Its all about who you know...

My first year at Dixie State the freshman had to go to a seminar. The speaker was some motivational guy and I don't remember everything he said, but I do remember one key point he tried to get across. He basically stressed the fact that no matter what you do in life, how well you do in school...one of the most important things is making contacts. You never know when that one guy you met may just unlock the key to something you may have otherwise been lost in obtaining.
Perfect example is this. I want to learn welding skills. So possibly in the future I can build my own bikes, and if anything else, i can learn more about bikes. My plan was to take a welding class at PCC this spring but unfortunatley none of the classes fit into my schedule and I've had to postpone it. But today at work a fairly regular customer stopped by. An older gentleman about dad's age, but a guy who rides locally just as much as me. Although we've yet to see eachother on the trail, we both share the passion for the local singletrack. Tonight when he came by he mentioned how he built a 1950's schwinn into a trail machine. He did this by welding the essential derailleur hangars and brake mounts to the old frame. Turns out the bike was featured in a MTB magasine. And all the work was done at the PCC welding shop...with his good friend the teacher. The teacher is apparently a bike fanatic and for many years has had a passion for bikes, helping students build prototypes and other man powered "cars".
Long story short, he gave me the name of the guy and said stop by and say you're a friend of mine and want to learn, that he would be more than willing to help me learn and go out of his way to make something work around my schedule.
It's about who you know and on tuesday, the next day I'm at school I will be stopping by and saying teach me oh great one.