Good old Balzac. Are you still in the Calgary area, or did your life/career take you elsewhere since?
Thatās going to be some serious luggage! Iām guessing the Glowforge wonāt fit into the overhead bin. 
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Thatās for sure. I donāt know exactly how to take it to Chile, the box looks bigger every time I see it.
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Early on, I worked as a general laborer, an electricianās helper, a draftsman, and a few other things. Since the early 1990ās, my primary source of income has been from the IT field working as a network technician, network administrator, IT manager, IT consultant, and professional services manager for a small consulting firm. Four years ago, the IT job became part time (anywhere from 5 to 50 hours a week). I took that opportunity to build up what had been a very small hobby business in graphic design. I design t-shirts, decals, postcards, signs, etc. both for the gift/souvenir market and for businesses.
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If they can check skis and bikesā¦
The interesting part will be blandly saying ānothing to declareā at the other end 
(probably wouldnāt recommend that)
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Thatās cool 
Let me know if you need beta testers for any VIVE projects
I am a part time artist that hand paints coins. Yep, there are six of us in the world obsessed enough to do this. I also happen to be a CFO for a nonprofit. Keeps me busy!
I am called the gizmo queen in my house, so no one was surprised I ordered a Glowforge. My son, the mechanical engineer, has already reserved time to use it, proving once again he is related to me.
I hope I can use the Glowforge somehow in my art stuff. I will figure that all out later.
Ann
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Hand painted coinsā¦Show&Tell!!
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And if I say that is just a printer probably they wonāt believe me 
Sorry - I was unable to reply for a few days. The objective was always for mass production, but the work was R&D - studying the best operating conditions to use, nutrients needed, comparing feedstocks and the like. Some of what I worked on is in commercial use today so that feels kind of good.
Balzac was only about 8 months and Iāve been back in the Midwest ever since. Sure do miss the Canadian Rockies, though/
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Thatās awesome that your work is now being used. Has to be a big assurance that you you did good work.
I was a technical writer for a bit; but daycare is too expensive and why pay someone to do what I want to do? Iām very lucky to spend my time with my 4 kids.
When I do return to professional work, I am hoping to be a substitute teacher- junior high and high school.
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I subbed for my daughterās school district for a few years. It was a great flexible side income, I got to meet and befriend a lot of people in my community, and it (typically) meshed with her school schedule. By doing that, I learned that I absolutely loved working with preschoolers, and I ended up working for Head Start for several years.
Conversely, I did not enjoy working with jr. high/high schoolers. Just way too many hormones flying around! It really frazzled my patience, and I had a hard time staying neutral. When my daughter/her friends behaved like obnoxious teens, I would call them out on it straight away; I found it hard to keep my āinner momā quiet when I was subbing.
Iām not knocking it though, Iāve noticed that most teachers have a preferred age group that they seem to teach and relate well to.
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Pretty darn diverse group up in hereā¦
I have a graphic design degree, and somehow fell into development after college (HTML first, then ActionScript, Objective-C and now Swift). Iāve been working at the same interactive agency for 17 years, doing a little bit of everything during that span (mostly iOS work at the moment). Outside of work I have a few self published iOS apps (http://delicious62.com), and keep enough freelance graphic design work to keep me busy when Iām not tinkering or making stuff (http://madebyforbes.com), which I wish I could do full time (let me know if you hear of any full-time maker/tinkerer openings in the greater Seattle area).
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I am a math teacher and mathematician. Iām hoping a GlowForge will help me do these things better like my spherical camera has.
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Terrific idea!
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I am a Jeweler, medical/scientific specimen preparer and oddities maker/seller. I also teach metalsmithingā¦my goal with glowforge is custom jar top for my wet specimens as well as inserts for sewing specimens to inside the jars, odd parts i end up needing, making custom jewelry boxes and displays for the galleries i sell at. Im very excited to make tools and dies for hydraulic pressing and design embellishments on things. i have zero history with 3D and CAD design so im feeling quite over my head, but im trying to learn slowly while i wait for my machine. I plan to use the draw and cut function with the camera most. please take a look at my odd websites!
DeathIsntTheEnd.Etsy.com
Instagram.com/DeathIsntTheEnd
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Wow! You create amazing things!
Wow! Let me first say that I am in awe of all the talented people on this forum that are so generous in relating their talents and knowledge. I am humbled by you. I spend my days during the week as a product safety engineer for a very large defense contractor (that makes military vehicles). I specialize in high voltage, and laser safety. I have a degree in physics, but I have worked in laser optics and semiconductors (San Jose, CA) for 25 years.
For fun I build stuffā¦remodeling around the house, wood furniture, electric cars. I converted an '85 RX-7 to battery power. I drove it to work everyday and drag raced it. I still have a national record at nedra.com in the SC/E 144 volt class.
The GF will be my first experience with a laser e/c and I am very excited but bummed that I apparently will get my GF long after all of you. - Rich
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