So who are you and what do you do?

[PHRAG]

I am going to start a new thread for it, so I don't keep hijacking this one.

 

[Rick]

Dave, at 42, you're still a youngster... I've got you beat by over 20 years. I know there's at least one other person here that's older, also. But I'm not giving away any secrets.

I don't know about how many are over 60, but there are a good handful of us in our late 40's and up.

I teased Heather a way's back about how she's about the same age (and name) as my baby sister.

 

[ElixirIce]

Can I tell my life story too?

My name is Lisa Marie and I am 23. I have three older brothers (no I'm not spoiled! I was-and still am- the SLAVE!). I just graduated this past June from UC-Riverside with a degree in biochemistry. I want to go to medical school but I need time for my plants (hahaha!). I like doing just about anything. I learned how to fix cars from my dad and my brothers and I learned how to cook and sew from my mom. I really love baking cakes and other goodies and I'm getting pretty darn good at decorating them and making them look all nice and professional looking. I also do some pretty cool looking fruit and vegetable carving (I must sound like SUCH a geek). I also really love reading and watching movies so if any of you have read or watched anything interesting, please let me know and I'll be sure to add it to my never-ending list.

My dad has been growing/selling/hybridizing orchids since I was a little girl. He used to have this big sterile box in my bathroom that he would use to move plants from flasks to flasks or to put seeds in flasks or whatever the heck he did. I learned almost everything I know about orchids from my parents. I used to just sit and listen to them lecture other people on how to grow them and eventually I listened and asked enough questions to be able to tell other people how to grow them.

I just barely started my own collection when I moved away for college two years ago. I grow mostly phals and dendrobiums because I didn't have much space in my apartment and because there wasn't a lot of light that came through my window.

Since I graduated, I moved back home and now I have more space (=more plants!) so I decided on trying Paphs. My dad used to grow them a lot when I was little but stopped for some reason. My mom tells me it's because they were too hard to grow? That sounds really weird though since a lot of people have been telling me that they're easy to grow! Maybe because there weren't all these great easy-to-grow hybrids back then? I dont know. Maybe they just tell me that so I won't buy more plants.

Sooo yeah. Not much going on here. Trying to find a job in the biotech or pharmaceutical industry (anyone care to put in a good word for me? haha... just kidding) and in the meantime still being a slave at home while trying to add more plants to my collection.

Let me add that I am VERY glad to have found this forum. You guys are an endless fountain of knowledge and you're a heck of a lot friendlier/funner (is that a word?) than pretty much any other forum I've found! I hope to get to know all of you better and put my two cents worth of know-how in when I can.

 

[Paphman910]

Can I tell my life story too?
My dad has been growing/selling/hybridizing orchids since I was a little girl. He used to have this big sterile box in my bathroom that he would use to move plants from flasks to flasks or to put seeds in flasks or whatever the heck he did. I learned almost everything I know about orchids from my parents. I used to just sit and listen to them lecture other people on how to grow them and eventually I listened and asked enough questions to be able to tell other people how to grow them.

If you are lucky maybe someone on this forum might know your dad!

Paphman910

 

[Jon in SW Ohio]

So many orchid growing girls near my age and none nearby, never fails.

Welcome aboard Lisa!

Jon
________
Toyota Axv-Iv Specifications

 

[ElixirIce]

So many orchid growing girls near my age and none nearby, never fails.

Welcome aboard Lisa!

Jon

Sorry Jon

 

[Heather]

(anyone care to put in a good word for me? haha... just kidding)

No, but I work at Johnson & Wales, maybe I can keep an eye out for a garnishing position.

Jon in SW OH.
One of these days you may need to move from SW OH, dear.

 

[Marco]

So many orchid growing girls near my age and none nearby, never fails.

Welcome aboard Lisa!

Jon

Once I saw "23" I knew someone was going to say something like that. lol oke:

Lisa - Welcome to the forum. Congrats on graduation. You definately need more paphs!

 

[SlipperFan]

Welcome, Lisa. You have a cool and distinctive avatar.

 

[Drorchid]

I had not seen this thread yet; it is interesting to read the backgrounds of all the people...

Well I guess it is my turn..

I am 39 now and live in Minneapolis, Minnesota, USA. My dad was a pilot; first for the Dutch Navy so he lived in New Guinea for 7 years (That was before I was born). Later he moved to Kenya and that is where I was born. As I was born in Kenya I could become a Kenyan citizen; which I did, and as both my parents are Dutch, I also became a Dutch citizen. When I was 21 I had to decide which nationality (as you can't be dual citizen after 21 for the Dutch government) so I kept my Dutch nationality.

When I was 10 my parents moved back to The Netherlands, so I had to move back as well. I went to college there and got my Masters Degree in Plant Breeding with a minor in Plant Taxonomy and Entomology (Yes I love bugs too). At first my dream was to go back to Africa, so I took a tropical orientation, and learned everything about growing coffee, tea, coconuts etc..

When you do your Masters in the Netherlands you have to do either one 6 month internship or two 3 month internships, so I decided to do a 3 month internship and go back to Kenya and work for the East African Herbarium, which was a cool job......going up to the Jungles in the Highlands and collecting herbarium specimens....But anyway after those 3 months I decided Africa was a whole lot different than when you see it when you are 10 years old, so I decided to change my orientation and go into horticulture instead (with a focus on ornamental crops).

So next I did an internship in Scotland and worked at the Scottish Crop Research Institute. There I met two Professors from the University of Minnesota, who asked if I was interested in coming to the US to come to Grad School. I thought that it would be for 2 to 3 years, but it took a little longer than that.... and I kind of got stuck here in the US....it has been over 15 years now that I have been here....but in the mean time I found my dream job here working with orchids.....who would have thought that I would have found that here in cold Minnesota....

I have always had a passion for orchids (probably since I was 15). After I graduated here at the U of M, I was teaching at the University. One of my classes was in Pot Plant Production and Nursery management, and as I have a love for orchids I took my class to Orchids Limited. Jason was doing all the lab work at the time, and said to my students....we are looking for an assistant here at the lab....I was thinking to myself... I would love to work here.....so I called Jerry, and as I have a PhD in Plant Breeding and have done a lot of tissue culture....instead of the assistant, I became in charge of the lab, and started doing most of the breeding work (Jason still does some of it too). I have now been here at Orchids Limited for the last 6 years, and a lot of the crosses that I made are starting to bloom now. Thus far I have registered over 50 crosses!

Well that is all for now......

Robert

 

[paphioland]

Hello,
Name is Ken and have a multitude of hobbies. I Love NYC, Yankees, sailing and Paphs. I enjoy cooking, deep sea fishing, MMA/NHB, BJJ and traveling. Don't like to bake. I play softball, hit baseballs at the batting cage, basketball and have recently become a golfer. I haven't read a fiction book in years. Although read enough fiction for a lifetime between 16-22. I read pop physics, philosophy, math, history and biographies. I am a radiation oncology resident, PGY3. Watch entourage, niptuck, yankees on Yes, the OC and the ultimate fighter. Paphs have remained my number one hobby for the pasy 5 years.

 

[paphioland]

I am half Japanese and Italian. Love sushi and going out.

 

[Mahon]

...same here, didn't see this thread until today...

Well, most of you know me (some of you hate me, no matter)... I'm 17, senior in high school. I am a Seaman Apprentice (E2) in the US Navy's Advanced Electronics Computer Field (AECF/AEF)... I am being shipped out July 18th next year...

As for orchids, I have only been growing 7 years. I am an orchid Taxonomist and have studied with many top researchers and authorities. My approach to Taxonomy is Synthetic Systematics; I don't like to limit science to a single accepted idea... The primary genera I have been "re-constructing" are those found under Subtribe Zygopetalinae.

Native Florida orchids are my real efforts in propagation... the diversity within these native species can produce stunning and more floriferous forms not seen in the wild. Outcrossing different forms from different locations increases the diversity more and more in these species... After propagating these species, I plant out the strongest and best plants for re-introduction in the wild... the other plants are usually still growing or are sent out to people to be grown in cultivation (to lessen the rarity of the species)... I have been criticized for my efforts in propagating these native species and re-introducing them back into suitable habitats, as the plant would have to originate from the "wild".

As for cultivation, mostly Pleurothallids and Paphiopedilum make up my collection. There are still a few rare or "wierd" species growing around, and all of my specimen orchids...

That's my story, and I'm sticking with it... =)

-Pat

 

[SlipperFan]

How can anyone hate a Senior in High School who has been growing orchids for 7 years, who is trying to save native orchids, and who is serving his country????

Ken and Pat, you both sound like great guys.

 

[Eric Muehlbauer]

Wow...this thread completely slipped me by also.............I'm 52....fortunately, I still feel the same as I felt in my 20's....and act not much differently than I did when I was in my preteens (yes, I still laugh at poop jokes.....). For the past 22 years I've been a biology teacher at Forest Hills High School right here in Queens, NYC, teaching the basic courses along with AP Environmental Science. Spent (too) many years in NYU grad school, pursuing various failed ichthyology projects before realizing that I hated research and enjoyed the teaching that I had to do anyway, so I gave it up and decided to work......Met my wife there, she was in the Herp lab and I was in the fish lab. My wife now teaches biology lab and Evolution at Queens College. I have 4 kids...the oldest is in the MD/PhD prgram at Albert Einstein...takes longer to get a degree, but he actually gets paid for his research and studies, rather than the other way around.....the next is a senior at Columbia, majoring in film...my daughter (the only girl.....yes, I know......) just started freshman year at Sarah Lawrence college, and my youngest is 14, in 9th grade at the Baccalaureate School, a new public HS in Queens. I started growing orchids when I was in grad school, and quickly gravitated to paphs when my first Maudiae bloomed. I don't even know how many plants I have...grown under lights, in a window greenhouse, and in a cold back room with a south facing glass wall.....(I was able to get my nice house because my father, a physician, sold his apt...we all lived together for too short a time) Besides orchids, as I have posted here I also keep SW tanks, 2 reef tanks and a small tank of local invertbrates...(.having always wanted SW while raising the usual freshwater fish as a kid, I jumped on my oldest son's HS research as an excuse to get into that)...also reptiles.. besides turtles and leopard geckoes, I also raise snakes...in fact, I have 18 corn snake eggs incubating right now, ready to hatch in a few weeks...anyone in the NYC area is welcome to adopt one if they want. And of course, my beloved fishing! Especially bluefish..............Then there's gardening, listening to music that my wife hates, watching DVD's (films can be less fun when your son is a film major...my intellectual days are over...a classy foreign movie doesn't quite thrill me the way it used to, but I've never lost my taste for crappy horror ...) and reading, mostly non-fiction these days......Take care, Eric

 

[Rick]

I thought I had posted a life story, but that may have been on The Other Site a while back, so I'll add it again.

I'm almost 48 and have been an avid naturalist since I could run down bugs and lizards at 5 years old. Lots of support from the parents, and spent as much time in pet stores (as a customer or employee) as I could growing up in Los Angeles.

I got my biology degree from UC Irvine and specialized in research in behavioral ecology. I spent allot of time looking at African Cichlids, especially Tanganyikan species as models for behavioural adaptations within ecosystems. This is also when I started my book learning on orchids.


After college, worked at the Oklahoma City Zoo, supervising the herp colection or the aquarium. I met my wife there who was a pachyderm keeper. We have 4 boys from her previous mairage that are 18, 19, 19, and 23 years old.

I left the zoo biz about 11 years ago, and now work for an waste water engineering firm in the ecotoxicology division. I do investigative or forensic work to determine the cause of toxicity to standard test organisms in factory effluents, or determine the cause of a fish dieoff in a river. Its mostly lab work, but I'm in the field about 10% of the time.

My wife got me into orchids about 5 years ago after my rocketry hobby got too expensive and impracticle for family life. Now I have a small GH and an "orchidarium". I'm not limited on what I get as long as I keep her in flowers.

Unfortunately she likes the foofoo catts, while I prefer slippers and stinky twisted bulbophylums.:evil:

There are allot of realy sharp personalities on this site that I enjoy sharing with. Thanks

 

[PHRAG]

There are allot of realy sharp personalities on this site that I enjoy sharing with. Thanks

And a few of us dull ones too.

 

[Greenpaph]

Hi,

I am 56 years old. I grew up in the Boston, Mass area. I obtained my B.S. degree in pharmacy from Northeastern University and my M.S. degree from Mass College of Pharmacy. I worked 22 years at Beth Israel-Deaconess Hospital in Boston. I was Director of Pharmacy at St. Joseph Hospital in Nashua, NH for 8 years. The last 7 years, I have worked for Rite Aid pharmacy three days per week (semi retired).
I met my wife, Marie while going to Northeastern. We have 2 boys, Joe and Tony and two grandchildren Roman and Olivia. We bought a home on 20 acres of land on a mountain in upper New Hampshire. I built a 50 x 30 greenhouse about 2 years ago. I enjoy most of my time with God, my family and orchids (in that order).
I have been growing orchids since 1974. A co worker gave me a Rhynchostylis retusa as my first orchid. I then joined the Mass Orchid Society and New Hampshire Orchid Society and became addicted in 1975. Paphs have always been my first love. However, I also love Lycastes, Catts, Oncidiums and various species (I guess you can say all genera of orchids). In my younger years, I did many exhibits for the two societies and am proud to say that I have 4 AOS Show Trophies which I cherish.
I was taught culture by my mentor, 85 year old Victor DeRosa (DeRosa Orchids - Natick, Mass). He originally bought out the Adams Estate (paph), Butterworth Estate (catts) and a few others. I was also taught by a neighbor for many years, Mr. Frank Booth. Frank made many of the multifloral parents of today. This includes his most prestigious hybrid, Susan Booth. Although we are 3 hours apart; we still exchange pollen and divisions of plants.
I love hybridizing paphs and a few other genera. I have made about 150 paph hybrids in the past couple of years. I sell my flasks/compots to make money to pay for the oil to heat my greenhouse. I keep it as a hobby for simplicity of life.
I once made a cross which to my surprise was a new genera of orchids. I named it after my mentor Derosaara (brassia-aspasia-odontoglossum-miltonia).
Slippertalk has offered me a great opportunity to learn more and see orchids that I have never seen before. We are constantly learning!

Thanks

 

[paphioland]

oh and I want to live like the dudes in entourage. Except with a big green house filled with roths. That's my dream. I keep bugging my bro to move out to La and start reading for parts. I can be his Johny Drama!

 

[paphioland]

I wouldn't mind living like the kids on the OC either.