The A Cappella Handyman: Handyman Track #12
Yes, that's right, there really is a “Handyman Song #12.” There were at least 11 previous versions, so I decided this would be the last one. How did that come about? It's a long story, a very long story. As a self-employed handyman for the past 16 years, I chose to promote myself in a variety of ways. As a self-published poet for the past 48 years, rhymes came easily to me. As a former graphic designer and manager and supervisor and illustrator and graduate engineer for 52 years and before that, making things in the corporate world was always a breeze for me. My parents were both very creative, as were my three younger brothers, and I had three uncles who were in the Seabees in WWII (carpenter, welder, and machinist). Creative stuff is in my blood. My dad had both arms amputated in WWII, so I grew up learning how to use my hands from a man who had none.
I grew up in Walnut Creek, graduated from Las Lomas High School in 1960, attended Diablo Valley College, and received an AA degree in general education in 1963. That same year I transferred to UC Berkeley as a junior in mechanical design. By 1966 I had both my bachelor's and master's degrees in mechanical design. Sometime in the 1980s I earned a certificate in graphic design in UC extension courses in San Francisco and Berkeley. I have owned a Macintosh computer since 1994. Before that, my graphics group at Bechtel SF were wizards in the field of marketing communications using Macs until Bechtel decided to close its SF regional office at 50 Beale Street, one block from Market. The photos for the ad were either shot myself or pulled from the Internet. A good friend of mine found the lady with the smeared lipstick on the Internet. Who knew such a shot existed? Enjoy!
(Graphics by Peter Bray)
Peter Bray has lived, worked and written in Benicia since 1982 and has written this column since 2008.
