I do antique restoration as part of my business. Every once in awhile the customer is near tears when I’m done with a family heirloom.
I prefer the cash 
but the satisfaction goes a long way.
Thanks. Goddamn guy down the road just built a bigger one. :sad: :mad:
Latest “whoa!” accomplishment I can recall: Suggested to my friend that she could display her laptop game of Skyrim on her larger screen TV by using the HDMI slot. It was pretty cool for her to be able to see her character’s house, mods, etc. without peering over her shoulder at a 15-inch laptop screen.
Not a big deal to you more techy types, but kind of surprising from a soft-sciences girl like me. 
Also: I made it to BOTH psych-related appointments this week. Yay me!
Good on you to the previous poster who made it out of bed. That can be half the battle, right there.
I paid off my house 15 years early.
How long was the mortgage period?
Ran the 2011 Boston Marathon, 3 years after starting running.
Ran a 50K before my 50th birthday.
30 years.
Through perseverance, my wife and I went from $30,000 in debt to $350,000 in the black in six years. We then bought a house in 1998 with a 30 year mortgage, refinanced a few years later to 15 years, and paid it off in 2006.
My biggest accomplishment, though (which I’ve mentioned before), was intervening with my son to get him off of oxy addiction, get him a lawyer, and keep him from going to jail. He’s had a couple of relapses since then, but it’s been to alcohol, not drugs. Presently clean and sober for the past year.
After two failed attempts to get a BA, and 15 years after I first started college, I finished out a degree, in night school, while working full time.
Wow! :eek:
That’s really cool that you helped your kid. I wish my parents had helped me out with substance abuse because the whole jail thing didn’t work out for me at all. I think what you did will help him out in the long run, maybe that type of help isn’t for everyone, but you obviously know your kid better than some parent who tells you to let him rot in jail.
I hold down a job that generally requires a university degree and I have high school. Actually, by most measures I excel at it not just hold it down.
I raised two kids as a single father while working full time. More than a couple of fuckups along the way but both kids are in their 20’s and still talk to me, one still lives with me so I must have done a few things right.
I played Piano on stage to an audience of a couple of hundred when I was a teenager.
I taught myself to repair bicycles, do plastering (drywall), painting, plumb a bathroom vanity unit and do all other sorts of building stuff.
I’ve been told that I should be (insert one of a number of different occupations here, from Lawyer to IT to stand up comedian) as I can do the basics of a number of different jobs/roles that just require problem solving skills and a logical mind. The comedian but is just because I have a warped sense of humour.
Wordman, I work with natural materials only. In my case primarily just wood. We have weight classes as well as styles of shooting. I hold one record in the 50# simple composite primitive flight, and two records in the broadhead divisions where we are shooting heavy hunting weight arrows with larger fletchings.
Shortly after I was moved from plant engineering as a Mechanical Engineer to the Aero Engineering department to work as an Aerospace Structural Engineer, I had a seemingly simple task of supporting the corner of a structure in the ass-end of an airplane. The leg that needed support fell between floor structural components in an area where I had to leave clear access to the flight control cables that ran the length of the aircraft and directly under the area I needed to support. After sketching and rejecting several ideas, I hit upon a very elegant solution that was as close to perfect as one could get. When the mechanic who installed it complimented me, I just about burst into song.
In the grand scheme of things, it wasn’t much and to the untrained eye, it wouldn’t even coax a meh but it was a damned fine bit of engineering and while it may not be the most significant thing I did in my career, it’s the one that gives me a lot of pleasure to recall.
Then you should stop smashing their heirlooms! 
I bought a house on my own two years and one week after my post-divorce bankruptcy cleared. I had to work 3 (sometimes 4) jobs and jump through a hell of a lot of hoops, but now the kids and I have our own little house in our own little neighborhood, and it’s really sweet to come home and know it’s ours.
I just recently learned to set up and tear down an overnight dialysis unit, along with getting client on and off the machine, as well as do some troubleshooting. I’m positive I will be learning a lot more as time goes on.
Earned two bachelor’s degrees with no loans or Pell grants (though it took eight years). Worked full-time on third shift the entire time. First semester was self-financed, the Hope Credit allowed me to finance the next three semesters, then began landing enough merit- and service-based scholarships to turn a profit every semester until I graduated (service-based were for doing TA/mentoring/supplemental instruction 20+ hours a week). I graduated with $6000 in net profit, and 4.0 GPAs in both programs. Now, earning degrees isn’t so unique, but I’ve yet to meet someone who can say they profited financially!
Oh, and less important but something that wows many of my younger friends, and is my version of “middle-aged guy reminisces on his touchdown in high school.” I made it to the semi-finals at the 1990 Nintendo World Championship in the most competitive age group, losing in a head-to-head with the eventual city champion. The announcer kept criticizing my Tetris strategy, but it was what kept me in the running. (Rad Racer, on the other hand, was my Achille’s heel.)
I backpacked between the two farthest possible apart trailheads in the Superstition Wilderness. It took 5 days, lot of rain, lots of off-trail, I got the flu, we ran out of food, and we were late coming out. But it was grand! I’m so proud.
I saved a little girl’s life.
In 2012-2013 I renovated and reconstructed a derelict 1912 railroad semaphore signal. It’s operational and is erected in my rear yard. Most satisfying thing I’ve ever done. And what a conversation starter!
I was attacked by three teenagers armed with bottles and rocks, in the middle of the night in Honduras, and successfully fought them off.