John Wilson:  

Hi to everyone from Austin, Texas.... I didn't like school !!! I loved to work with my hands and hated to study anything that wasn't directly connected to building, repairing or operating the gadgets that I loved to tinker with. I was way below average in most things I studied at Byrd (except math and science) but I excelled in all the Electronics Schools that I attended while I was in the Navy. I didn't see the "Big Picture" back at Byrd or I would have appreciated more of the subjects I was bored with. Thank goodness for motivated kids and a good wife !! Between them, my four children have 1 PhD, 3 Masters and 4 BAs or BSs. One College Dean, one Special Education teacher, one Computer (IT) Genius and one Tech Rep. who works for the USAF after retiring as a Master Sargeant. My wife has been with the University of Texas for 35 years and currenty is semi-retired but she is still called in several days a week to assist her old boss who is the head of the Robotics School at the Pickle Research Center in the School of Mechanical Engineering at the University of Texas in Austin. This facility does research for the Government and Military. I am retired and have learned to use the TV Channel Changer equally well with either hand. This is really an accomplishment as my left hand used to be used only to point, wave or scratch with.......if I had studied more at Byrd, I could spell amberdexterous but I can't. I got sent out to the cloak room at Saint Vincents when I was in the first grade because I couldn't sit still in class. A rope hung down into the room from a hole in the ceiling. I climbed the rope and the church bells started to ring. The little room soon filled with angry nuns which explains why I am a Baptist today. Those little old French Nuns were TOUGH!!!! The only wild thing I ever did in high school was to ZAP all my Physics Teacher's cigaretts with a tesla coil that he had been demonstrating to the class. He had to go take a phone call and while he was gone I got his pack of weeds off the desk (and his extra packs in the desk) and zapped them with about 60 zillion little tiny holes. He was a chain smoker and when he came back to class, he lit up and took a big puff. No smoke, just lot of fresh air from ...Expand for more