I cant seem to find the "Introduction" subforum...........

[KingOfChatalot]

So. . . . . . . . . . . . if this is in the wrong forum. . please move it to the "Introduction" subforum. . . . . . . .

I want to start out by saying that I graduated from PMEL school at Lowry AFB in May 1972 and have spent my entire life in the field of Metrology.

Now. . . . . . way back in the day I had a crystal radio set and a fondness for magnetism and vacuum tubes and just about anything "magical" and "mystical" so that coupled with my keen mathematical skills led me to a career in the Air Force as a full blown PMEL tech beginning at Griffiss Air Force Base.

I don't know how many if you I may know, or have known, or have known someone you may have known but I'm sure there's more then a few that fit that description.

I want to put my history out there and see if indeed the following statement applies to anyone here.

I never left Griffiss until 1975 although I did have orders for Iraklion AFB in Crete that were canceled.

Following the AF I went to Devry Institute of Technology in Phoenix Arizona from Jul 1977 to Jul 1980 and earned my BSEET.

Upon graduation I worked for General Electric in Denver servicing radiology instruments at local hospitals then at Honeywell at various positions before moving to California in 1983.

In California I worked for United States Instrument Rentals and they transferred all their assets to Garland, Texas along with their employees.

In 1987 I moved back to California and took a job with Simco in Santa Clara until 1995 then worked at Calibration and Repair Services in Chattsworth California until 1998 (now owned by Simco) and then moved back to Texas to work for the now closed regional Fluke service center until 2003 then General Electric again but this time as a field service calibration technician until they were bought out by Davis Instruments who changed their name to Davis Calibration.

Now Davis Calibration has been bought out by Sypris  but really the parent company is Danaher who own a lot of other companies like Fluke, Tektronix, Wavetek, Pomona leads etc etc

So here I am. . . . . . . . . .

Upon reading a few of the posts here I do recognize a few names already.  Colleen Maxwell whoi also works for Davis and the late Stu Hopkins.

I met Stu twice, once down in San Antonio and once in Dallas near which I live and work today.  We were never told of exactly what happened.  He just disappeared one day and we did receive an email saying he was granted a leave of absence but we never heard anything for a long time until he actually passed away.

I don't know what else to add here except to say I wish I had found this forum a long time ago because it does fit my professional side.

So hello to all!!!  :-D

[metrologygeek]

We worked at USIR at the same time. I took a layoff rather than move to Texas.

[Bryan]

Ahhh USIR, I started there shortly after the Texas consolidation (Mar 88), so many owners, so many renamings.

[mdbuike]

Ahhh..Griffiss AFB..I was there Dec '74 to Feb '76, but I was in SATCOM then, working out of the Verona Test Site.  I remember Joel's Steak house and the great fishing in the area.  I loved it up there, and winters didn't bother me, since I'm originally from Tonawanda NY (just south of Niagara Falls).

Mike

[KingOfChatalot]

We worked at USIR at the same time.  I took a layoff rather than move to Texas.

Yes. . . . . . . . . . . . were you at EIC or WIC?

[KingOfChatalot]

Ahhh USIR, I started there shortly after the Texas consolidation (Mar 88), so many owners, so many renamings.

The Texas consolidation was twofold, EIC moved there in 1985 I think. . . . . . . . . . then WIC moved there in March 1986 if you started in March 88 I had already left however you probably met a lot of people I know. . . . . . . . . . did you also move to Grapevine when Garland closed and were you around for the great "Drug bust" ?

[KingOfChatalot]

Ahhh. . Griffiss AFB. . I was there Dec '74 to Feb '76, but I was in SATCOM then, working out of the Verona Test Site.   I remember Joel's Steak house and the great fishing in the area.   I loved it up there, and winters didn't bother me, since I'm originally from Tonawanda NY (just south of Niagara Falls).

Mike

I don't remember Joel's but I do remember "Matt's Rib Room".  I cant remember any of the bars there but I visited them all. I used to fish near the locks on the canal, it was a trip watching them flood and drain. . . . . . . . . . . and the winters were very snowy. . . . . . . . . .

[mdbuike]

The Rusty Nail on Black River Blvd comes to mind..

Did some fishing at the locks also, lots of good pan fish, with the occassional northern pike...

I'll be back in NY this May, attending a Music conference..looking forward to it

Mike

[metrologygeek]

We worked at USIR at the same time.  I took a layoff rather than move to Texas.

Yes. . . . . . . . . . . . were you at EIC or WIC?

Neither - I worked at the Corporate Office in San Mateo up on Campus Drive.

[Bryan]

The Texas consolidation was twofold, EIC moved there in 1985 I think. . . . . . . . . . then WIC moved there in March 1986 if you started in March 88 I had already left however you probably met a lot of people I know. . . . . . . . . . did you also move to Grapevine when Garland closed and were you around for the great "Drug bust" ?


Yes I was in Garland about 6 or 8 months then we moved over to the Aiport, the big bust was when AT&T Capital was doing "due dilegence" leading up to the purchase from US Leasing.  It was a quite a shake up, as a side note during that period a fellow was selling a shotgun & had brought it in and had it in his truck.  A couple people had gone out to examine it and that involved pulling it out to look at, they had thought there was some sort of weapons smuggling going on also, he was interviewed but they realized it was not connected or illegal.  At the time the new facility had a large unfinished second floor, evidently there were some people up there with cameras as part of the investigating team.  I really don't know the extent of it to this day, suffice to say it looked like it went to highest level within the building.

[KingOfChatalot]

We worked at USIR at the same time.   I took a layoff rather than move to Texas. 

Yes.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  were you at EIC or WIC?

Neither - I worked at the Corporate Office in San Mateo up on Campus Drive.

Cool well, a lot of people that didn't move to Texas from WIC went to Telogy up the street.  Prior to the move I wanted to move to corporate and be a phone consultant, I forget what they called that job. . . . . . . . but I did wind up in the "Hot Line" room for a few months right after we instituted it. . . . . .

[KingOfChatalot]

The Rusty Nail on Black River Blvd comes to mind. .

Did some fishing at the locks also, lots of good pan fish, with the occassional northern pike. . .

I'll be back in NY this May, attending a Music conference. . looking forward to it

Mike

The old PMEL lab at Griffiss is still in the same exact building it was in 40 years ago and is now part of the new Danaher/Sypris/Davis after passing through GE along the way. . . . . . . . . . I wanted to visit it too but the best I've been able to do is the old Kelly lab in San Antonio and the old corporate in Duluth Georgia.

[KingOfChatalot]

The Texas consolidation was twofold, EIC moved there in 1985 I think.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  then WIC moved there in March 1986 if you started in March 88 I had already left however you probably met a lot of people I know.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  did you also move to Grapevine when Garland closed and were you around for the great "Drug bust" ?


Yes I was in Garland about 6 or 8 months then we moved over to the Aiport, the big bust was when AT&T Capital was doing "due dilegence" leading up to the purchase from US Leasing.   It was a quite a shake up, as a side note during that period a fellow was selling a shotgun & had brought it in and had it in his truck.   A couple people had gone out to examine it and that involved pulling it out to look at, they had thought there was some sort of weapons smuggling going on also, he was interviewed but they realized it was not connected or illegal.   At the time the new facility had a large unfinished second floor, evidently there were some people up there with cameras as part of the investigating team.   I really don't know the extent of it to this day, suffice to say it looked like it went to highest level within the building.

Cool, then you surely would have met my old "friends" John Stefanik and Steve Carson. . . . among others. . . . . . . . . . It's been awhile or I'd remember more names. . . . . . . . . . .

[dminesinger]

Steve Carson and bob Ryan went to Tucker for a while. don't know where their at now. Would not mine seeing Steve again. Ryan can go to hell...

David Minesinger
Former USIRer

The Texas consolidation was twofold, EIC moved there in 1985 I think.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  then WIC moved there in March 1986 if you started in March 88 I had already left however you probably met a lot of people I know.  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  .  did you also move to Grapevine when Garland closed and were you around for the great "Drug bust" ?


Yes I was in Garland about 6 or 8 months then we moved over to the Aiport, the big bust was when AT&T Capital was doing "due dilegence" leading up to the purchase from US Leasing.   It was a quite a shake up, as a side note during that period a fellow was selling a shotgun & had brought it in and had it in his truck.   A couple people had gone out to examine it and that involved pulling it out to look at, they had thought there was some sort of weapons smuggling going on also, he was interviewed but they realized it was not connected or illegal.   At the time the new facility had a large unfinished second floor, evidently there were some people up there with cameras as part of the investigating team.   I really don't know the extent of it to this day, suffice to say it looked like it went to highest level within the building.

Cool, then you surely would have met my old "friends" John Stefanik and Steve Carson. . . . among others. . . . . . . . . . It's been awhile or I'd remember more names. . . . . . . . . . .

[KingOfChatalot]

I have a picture that Tony Owens sent me that was taken of the TIC crew when we were in Garland. . . . . . . . .

I''ll send you a link and you can see how many you can name. . . . . . . . . .

Effective Monday, there will no longer be a Davis Calibration or a Sypris T&M we will all be known as "Tektronix Service Solutions"

I also hear that Fluke Biomedical is breaking into the Onsite business and  that would be cool. . . . . . . . . . . .

Tektronix just bought Keithley also. . . . . . . . . .