When I was first accepted into college at Colorado State University (CSU) my major was Forestry because of my love of the great outdoors. I love to fish, hunt, rock climb, backpacking and snow skiing. However I learned that PhD’s in Forestry was basically only doing meaningless tasks by emptying garbage bins in parks. That was in 1975. I didn't want that for my career.
My dad said that I should try R. O. T. C. because he was in the
Army many years ago. I joined mainly because my best friend from high school joined
with me. My wise father said I would learn a great deal. I would get experience
that no other job would offer. He said one day I would act as a lawyer and the
next day a judge. Another day I would act as guidance counselor and on and on,
you get my point. It didn't take long after I was in the Army for a few months
to find he was right!
My family wasn't that well off so I applied for and received a
two year scholarship in my sophomore year. I also worked 3 jobs during my five
years at college. In my sophomore year I worked in the office at Allison Hall,
at the Student Center
My dad was a civil engineer and at that time was getting his PhD
at CSU. He convinced me to go for mechanical engineering. I love working on
cars and repairing anything! Unfortunately I didn't have a strong background in
math. In my second year I was struggling in all my classes. Dad was extremely
intellectual yet down to earth. Fortunately my dad would help me study because
he had an office in one of the buildings on campus. Even with his help my
G.P.A. was suffering. He knew I could not continue so he found a major for me
that was less theory and more practical.
I changed to Industrial Technology! Since I was already an
automotive mechanic my automotive repair classes were easy. We learned all
about the manufacturing process for example how production lines work and how
to build things. The eagle in my living-room was something I made in cast iron
shop!
My favorite class was woodworking! When I married Hing I would build
furniture for our house and I was the car repairman in my family including
Hing's family!
I have pictures of the furniture that I built. Here are two of favorites. The picture below is a book shelf that we stored board games.
I built a shoe rack in our garage because of the Chinese tradition of taking off your shoes off before entering the house. I built it with love for my dear wife! It also stored our baseball and football equipment etc.
In the Army I was a maintenance officer. Four years of the Army and I loved being stationed in
