OTHERWISE OCCUPIED

A Little On The Job Training

Greetings Fellow Workers of the World,
     Back in the old days of TV, when things would break down 
pretty often, TV stations used to have a slide that they'd 
show in case of trouble, usually "Please Stand By" or some 
variation.  This week, I could use something like that myself, 
being unexpectedly stuck a couple of thousands miles from the 
usual research materials at SUNFUN Central.  But I hate to 
miss a Sunday, so we'll plunge on with a couple of odds and 
ends.
     We spend a great deal of our lives at work, and many of 
us get great satisfaction out of what we do.  Of course, it 
helps that they pay us, but we'll try to be less mercenary 
than that.  Deep down, everyone has some job that they aspire 
to, or wish they could do besides their regular job.  (I 
wanted to be a drain on society, but became discouraged when I 
found out that there was no money in it.)  Many of us take odd 
paths to get where we eventually end up in life.  Some very 
well-known people started out in other jobs before finding 
their spot.
     Of course, some had other jobs as a kind of apprenticeship 
to their real careers, and some were pretending to be something 
they weren't for various reasons, some of them illegal.  Al 
Capone, for example, had business cards claiming he was a "used 
furniture dealer."  Yeah, you had better buy that sofa, pal.  
Some exaggerate parts of their resume for image reasons, like 
"peanut farmer" Jimmy Carter.  JC was actually a 
multi-millionaire agribusinessman who had retired from the Navy 
after serving in the nuclear power department.  But farmer was a 
better political image.  And then there are people who went on 
to do something very different after their most famous moments, 
like Western lawman William "Bat" Masterson, who retired from 
gunslinging and died of a heart attack at his typewriter while 
working as a sportswriter in New York City (New York City!?).
     Thanks to all the folks who kept in touch while I have been 
"unplugged" this week, especially: Carol J. Becwar, Kerry Miller, 
Jan Michalski, Jerry Taff, R.J. Tully, The Petersons, Wallace 
Adams, Sharon Nuernberg, Yasmin Leischer, Bruce Gonzo, Fumiko 
David, Caterina Sukup and Tim McChain.  You folks read on, I have 
to go check out and get the heck back home!
    Have A Well-Occupied Week,
          Bill Becwar
          San Diego, CA (temporarily)


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RESUMES OF THE RICH AND FAMOUS...
------------------------------
	Here is a short collection of prior occupations of some 
well-known folks.  Curious how some of them ended up later, 
especially folks like Ho Chi Minh...


   - Rowan Atkinson ("Mr. Bean") - electrical engineer

   - Robert Baden-Powell (founder of the Boy Scouts) - military 
      spy

   - Alexander Graham Bell (inventor) - teacher of the deaf

   - Johnny Carson (talk show host) - sold vacuum cleaners 
      door-to-door

   - Casanova (famous lover) - studied to be a priest

   - Perry Como (singer) - barber

   - Confucius (Chinese philosopher) - Public Prosecutor (said 
      to have practically wiped out crime in Lu Province)

   - Howard Cosell (sports broadcaster) - lawyer

   - Danny DeVito (diminutive actor) - hairdresser (known as 
      "Mr. Danny")

   - Arthur Conan Doyle (author of Sherlock Holmes) - eye 
      doctor

   - Jerry Ford (president) - male model

   - Mahatma Gandhi (Indian leader) - lawyer

   - Theodor Geisel (kids' writer Dr. Suess) - advertising man

   - Whoopi Goldberg (actor) - makeup artist in a funeral home

   - Barry Goldwater (famous U.S. senator) - radio announcer

   - U.S. Grant (president) - clerk in a dry goods store

   - Edmund Hillary (adventurer, mountain climber) - beekeeper

   - Alfred Hitchcock (movie director) - cartoonist

   - Ho Chi Minh (Vietnamese leader) - chef's assistant, later 
      pastry chef at the Hotel Ritz, Paris.  Also reputedly 
      worked for a time as a photo retoucher.

   - Doc Holliday (western badman) - dentist

   - Boris Karloff (actor) - lumberjack

   - Burt Lancaster (actor) - circus acrobat

   - John Lennon (Beatle) - art student

   - Jay Leno (TV talk show host) - personal chauffer for actor 
      Jack Lemmon

   - David Letterman (talk show host) - TV weatherman

   - Courtney Love - exotic dancer (stripper)

   - Madonna - counter girl at Duncan Donuts

   - Ed McMahon (Tonight Show announcer) - sold kitchen utensils 
      at county fairs

   - Colonel Tom Parker (Elvis' manager) - illegal immigrant 
      (born Andreas Van Kujik in Holland)

   - George S. Patton (army general) - Olympic athlete (placed 
      fifth in the pentathlon in the 1912 games)

   - Pope John XXIII - army sergeant in World War I

   - Elvis Presley (singing legend) - truck driver

   - George Raft (movie gangster) - song and dance man

   - Paul Revere (horse-riding revolutionary) - silversmith

   - Willard Scott (TV weatherman) - the first Ronald McDonald

   - Rod Serling (writer, creator of "The Twilight Zone") - boxer

   - Joseph Stalin (Russian dictator) - studied to be a priest

   - Harry S Truman (president) - ran a men's clothing store

   - John Wayne (actor) - truck driver

   - Lech Walesa (Polish president) - shipyard electrician

   - George Washington (president) - surveyor

   - Bruce Willis (actor) - bartender

   - "Weird Al" Yankovich (comedy recording artist) - architect


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THE CLICHÉS ARE FLYING DEPARTMENT...
---------------------------------
     It certainly won't make any points for you on the job if 
you publically embarrass your boss.
     That's the lesson an Albuquerque policeman and his civilian 
pilot learned the hard way last week, leaving the pair of aerial 
Homer Simpsons up on disciplinary charges.  
     What'd they do?  Witnesses say they landed their Kiowa 
OH-58 helicopter at a local Krispy Kreme 1 AM in order to swoop 
in for a midnight snack.  The pair apparently landed in a vacant 
lot and ran in to buy doughnuts, taking off again a few minutes 
later.
     "I don't know whose brain child it was, but it's quite an 
ugly child," Albuquerque Police Department spokesman Brian 
McCutcheon said. 
     McCutcheon said the event was being investigated as a 
possible misuse of city funds as well as for safety reasons, 
although he admitted there are no specific rules against it 
since it had ever happened before.  Fuel for the whirlybird costs 
the city nearly $80 an hour.
     A Krispy Kreme employee said he didn't see any problem 
with the aerial doughnut run. 
     "Cops got to eat, too," he said.  (Reuters)
          [ Yeah...  It's so hard to resist when 
          they turn on that "Fresh Donuts Now" 
          neon sign. ]


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Back next week (10/21/2001) - as soon as I can remember what 
we're were going to do!

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