Tools of the Trade
Hi, my name is Alex and I am an Executive Pastor. I spend a majority of my time meeting with our staff and various people in and out of the church, vision casting, fixing problems, finding solutions, emailing, blogging, reading, learning, teaching, and twittering. I also do quite a bit of graphics & video editing, as well as creative writing (making things make sense) and some worship leading. I’ve been thinking about some of the important things that I need to do my job. I thought I’d share them with you and then find out what your top tools of the trade are. Here’s mine (in no particular order):
- my Bible
- a laptop (in my case a 15″ Mac Book Pro)
- a cell phone (that connects to the web, in my case a Treo 755p)
- high speed internet
- camera (Canon Powershot Pro)
- external hard drive (phantom drive 500GB, getting fuller by the day)
- trustworthy vehicle (2001 Ford Ranger Edge)
- guitar (Takamine Santa Fe)
- Dunlop .60 picks & Martin SP light gauge strings
- Photoshop CS3 (I can do all things through Photoshop…)
- unending supply of reading materials (books & magazines)
- my backpack (carries a majority of the aforementioned gear)
So, here are the questions for you:
1. What do you do?
2. What’s in your toolbox?
I am an arcade tech. My toolbox would be a 2005 Tundra, with many toys for machines, spare parts galore, and several tools to get them into their replacement spots. I live with a mini Mag-Lite on one hip, and the other hip carries a Gerber, a pen, a two-way screwdriver, and a marker. A bunch of keys is central- there is a lot of locks!! and of course, especially since I am primarily a road warrior, I need my RAZR cell phone. Daily needs- 2 commuter mugs of coffee- and my iPod 30 GB with hours of podcasts on it. I hope that I get enough new shows to last through the week…
Greg – you might appreciate this video: http://www.fredmckinnon.com/myblog/2007/07/24/real-men-of-genius-mr-superhero-utility-belt-wearer-guy/
I am RF design engineer. My tools can be split into 2 basic groups. Design, and design verification. For Designing I need mostly computer equipment. Programs like Microwave Office (Yes microwave, not microsoft) Orcad, Autocad, PSPICE, Syncalc, MATLAB etc. I also rely on my notes from past projects and my text books from school.
For Design Verification I am on the bench with my hardware and need tons of tools. Soldering equipment, fans, heatsinks, attenuators, couplers, loads etc. I also need tons of test equipment. Network Analyzers, Spectrum Analyzers, power meter, power supplies, signal generators . . . the avg RF engineering test bench usually costs about as much as a small house. Glad I’m not paying for it:)
Amanda – um, no one is going to mess with you!
I just was thinking of somethings that I need to add to my list:
– in my backpack: usb calbes, firewire cables, DVI to VGA converter, power cables, USB drives, headphones…
I always seem to be needing a cable, connector, powersource or converter at the most inopportune times. And having them has saved the day!
Hello there, just wandered by. I have a Takamine site. Amazing the amount of information on the web. Not what I was looking for, but interesting page. Take care.
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