preloaded program so the mates could make cargo loading calculations for the varying grades of gasoline and diesel/cycle oil. I used it for my yard and wish lists. . oh, and to keep my CV updated, too. And it had a dot matrix printer, too.
 
Capt MJ said:
Let me stand in support of my SAF colleague @cmakin .

Before I went off to college I took a typing (21st c.: “keyboarding”) course at the local community college. At that time, with mainframes and dummy terminals, a few years away from PCs, few college-bound people knew how to type using the QWERTY method. People going to “secretarial college” or office admin schools did. From my summer job earnings, I bought a lake blue Smith-Corona electric typewriter. At that time, college writing assignments could be submitted written or typed. Mine, of course, were cleanly typed, with lovely footers, headers, bibliography, etc., all per Strunk & White Manual of Style. Over the course of 4 years, I built a profitable little business. I would type your papers for $1/page, exactly as written. Correction of spelling and grammar errors, $2/page. Consultation on outline and other writing tips, negotiable flat fee depending on paper length. I would not write anyone’s paper. I knew exactly how much I could type over a weekend, and would book in advance, then take no more. I would not do allnighters for anyone. I always threw in a nice binder and good quality paper. Professors noticed, and I got work from them. Faculty rates started at $3.50/page. One of my other campus jobs was letting people into the dorm after hours on the weekend, after they showed their ID, as we weren’t quite at the electronic key pass stage. I did a lot of work then. This was my “fun money” in college, for beach weekends, mountain hiking trips, eating off-campus. Though my scholarship paid for all tuition, books, room and board, and summer research projects, this was my first taste of serious money I earned for myself for discretionary spending.

I still have that blue Smith-Corona, in a storage tote, still in its case. Maybe it will be “antique tech” one day. It looks like the photo attached.

I apologize for the trip down my own memory lane away from thread intent!

View attachment 9061
Click to expand...
CaptMJ, completely going OT but I have the exact same one but in 'harvest gold' with it's hard plastic case! It is right here in my office with me now--our USMMA kid used to type papers on it just for fun. ;) In college, I also charged a buck a page to type people's paper (remember the carbon paper so you had a copy?) and it helped me with some pocket money. Good times...

Here is my vintage, and still very usable, '77 Smith Corona 'Coronet':

IMG_4354.jpg
 
azmilmom said:
CaptMJ, completely going OT but I have the exact same one but in 'harvest gold' with it's hard plastic case! It is right here in my office with me now--our USMMA kid used to type papers on it just for fun. ;) In college, I also charged a buck a page to type people's paper (remember the carbon paper so you had a copy?) and it helped me with some pocket money. Good times...

Here is my vintage, and still very usable, '77 Smith Corona 'Coronet':

View attachment 9071
Click to expand...
Clearly, we should have unionized and collaborated on national rates. Mine was a handful of years more salty.
 
cmakin said:
Oh, yeah. When I was sailing CE on an ATB in the 80s, we got a "portable" Compaq. Remember those? There was a preloaded program so the mates could make cargo loading calculations for the varying grades of gasoline and diesel/cycle oil. I used it for my yard and wish lists. . oh, and to keep my CV updated, too. And it had a dot matrix printer, too.
Click to expand...
When I first joined the State Banking Department as a bank examiner in 1993, we just got the latest "cutting edge" technology - the Compaq "portable" computer. You would throw your back out lugging that thing around and then go blind looking at the four inch square green screen. You had to learn "dos" to enter "run c> execute lotus"or some other gobbleydgook. It was a pain in the arse and just a general industrial accident waiting to happen.
 
NorCal Parent 2024 said:
When I first joined the State Banking Department as a bank examiner in 1993, we just got the latest "cutting edge" technology - the Compaq "portable" computer. You would throw your back out lugging that thing around and then go blind looking at the four inch square green screen. You had to learn "dos" to enter "run c> execute lotus"or some other gobbleydgook. It was a pain in the arse and just a general industrial accident waiting to happen.
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Fellow bank examiner here. Started in 1990 with the Feds. I remember using a sprint phone card to dial in to do uploads or downloads of reports. To dial in I entered the 800 number and then a bunch of commas to give enough time for the phone call to go through followed by the calling card number, hit enter and prayed for the squeaky sound that meant success. Good times.... 🙄
 
NorCal Parent 2024 said:
When I first joined the State Banking Department as a bank examiner in 1993, we just got the latest "cutting edge" technology - the Compaq "portable" computer. You would throw your back out lugging that thing around and then go blind looking at the four inch square green screen. You had to learn "dos" to enter "run c> execute lotus"or some other gobbleydgook. It was a pain in the arse and just a general industrial accident waiting to happen.
Click to expand...
Oh, yeah. . . here is a flashback. . . ..1620389985945.png
 
kpmom2013 said:
Probably no one else here is old enough to have used FORTRAN in the 60's with those irritating cards and when it took a while room to hold a computer. My kids still don't believe me on that one.
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I actually learned a smidge of FORTRAN in the early 90s in the Navy.
 
cmakin said:
Oh, yeah. . . here is a flashback. . . ..View attachment 9075
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I 'carried' one of these lovable lugables around when I worked in hardware sales for companies like Compaq in the 80s and 90s. They weighed a ton and I would use a luggage cart to wheel them around. I remember security at the airport not knowing what a 'micro' computer was!
 
kpmom2013 said:
Probably no one else here is old enough to have used FORTRAN in the 60's with those irritating cards and when it took a while room to hold a computer. My kids still don't believe me on that one.
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Um. While we didn't use the cards, we were taught Fortan and Basic during my time at KP. Probably my toughest course, and hardest I worked at to get a C.
 
CkzErz said:
I would love any specific recommendations from current students or parents regarding the following (do we need to purchase, how many, any SPECIFIC ones preferred, etc.):

-High school graduation gifts (so many family members have asked what they can get him), meaningful and/or practical ideas welcome

Thank you!!
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@CkzErz if your son likes to read, books with a maritime theme might make a nice high school graduation gift..

Here are few I would recommend..
  1. Looking for a Ship [about life shipping 'off the board' out of a hiring hall as a deck officer in the US Merchant Marine] by John McPhee
  2. It Didn't Happen on My Watch [sea stories written by a former US Lines Chief Engineer from the engine room floor plate perspective] by George E. Murphy.
  3. Nothing Can Go Wrong [about the last voyage of the Pacific Far East Lines passenger ship SS MARIPOSA] by John D. MacDonald and Captain John D. Kilpack
  4. A Man and His Ship [about Naval Architect William Francis Gibbs and his quest to build the liner SS UNITED STATES] by Steven Ujifusa
  5. Until the Sea Shall Free Them [about the loss of the MARINE ELECTRIC] by Robert Frump
  6. Into the Raging Sea [about the loss of the EL FARO] by Rachel Slade
  7. Longitude [about the quest for a solution to solving the 'longitude problem' at sea.] by Dava Sobel
  8. America Spreads Her Sails - U.S. Seapower in the 19th Century by the U.S. Naval Institute Press [series of short stories compiled and edited by Clayton R. Barrow]
  9. The Abraham Lincoln of The Sea [biography of Andrew Furuseth, renowned sailor and maritime labor leader] by Arnold Berwick
Also any of the classics by Joseph Conrad.. [Typhoon, Youth, Lord Jim, The Mirror of the Sea, etc.] or Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana or Guy Gilpatric [the Glencannon series books]..
 
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deepdraft1 said:
@CkzErz if your son likes to read, books with a maritime theme might make a nice high school graduation gift..

Here are few I would recommend..
  1. Looking for a Ship [about life shipping 'off the board' out of a hiring hall as a deck officer in the US Merchant Marine] by John McPhee
  2. It Didn't Happen on My Watch [sea stories written by a former US Lines Chief Engineer from the engine room floor plate perspective] by George E. Murphy.
  3. Nothing Can Go Wrong [about the last voyage of the Pacific Far East Lines passenger ship SS MARIPOSA] by John D. MacDonald and Captain John D. Kilpack
  4. A Man and His Ship [about Naval Architect William Francis Gibbs and his quest to build the liner SS UNITED STATES] by Steven Ujifusa
  5. Until the Sea Shall Free Them [about the loss of the MARINE ELECTRIC] by Robert Frump
  6. Into the Raging Sea [about the loss of the EL FARO] by Rachel Slade
  7. Longitude [about the quest for a solution to solving the 'longitude problem' at sea.] by Dava Sobel
  8. America Spreads Her Sails - U.S. Seapower in the 19th Century by the U.S. Naval Institute Press [series of short stories compiled and edited by Clayton R. Barrow]
  9. The Abraham Lincoln of The Sea [biography of Andrew Furuseth, renowned sailor and maritime labor leader] by Arnold Berwick
Also any of the classics by Joseph Conrad.. [Typhoon, Youth, Lord Jim, The Mirror of the Sea, etc.] or Herman Melville, Richard Henry Dana or Guy Gilpatric [the Glencannon series books]..
Click to expand...
Great suggestions, thank you!!
 
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