Everyone has one. It might even be you. For me, it was my Uncle. He was a New York State Corrections Officer. That’s right, My Uncle, the Prison Guard. (For those of you wondering about my use of past tense, he’s on disability now.) I also have an aunt who does audits for the IRS. Anyone else? Is your cousin the head White House tour guide? Is your sister-in-law Assistant Madam at brothel? C’mon, let us know!
As I posted in the famous relative thread, Tommy Bishop, former British rugby player and former captain/coach of the Cronulla Sharks (Australia), is my uncle.
I think my dad’s job is the coolest. He is a middle school art teacher. I mean the guy gets to be in art class all day, gets summer vacation and every holiday under the sun off. During these vacations he gets to illustrate children’s books and has designed valentine’s day greeting cards. He loves what he does, and the work makes others happy. Thats a damn cool job to me.
My uncle is a geologist and a free-lance writer, and has had a very interesting life - lived in an igloo for a few months, once. One of my cousins is an anthropologist, and another is an actor/singer in off-Broadway musicals. A more distant cousin designs and operates puppets, has worked in several major motion pictures, like ‘Edward Scissorhands’, ‘Jurassic Park’, and ‘Alien: Resurrection’. My great-grandmother’s cousin was a famous painter (John Singer Sargent), but he’s been dead a while. One of my direct ancestors was an actor and killed a President.
I have a cousin who’s husband designs skis for K2. He’s a mechanical engineer.
But my grandfather probably has the coolest job. All day long he gets to pour drinks and change the TV station for him and my grandmother.
One of my ex Brothers-in-law is a writer for Win Ben Stein’s Money. Another is a scientist at Jet Propulsion Labs in Pasadena working with images from various space probes. My former Father-in-law was a scientist for TRW. I have no idea what he did there, and he can’t talk about it, but he’s a pretty smart guy. One of my former Sisters-in-law is a relatively unknown stage actress, but what’s really cool is that she used to go over to Laurie Anderson’s childhood home and hang out with the Andersons.
As for the family on my side, my Great Uncle was on the Bataan Death March. He didn’t make it. And my brother has spent considerable time in many of the finest correctional establishments in California. And my son is the coolest child ever.
Let’s see. My cousin was first assistant editor on “Pulp Fiction” and “JFK,” and got a briefcase from Quentin Tarantino for Christmas a couple of years ago. I’m jealous.
Another cousin was in “Les Mis” on Broadway (as Young Cosette/Eponine) until she aged out, was the in “The Will Rogers Follies,” is the girl who got puked on in “American Pie,” and I think she’s got a part in “All My Children.” Any of y’all who watch soaps, is there a character with straight brown hair named Bianca? 'Cause if there is, that’s the same cousin. I’ve been unable to make myself turn on soaps even t see if she’s on it.
My mom’s dad was an astrophysicist with NASA in the 50’s/60’s/70’s.
My dad’s dad has (had? he died) one of the largest collections of WWII propaganda - from both sides - in the country.
And I’m a housewife. Can you say “under-achiever?” Sigh…
my dad owns a 24 hour pizza shop in the middle of Sydney. At 3am after a night on the piss with a bunch of mates, there is nothing better than pizza. Except, of course, FREE pizza. And according to my grandmother I’m related to a Prime Minister of ours who drowned and had a swimming pool named in his memory. But he was a right wing Liberal bastard so I’m not too impressed about it.
Yup. I’m delurking for one post to answer a question I pathetically know the answer to. Bianca is the daughter of Susan Lucci’s (the one who didn’t win an emmy for 18 years or so) character Erica Kane. Bianca just came out as a lesbian, which is a gutsy move for the writers because Erica Kane’s character is so central to the show. For the most part in daytime drama, only an occasional peripheral character is gay. Your cousin is a good little actress, and has done a great job with the storyline.
:runs away back to lurking:
Lessee…
My mom used to work with the astronauts. Like the first seven astronauts. Can’t remember which one used to sit on her desk and bang his heels on her file drawers just because he knew it bugged her. She was misc support staff, everything from crunching numbers (that ‘envelope’ thing) to fetching paper airplanes the engineers used to design in ‘down’ times. Loads of stories from the ‘Right Stuff’ era, including the pilots dying, and the tension when someone hadn’t died in a while. The guys recognized her years later.
One sister of mine is a director for a major accounting firm - she gets to write opinions on tax laws, and can even influence how the laws are written or interpreted. How cool is that?
Another sister is a veterinarian. In Alaska. She works with a lot of dog sled teams, and does vet work for the Iditarod. Not to mention the periodic weird emergency calls… (“Help, a bear bit my dog” “What, there’s some dog left?”)
My brother-in-law is a pretty accomplished pianist. Going for his Ph.D. in music right now.
He gets called by various cruise lines to be part of the “entertainment” on cruises to pretty exotic places…you know, the India - Madagascar - S. Africa, China - New Guinea, those kinds of things.
He gets a good room, all meals, access to everything. Oh, and he gets paid.
And he plays like two 30 - 45 minute sets. No, not daily. The entire trip.
He seems to do three or four of these a year.
hmm…
My uncle (passed away now): Randy Dickison. He held the Guinness world record for the highest dive. He also did the high dive at Vallyfair’s water show in MN for a while.
My grandfather apparently developed some sort of swivel thingy while he was at MIT, that went on a camera to the space shuttle (my grandmother told me this. I asked for a cite, but she hasn’t ponied up yet).
That’s all I got. 
Thrash
My brother, by a wide margin. He’s a gemologist, which means he grades diamonds and gems. Right now he’s a buyer of diamonds and gems. Can tell almost with his naked eye whether a diamond is good or not, and is a terror with a loupe (that magnifying glass thingie they stick in their eyes to look at a gem).
Late uncle was OSS in WWII, Air Force Intelligence after it, then went with a Large Defense Contractor designing spy plane stuff. I got this from other family members–he was masterful at changing the subject when work got mentioned.
He’s the one who was at Wright-Pat at the time of Roswell and let slip two words to my father before he died, “They’re real.”
Um… my Uncle Tony flies helicopters for a living… well not all the time most of the time he sits around waiting for people to want him to fly them somewhere in the helicopters (at least that’s what I get from the family gossip)
My Grandfather on my Mom’s side was a Supreme Court Judge (he retired and has now passed away about a week before Diana did)
Uncle Philip was a mountain climber and led classes on hikes in some warm countries. I can’t remember where, that was awhile ago. I don’t know what he does now.
Those are the most interesting I can think of… though there are a few lawyers and psychiatrists and teachers on my Mom’s side.
My Old Man helped design the Minuteman III ICBM, the descent engine for the Lunar Excursion Module, and Instrument Package #2 for the Viking Mars lander (the one that gave the false positive), among other interesting things.
My Grandmother helped run Ingalls’ Ferry, in Radford, VA, where some hundred-fifty years before Mary Draper Ingalls was kidnapped by Indians and taken to Ohio. She escaped and walked home. The story found its way into grade-school textbooks across the country.
I was inches away from having a father-in-law who has spent the last twenty years researching a historical novel on the Revolutionary War, while going slowly insane due to a genetic disease. He’s super-independently wealthy, has never worked, and once chased his second family around a graveyard on a rainy night with an axe–and didn’t even spend the night in jail. Now that’s a job!
My uncle runs his own licensing firm. At one point in this job he brokered NFL Properties stuff. As a result he got to be good friends with a bunch of NFL higher-ups. So now he can pull of the most awesome trick I know: he shows up at the Super Bowl without a ticket, and always gets in. Goes to the parties for free and everything. Been doing it for at least 20 years. Now that is a cool job perc!
My uncle is a professional fire fighter. And my sister is a newspaper reporter. Both really cool jobs.
I like to think I’m the relative with the cool job.
Other than ME, though… my second cousin is married to Mike Caro. He’s a renowned poker authority who’s written a bunch of books. Buy some of them!
I am.