Waiting for warmer weather

[duraleigh]

During these slow Winter months, I decided to post a little something about each of the Moderators (and Jason and me) on the site.

Many of you know us already but we have a lot of new members that may have some interest.

The idea is to tell you all how we got started in pools and a little bit about ourselves. In no particular order, I will post two at a time on each post. Please feel free to tell us about how you found TFP, what kept you here, or just a little about yourselves.


Duraleigh
I have been interested in pools since I started my DIY pool project about 8-9 years ago. I became an advocate of the principles taught on The Pool Forum and was a voracious learner on that site. When Pool Forum virtually disappeared for a year or so, JohnT let me know of a new site (this one) that was started by Sean Berry. I registered here the next day and became immediately active.

Soon thereafter, I contacted Sean and proposed the idea of making the TF-100 test kit if Sean didn't mind sort of "featuring" it on this forum and,over the next couple of months, I put together 24 kits to sell and got the first five or so out to Sean and some of the Mods. Virtually all of them leaked in transit What a hassle!!

Anyway, that issue (and some others) was pretty easily solved and I began selling the TF-100 test kit @ TFTestkits.net. It has grown steadily over the last four years and it is an enjoyable home business.

I became the owner of this forum a year or so ago after Sean decided he wanted to help his daughter pursue a professional singing career (she is amazing if you haven't heard her) http://www.savannahberrymusic.com and needed to devote his time to do that.

Sean did a great job getting the forum up and running and Jason and the other Mods have guided it to it's current position as the premier swimming pool site on the net. (I know that's not very modest, but I really believe it's true)

In real life, I work part time as a commercial pilot of small planes (King Airs, Citation jets, etc) We fly pretty much all over the Eastern half of the US and I enjoy being still able to do that at my retirement age of 65.

When I am not doing that, I am busy carefully following Meg's instructions and accomplishing whatever tasks I am assigned. The backtalk sometimes gets me in trouble but I am looking to improve on that as I get older.





257Wbymag

I've been a member here since February of 2008. I joined when I purchased a home with an existing pool and wanted to find a way to care for it without breaking the bank. I saw the light here at TFP.

My paying job is working as an RN at a large hospital in the DFW area. I've been an RN and a paramedic for roughly 15 years. I love to teach and enjoy seeing others when they have that moment when the light bulb turns on. That's why I am here.

 

[Shores]

This is cool. Thanks. I'm new to the forum. My wife and I had a pool put in this past September. While looking at another pool forum one of the posts talked highly of TFP. I'm glad I found it and will be passing the link to my brother-in-law. Thanks again!

 

[Guest]

Great idea to do this, Dave Kind of like putting a face to a name!

 

[duraleigh]

Two more from Mods that have been here the longest (I think). John turned me on to the site when it first came into being and Joyce is my secret adviser who keeps me from saying and doing dumb things on the forum. (sometimes I do it anyway )

Please post any comments you may have.


JohnT

Going back and looking at the post where Sean announced I was a mod makes me think I'm the senior member of the mod squad in length of service. Dang, I hadn't realized that. 16 April 2007 is when I came aboard as a moderator. If you want to relive the historic moment, it's preserved herehttp://www.troublefreepool.com/ucp.php?i=pm&mode=view&f=0&p=28859 Nobody else in the thread has a green tag anymore.

I joined around the same time as you Dave, 4 April 2007.

I've been around pools for much of my life, from neighbor's pools, family pools and my own progression from Easy-Set to inground. When I was in the construction process for my current pool, I found The Pool Forum, and I immediately recognized that Ben had the chemistry figured out. I had known before that pool store methods seemed ineffective at times, but I had never taken the time to learn why. The BBB method seemed like the enlightened way of pool care, and I learned everything I could about it.

When PF activity dwindled and Sean started this board, I contacted Duraleigh to tell him about TFP. Not too long after I joined, Sean approached me about helping to moderate the forum. I accepted and became a moderator on April 16th, 2007.

In real life, I'm an electrical engineer, I raise cattle and I enjoy fishing when I have the time.


Butterfly
I have been interested in pools since we bought a house that came with a pool
That seems to be a common theme on TFP.

DH was not too happy with what I learned at the pool store on my very first visit as they told me......."you need to start with these chemicals which cost $145." The only thing I took from the store was their 1-page water test and 3 pages of instructions on how to add all those chems to my pool and my empty water bottle.

I went home and found The Pool Forum. That's where I learned about the BBB method and got help turning my green swamp into a beautiful oasis! I was able to buy a new test kit and get our pool balanced for less than the $145 that the pool store wanted me to spend to start with. Imagine that!

When Pool Forum kinda disappeared I came to the then new TFP. I got help clearing our pool and just wanted to pay it forward. I am still amazed that maintaining a pool can be so easy.

In the real world, I hang out with my DH who is retired and our now 13YO yorkie named Bubba. When we are not being couch potatoes or playing in the yard or pool, we are making little updates to our home in anticipation of selling. We are planning to move back to the beach when we get all our ducks in a row. Hopefully we'll find a place with a pool!

 

[Bama Rambler]

Wow! Little things you never knew!

 

[waste]

I just want to say "HI"

I've known all the mods and they all have done a great job, in their tenure




Nice thread Dave


I remember JohnT's MD trouble from the earliest days and Joyce, when she was still JJ ****** I remember the Mermaidqueen (a/k/a Grace, though her real name is *****), the mods may change from time to time, but it's just an issue of which one of them can devote the time and expertise to this site - they have all (and all of them have) done well by this site and it's members!!!!!!!!!!


Sorry for taking up all of y'all's time, but I remember ALL the mods we've had

 

[JohnAJohnson]

We had our pool installed a few months ago and I've been enjoying learning the maintenance process. This forum has been a BIG help, and a few weeks ago I ordered and received my TF-100 (with Borate and Salt Testers).

Thanks for the forum Dave. I'm also retired (and also retired from the US Air Force), living in the sticks and having a blast flying my little Cessna Cardinal VFR, low and slow :-D

 

[duraleigh]

Here's two more. (Yeah, I know I'm really stretching this out to get us through the winter). Dman and bama are very prolific on the forum with good reason........they both have a wide range of pool related knowledge and they are very willing to share with others.

Please do not post anything else nice about them as they will then be whining about better pay.


bama rambler
I have been interested in pools for quite some time and have helped family and friends maintain theirs for a few years. When the wife finally decided she wanted a pool of our own is when I really got involved. We bought our pool without much “real” knowledge of how a pool worked. Once we got it installed I quickly learned that I needed to know a lot more about pools than I currently did, so after much searching, reading and learning I found this place and everything I read made a great deal of sense to me, so I joined and started learning and contributing.

My profession is an instrument engineer in the chemical industry. That’s where I’ve gained most all my mechanical, electronic, & chemical knowledge. Well that, and my dad being a tinkerer and jack of all trades, taught me a lot. I’ve been able to migrate my knowledge into the pool side of things easily.

I used to make fun of those guys that retired and went back to work but now I are one!
The company I was employed by for 25 years closed the plant and I retired. It wasn’t long before I got an opportunity at a major science center and took it. It was by far the best job of my life but it was 50 a mile commute. Then, as life throws us curves, a good friend that owned an engineering firm called me one day and said a major Chlor-Alkali plant was looking for some help for a few months and would it be alright if he submitted my résumé to them. That was 6 years ago and the rest, as they say, is history.


Dmanb2b
Growing up in NYC, I was one of those kids who always dreamt of having a pool in the summer but had a yard the size of a postage stamp that the best we could do is one of those 3-4ft wide soaker pools.

Fast forward to 1998, got married , bought a house and said to my DW “Hey, we have to get a pool!” Off to the pool store and we purchased the largest oval AGP I could find. I was so excited to finally have a pool! However, I quickly became frustrated after having to run to the pool store at least once a week, spending $50-$300 a visit, and never having water that looked enticing enough to say, “Wow that water is crystal clear…let me jump in!”. Two years later, besides the nuisance of owning a pool, there were a few things we did not like about our new home, that we decided to move on and I promised DW we would never own a pool again.

After 10 years of blissful marriage (2008) , 4 kids and 3 homes later, the youngsters started begging for….you guessed it, a pool . I immediately said “No way!”, but then I got to thinking. Being the strong DIY type (I research all my projects on the internet) and not wanting to deprive my kids of the things I couldn’t have, I figured that someone on the net has figured out how to write-up a DIY about how to maintain swimming pools. Like Duraleigh, I first landed at the Pool Solutions website and after reading many posts, realized that I could not register to ask specific question I had about the BBB method. This in turn led me to further googling BBB and finding TFP. After reading through Pool School and the many posts in the forum, I let the family know that we were getting a pool and if Frustratedpoolmom can do it using just bleach and a test kit, heck than I can too! :lol:

Haven’t looked back since, my pool days are now stress-free and I spend time on TFP trying to help others that were once in my shoes.

 

[duraleigh]

Here are almost the last two. (Melt in the Sun has writer's block but, since he's the rookie, we'll cut him some slack.)

These two are our most prolific contributors. To respond to a question before FPM or Jason could get there was almost impossible. More recently, they have taken pity on us common folk and allowed us to get in a post or two.

Seriously, without contributors like Jason and FPM, the forum would not be the what it is.....the finest pool forum on the net.

As almost everyone already knows, Jason is also the Forum Administrator. He keeps the place online and in good working order. His programming skills and computer knowledge are impeccable and we would be lost without him. He also handles the everyday tasks (Help! I can't remember my password) flawlessly and in a cheerful manner.

Both of these folks are invaluable assets to the forum.



Frustratedpoolmom

I found TFP by accident. Or was it fate? After leaving a local pool store literally in tears, angry and frustrated over the confusing and conflicting information they had given me, I went home and hit Google. Found Ben’s site, saw a post by Sean mentioning TFP, and voila, the rest is history. The first day on TFP Dave and Jason had my pool on the road to recovery and I have not looked back.

I have been a SAHM for the last 13 years and 2010 was my fourth year as a member of TFP. Three of those years I have been a moderator. Many people when they learn about this role I play (unpaid) often ask me why I do it for free and spend the time I have doing it. Why? Because I enjoy it . Helping others helped me, especially during some difficult times. It made me happy to help people get through their frustration, just as I was helped back in 2007.

For the last year I have been expanding my pool obsession and have begun servicing family and friends’ pools. I’m hoping to expand this concept into a money maker for me within the next year or two, since as a newly-single mom I will need to start generating some income . As my life continues to evolve and I venture into unchartered waters, I take the knowledge and invaluable friendships I’ve gained from TFP with me. I’d be lost without many of you, and you know who you are!

So while my screenname is “frustrated” that really no longer applies to my pool. Everything else in life, well, yeah - it probably still applies.

Jason Lion

Since I was very young, and right on through college, I loved to swim. In high school I even joined the swim team and took life saving classes solely so I could get extra time in the pool. I think I got every Red Cross swimming certification that was offered during that period.

After I graduated from M.I.T., there wasn't a convenient pool near me, and I slowly got out of the habit of swimming. Many years later, long after I had forgotten about swimming, we bought a house that had a swimming pool. We didn't buy it because we wanted a pool, but simply because the perfect house happened to already have a pool.

Between work and moving, I didn't want to spend the time to learn how to maintain the pool right away, so we hired a pool service. The pool service actually flat out refused to help us. They told me that the pool was essentially a total loss. After seeing the look on my stepdaughter's face when she got that news, and finding out what the pool repairs he suggested would cost, I decided I had to get more directly involved.

It took me a month of searching and reading on the Internet to figure out how to solve the various problems our pool had. I was shocked by how drastically different the advice from various sources was, and by how poorly some of the things that were recommended actually worked. Then I found PoolForum (this was before TFP existed) and people who actually knew how to solve the pool problems we had. By then I was hooked. Ever since, I have read everything I can find on pool care, both on and off the Internet.

I am self-employed developing computer software and consulting on computer software and hardware. My main business is developing and selling a web server log analyzer called Summary. I also have a Sudoku player for the iPhone. And I consult for a couple of companies, including MOTU, a company that develops computer software and hardware for professional musicians.

Over the years I have founded three companies, developed accounting systems, word processing, computer games, music notation software, MIDI sequencing software, digital audio hardware and software, software development tools, video processing hardware and software, and done web server management. I have also spent a great deal of time working on and teaching cooperative business development, conflict resolution/mediation, fire tending for sweat lodges, and served on a couple of non-profit boards.

When you start your own company you have to do everything. For me that has mostly meant software development, sales, marketing, and technical support. Over the years I have found that for every hour I spend writing a program, I end up spending ten hours explaining how to use it. With apologies to my English teachers, I feel like I never really learned to write until I started doing tech support. Now that I have spent twenty years trying to explain something the best way possible so I don't have to answer the same question from the same person again tomorrow, I feel like I am finally getting a grasp on writing.

I love puzzles, and so far swimming pool care is the most complex and exciting puzzle I have ever run across. Figuring out swimming pools is a lot more fun than my current project at work. I often look to my hobbies for ideas for starting a business. The perfect swimming pool product hasn't occurred to me yet, but I know that it will.

 

[Ashbourne]

Very cool. Thank you all for everything you put into this site!

 

[lbridges]

After years of being without a pool we decided to take on adding one to our backyard. While in the 'interviewing builders phase' I went Internet searching for info. I typed in "swimming pool forum" (and various alternatives) to Google and found TFP (among others). I asked a few simpleton questions and got polite and helpful replies.

My educational background was in physics, but I took a couple of engineering, material science, and chemistry classes. I didn't learn enough to actually make much use of the knowledge, but it did equip me well enough to recognize the "real thing" when I saw it.

Within a week or so of finding TFP, and recognizing it for the bargain/knowledge storehouse it is, I carved out a tiny bit of money from the pool build fund to become a lifetime member. The ROI for those few bucks is arguably my best investment.

Did I mention I had a TFTestkit in my sweaty palms before they even shot-creted the walls? I think I tested my tap water a couple of times 'cause I couldn't wait (patience has never been one of my strong points).

Thanks mods, admin and owner.

 

[PoolGuyNJ]

I came to the pool industry after I got DOT BOMBED a few times . Past employers included Cisco, Alcatel, and Intel. There were a few smaller companies after I had had enough of the playing with the big boys game. The smaller companies let me make decisions and contribute in ways the larger companies wouldn't. The tech bubble burst and that was that.

A friend I met through my kids day care when they were young needed another man. I was hooked, had a blast and stayed. I have gone up the ladder from cleaner to tech to owner. Now I contribute to my company like I used to be able to do with the smaller companies I was employed with when I was in the tech world and then some.

I started checking the pool forums almost 5 years ago. Each has it's strong areas but I try to contribute when I can.

I'm married over 20 years with twin daughters, two dogs, five cats and a couple hamsters. Some things I have learned: Don't give the kids too many choices, my kids are convinced I don't know anything about life (they're 18 and know it all), closed doors are meant to be on the other side of (cats), the dogs love the cats inside but are fair game outside and will bark when a mosquito bumps into the front window, hamsters are nocturnal so their wheel has to be silent, life isn't easy but is definitely worthwhile, you have to keep your side of the street clean if you want to look in the mirror and like who you see, give freely to others what is given freely to you for you will help yourself more than you have helped them, you can lead a horse to water but you can't make them drink.

Scott

 

[frustratedpoolmom]

Scott your learned lessons are fabulous

 

[dmanb2b]

for our newer members

 

[pepsiholic]

Mods and admins, this one's for you! I found this site while looking for a way to turn my bacquacil pool into chlorine. I had went to the pool store and the lady told me she could help me, but it was going to take a while, probably all summer. She then proceeded to tell me to go home and just keep adding chlorine pucks and bring my water back weekly for testing. I figured there's
got to be an easier way, so I searched the Net and found TFP. Thanks to all the wonderful people on here, my pool was converted in about a week. I purchased the TFTest kit and have never looked back. My daughter's teenage friends are simply amazed by how clear and sparkily our water is all the time. So, once again a great big THANK YOU!!

 

[Leebo]

Well now that the weather is starting to cool down, I'd like to bump this post back up again. I'll also encourage all our current Mods and Experts to chime in also with a quick message about themselves.

Leebo

By far I'm one of the newest members of the TFP crew and am daily amazed at the wealth of knowledge members of TFP have. I joined the forum in 2011 after agreeing to take over care of my In-Laws pool. At the time they had used Baquacil for going on 18 years, and it had come time to switch to chlorine due to the cost. I had done the common first step and went to the Pool store to discuss proper pool care with whom I thought were the experts, and left with a shopping list of products a mile long. Immediately I noticed a bad pattern and hit the internet looking for more answers on how to care for a pool using chlorine. I had found TFP and followed the steps in Pool School during our Baqua conversion. During the conversion I quickly "got" the TFPC process and saw WHY it works. Short daily pool care prevents any major issues in the future. While I still don't know all the science behind the teachings on TFP, it was a process that simply made sense to me, and I enjoyed teaching others this process.

I have been actively working behind the scenes on multiple Social Media websites for going on 15 years now. I have gain multiple lifelong friends from all over the country using various websites, and enjoy talking with people from all over the place. After TFP switched to vBulletin in early 2014 I was able to assist members in learning the new software, as I had used in daily for several years now. Dave had approached me with an offer to work with JasonLion as an Admin by helping out members with their problems using the software and answering any questions they may have concerning their accounts. Again, I really enjoy working with these members and their issues.

During my free time I enjoy spending every second I can with my wife and kids. Watching them grow up is a blessing to Sherry and I, and we're loving every second of it!