[rob macdonald]

- Where you live? Upstate NY (currently Tikrit, Iraq)

- What your/your business does? Carpentry, GC, Res. Construction

- How long you have been doing it? 17 years S-E, 30 years total.

- Do you have a family and/or kids? DINK (due to a combination of two jobs, and probably a little loss of focus on the marriage).

- How old are you? 44

- How much do you work? A whole lot; 6-7days, 10-14 hours.

- Do you like it (seriously!)? I must. It's good to see a product or result at the end of a day. And I've made some great friends out of my customers.

- What was the defining moment that made you strike out on your own? Post grad wasn't cutting it. And I grew up with it.

- Are you accumulating wealth or just sustaining life? I am comfortable, and am sustaining that in a manner that I enjoy.

- Do you have a comfortable lifestyle (buy whatever you want? within reason? unlimted?) I know the difference between want and need. I don't want much anymore, and don't need too much either. I like toys, but don't have a lot of time to play with them. I am a toolaholic, though.
And, I don't have a new P-car.

- How much you make? (If you choose to answer, it can be any form: sales, net, X times what an exmployee would make doing the same job, etc.) Varies by year and customers.

Right now I'm on the government dole, enjoying free food, travel, accomodations and clothing. In October I'll have 26 years in the Nat'l Guard. It's kind of funny, after a little under 24 years in, I got activated and sent to war. Go figure, my business is in the crapper right now. I've got a good customer base, and they're aware of my situation. I think I'll have plenty of busness when I return. And I'm, we're, doing okay considering the circumstances.