This is priceless!!

I can remember being a kid riding dirt bikes out in the desert and coming across this guy who had his bike leaning against a rock , he had the side cover off and he was setting his points using a business card! I never forgot that little tip!
I work on multi million dollar automated high speed process lines, we still tell customers to use business cards to gap the proximity switches in the rotor heads. Our tech use feeler gauges, but often on site maintenance do not have them or don't know how to use them. So just telling them to use a business card is easier.
 
I can remember being a kid riding dirt bikes out in the desert and coming across this guy who had his bike leaning against a rock
I'll never forget in the mid 80's jeepin the remote Eastern Oregon high desert coming across a big Brit thumper desert bike of some sort leaned up against a juniper tree. It had been there a long time as the seat was rotted and bits were sun weathered. It was complete. I just admired it and moved on looking for arrowheads lol..
 
I grew up at my fathers side, he was always working on something and I was right there looking over his shoulder and handing him wrenches, he taught me a lot. When I was a teenager I bought an old worn out pickup and he helped me fix it up, taught me how to do my own work.
Fast forward to my own two boys ( Now 36 and 39 ) , no interest whatsoever in anything mechanical. They work in offices, nothing wrong with that, they are their own persons. But I think they are a snapshot of their generation that grew up with computers and video games.
I'm just the opposite. My dad is first generation American. He could do some basic carpentry, but did not share his skills with me. He doesn't fix stuff or have many tools. As a kid, I was always trying make or fix something without adult supervision. I putzed with bicycles, tree forts (had a dangerous collapse once), and a lot of model airplanes. I was also into guns, knives, hunting and fishing. My father didn't do any of that stuff.
I went into the Marine Corps and they taught me to repair heavy lift helicopters. Then college, followed by a tech job in the Space Shuttle Program. I was a line mechanic for Delta Air Lines for over 23 years etc etc.
These kids are making their own choices. I tried my hand at teaching in a tech school. A class of 25 might give me five serious students. Between my wife and me, we have six kids. Four mine, two hers. All are managing on their own, some struggling more than others. Most have college with advanced degrees. My youngest son-in-law has a HS diploma. I helped him get a job in industrial maintenance when he took up with my youngest daughter because I had a good connection. I believe he's making more money than any of them! He's supporting a wife and two kids on his own. My daughter is full time mom. So, there you go.
 
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Degrees don't mean anything if it's in the wrong area. Lots of millenials and gen Z got useless degrees and now whine that someone needs to help them and forgive student loans. STEM degrees can be pretty useless when looking for employment too, unfortunately if you get into a niche area there are only so many positions.

I used the GI bill to go to tech college. And so far it's worked out pretty good. I live comfortably, have toys, and am doing better than quite a few people I know. But even when I first moved back to OK and and everything crashed due to COVID I was able to stay employed by working at a bike shop till I got lucky and found the machinist spot with the FAA. I know a lot of people that are struggling to find a job paying within $10 of what I'm making.
 
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