Member Spotlight -BDS1961

BlackRose · June 26, 2023

Let start with your clan name?

BDS1961 Every name I tried came up as being taken already when I first started this is what I came up with so I could play and never changed it

Do you have any nicknames? Personal or in game?

In games it’s either Beads or some cuss word after I shoot someone

When and where were you born? Aurora Illinoise atleast that’s what the sales slip says that I came with

When you were a child, what did you want to be when you grew up?

Loved working with my hands and wood wanted to do cabinet making

Where have you lived? Pretty much my entire life in Concord Ca

What got you into gaming?

Sadly I have had to do a lot of sitting around recovering from multiple knee surgeries and treatments It gave me something to do instead of going crazy I hate sitting around with a passion

Your first game you played? Lol Does Load runner count

And what do you play now?
I mostly play COD 2 The group of people I play with here on XI are a great group of people sadly over the last few years I have lost what I consider some good online friends I have played with for years

Why did you join XI?

I use to lay on the FBI server a long time ago they started getting more and more hackers 0laying to where it was no fun at all Found XI and have never left great people and players and the admins do a great job keeping it clean of cheats

What do you get from being in this clan?

A sense of on line family and friends to play with on a daily bases Such a broad range of personalities it’s always fun to play and talk with

What is your favorite hobby?

Have way to many Wood working and metal work , radio control planes and boats, electronics and I use to shoot competition years ago Trying to get back into all of them now

What is your favorite travel destination?
I am happy on the go, we just purchased a cabin up in the mountains and have been enjoying that a lot lately but a lot of work getting it ready so we can go up any time and have friends come up and enjoy it with us. We also have a house in Greece we are hoping to be able to get over to this summer, we use it as a home base to go to the islands and play

Are you married?

Yes coming up on 29 years

Do you have children?

Yes a son who is 26 and a Daughter that is 21

What kind of pets do you have, if any? What are their names?

we have a Bichon frise that absolutely hates me, even though she comes to me for anything she needs and then three cats

Are you a sports fan? If so, what is your favorite team?
Not a real big sports fan

What causes are you passionate about?

Don't really have any causes I’d say I’m passionate about spent to many years taking care of and dealing with the public

Do you volunteer? If so, where?

No unless having to cook for everyone in my house

What is an interesting fact about you?

It’s a strange thing but for some reason I deal with emergencies and bad things really easily and efficiently. In my career In the facilities I over saw I have had to deal with everything from earthquakes to murders suicides and drunks. Can handle it all at the time and make clear decisions for needs to be done, but then I pay the huge price when it’s done the next day and what all I had to deal with and see hits me

Have you continued your education past college or university with career development seminars or classes? What kind?

I never went to college, but I have a ton of specialized training that covers a wide variety From just about everything related to HVAC and the equipment for operating it, trained in lighting and control systems and then some really specialized training I had to go through for some of the areas I did work in that I cannot fully mention

Did you know what profession you wanted to work in when you started college?

i was heading into law enforcement and had just been accepted into the CHP academy. Sadly shortly after being accepted I blew my new out and never made it. I had planned on going to college and getting a degree in aeronautical engineering, after that Signed up for the class’s and that’s when I had my first knee surgery stopping me from attending, registered again for the next year and had my second knee surgery stopping me once again, this happened the following year again. At that point I took another path

Did you belong to any professional organizations?

only one I was a member of was a group for engineers in the SF Bay Area

What is your current job title?

Retired now Had to have a knee replaced that ended my career at 52 years old

Did you win any awards or recognitions during your education?

In high school I did get a lot of awards for things I had built and designed

Where do you work?

At home

What other job titles have you had in your career?

I have always been around facilities, I was a maintenance manager at a bullocks store, the building was sold and I was sold along with it (lol) Nordstroms had bought it and put me into management with them in a engineering capacity, I prepped and opened the original 5 stores in the SF Bay Area , from there I opened a luxury hotel as a chief engineer. From there it was just a full run

Where else have you worked?

I had my own construction business for about 16 years after I was done with the hotel work, my clients where hospitals, PG&E, UC Berkeley a Few cities and a little bit of residential work along with working with attorneys and specialist on construction lawsuits. Having kids I needed something more stable and not as many hours as I was putting in. I went into the apartment industry and was a regional engineering manager covering facilities from Monterey CA to Seattle Washington 10,000 units of apartments, I did all inspections and over saw the quality of the on site work done by the staff and there training along with that I put together yearly capital project and ran them in the range from 15 million to 35 million every year . Also I was head of disaster for the northwest region in case any thing happened ( no stress in my life )

Why did you choose to work in your industry?

it was strange but it seemed to choose me

Why do you like your job?

I liked all the areas I have worked Always something new everyday. Things that I was able to see and be around when contracting was amazing

How would you describe your career?

Fun but stressful Now that I have been out of it for a while I can not figure out how I was able to carry such a huge load and get it all done I don’t think I could do that now

What are some accomplishments you've achieved during your career?

I think the one thing that I am most proud of is how many people I was able to advance in there career, At one of the hotels I was hired to clean up and get running again I was given the option to completely replace the maintenance staff, I kept them, worked with them and created a highly effective team there. Getting people to grow is a great feeling

Describe a time that your career was rewarding.

I always found it extremely rewarding when called in for problems and being able to resolve them. As simple as figuring out why when someone flushed there toilet in a high rise it would affect 3 floors of showers. The company had specialist looking at it for months and couldn’t figure it out, I fixed it in one day of going through the systems. In my career I had a few times I cured issues with newly built buildings

If you could give a younger person career advice, what would it be?

don’t go in thinking you know it all Listen to everyone around you and even the old crazy guy, the amount that you can learn is amazing, even today if I was working I would not ever claim how much I know and still listen to all involved in a project

What is your favorite thing about your career or industry?

something new every day

What is a valuable lesson you learned in your career?

how to deal with people

What do you hope to accomplish in your career?

Its a wrap I do get called once in awhile to help cover some projects when there are problems are something special is needed. Just do it once in a great while

Are you involved in any professional/ non-profit/sports organizations? If so, do you have a title or rank within these organizations?

nope

What is your favorite sport?

Not a big sports fan, from the damage I did to my knee I have over a 40 history of physical therapy Have seen to many sport injuries in young people pushing it to hard. Just turned me off to the give all cloture of sports

Do you play any sports?

nope

If you were granted 1 wish, what would you wish for?

that people would mellow out and learn how to enjoy each other instead of stepping on each other for gain

If you won a very large amount of money what would you do?

ohh how do you know I don’t have it already lol I don’t think I’d change a thing in what I do or how I live. I’m the type of guy that can be super happy with a beer and a fishing pole sitting by the lake, don’t really need any th8ng fancy