Rich Weinkauf:  

Life After RFA I ended up getting two degrees in Forestry (AAS from Paul Smiths College and a BS from SUNY Environmental Science and Forestry), and a BS in Biology from Syracuse University, but there aren't any jobs in the field. My first job out of college was working for the NY State Department of Agriculture. I was the guy who determined if those were Grade A carrots going into your kid's baby food at Beechnut Foods. After discovering the secret of how they actually get the babies into the baby food jar, I became disillusioned with the real world and went back to school. My next degree would secure me a high-paying, adrenalin-filled career. So I ended up at the University of Michigan with an MS in Plant Physiology. All that stuff they told us about Plant Physiologists making 6-figure salaries, wearing expensive Italian suits and driving Porsches were lies. Well, I had to get a job, so I started at Parke-Davis Pharmaceutical Research in Ann Arbor, Michigan working in the Anticonvulsant lab. There I programmed their systems and did stereotaxic brain surgery on rats. At last, I was a brain surgeon. Now maybe I'd start getting the women and the cars. However, soon I realized rats really can't pay for expensive brain surgery. Foiled again. I eventually clawed my way up to middle management at Parke-Davis Pharmaceuticals, and after 18 years I ended up as the Director of Web Services. In May of 2000 Pfizer bought out PD, and so I took the severance package in August 2001. After quitting the corporate rat race I enrolled in the Culinary Arts program at Schoolcraft College in Livonia, Michigan to do something I'm passionate about- cook and be a Chef. After graduating from the 2-year program with an AAS, I went on to Schoolcraft's intense, year-long Classic French Cuisine culinary bootcamp program known as Brigade. I've been a pastry chef and saute cook at a local fine dining restaurant, and I have a Culinary Consulting busine...Expand for more