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Radio
11-17-2009, 06:20 PM
I have landed a new job at a small company that services and refurbishes/resells medical imaging equipment, such as MRI, CT and nuclear.

It is a departure from telecom, satcom, datacom stuff I have been doing since 1980. In telecom and the others, I got my butt kicked to the curb every 3 years pretty much like clockwork. I figure this is an opportunity to change gears and possibly NOT get laid off again between here and retirement.

Learning lots of new stuff is always fun.

And new adventures, too, like today I dropped a 300 pound, $40,000 x-ray tube that goes in a CT machine. :whistle:

While it didn't do a lot of damage, it will need a new piece of plumbing (they are cooled with a little radiator like a car engine, only oil is used instead of water) it's not usable until we fix it. It didn't fall far, it just tipped off the hand truck while me and another guy were trying to load it into a truck.

My boss knows it should have been crated before we tried to move it, and he knows how heavy they are. So he just sort of shrugged it off.

But anyway, I now commute down two flights of stairs to my office when I'm not going to a customer or to our service center, and that's not often, and they pay mileage. Sure beats the 110 mile daily round trip I used to make. :waggle:

So now I have some kind of a life. The next big trip is back to Dauphin Island after Christmas and that looks like it's going to be an annual event.

I might even do more posts and more radio stuff, too. :radio:

KF5BET
11-17-2009, 07:43 PM
That's great Wade...Happy for you...40k is not too bad!

We did a job at a hospital and the contractor came in and sanded all of the floors without using the proper ventilation. Ruined about 250k worth of equipment!

Hope the job goes well for you!

KC1BUD
11-18-2009, 12:05 AM
Wade,

Great news! I nearly was hired by a medical manufacturer here in Michigan. They made sternum saws and such. The job would have required travel at least across the country. Of course that was nearly 30 years ago. I also once nearly hired in with IBM in the mid 70s all because of an electronic back ground.

Neither job happened and I ended putting my time on the assembly line at the big three. With the medical equipment maker, I was passed over for a relative, and IBM put a freeze on hiring. No regrets, life is what it is.

Again, congratulations.

Dizzy-Dick
11-18-2009, 01:41 PM
Congrats on the new job. Sounds like you may have found a home until retirement age. Good luck and no more accidents. . .

One Country Boy
11-19-2009, 08:07 AM
Glad to hear that you are back amoung the working Wade. I don't think you have to worry about this job going anywhere. Congratulations!

Could ya'll manufacture a small MRI machine for limbs and body parts. I had to have my pinky finger MRI'ed a few weeks back. They had to put my whole body in that huge machine. I am so claustrophobic, I shutter at the thought of going in one of those things.:jitter: I know it's all in my mind, but it's my mind.:)

Radio
11-21-2009, 11:54 AM
I have learned a few things about the medical imaging industry.

Your average medical imaging machine is made of four things:

1. Lead, and lots of it.
2. Stainless steel.
3. Very expensive materials that are hard to pronounce.
4. Stuff that will kill you.

I also found out that our tech ops center is in a bad part of town, such that the company trucks are stored inside to prevent theft. So I won't be leaving the camper up there occupied or not. There are some campgrounds nearby and I found a suitable hotel for only $29.50. It clean and in a nice safe area so for just a night or two that will have to do.

But so far, everything is working out just fine.