At Any Rate

Special thanks for Kevin Farkas for audio mastering.

Continuing the discussion of his career, Grandpa Z opens up about the value of community and the struggles of maintaining a stable family life in the midst of a position that required him to move between states every few years. Though they were comfortable financially, consistent support systems were tough to come by for the Zmurk family during this time and he reflects on this often. Eventually they settled back in Ohio where they stayed for 20 years, and in ‘94 Grandpa took advantage of an opportunity to retire early-but shares how he found plenty of ways to fill his time serving others. Special thanks to Monica Giorgio for writing our show notes and to Kevin Farkas for audio engineering.

In this episode, Grandpa discusses his career choice and employment in early adulthood. His first jobs included engineer work with refrigeration and manufacturing, but an unexpected turn led him to a GS position working on aircraft equipment at Wright Patterson Air Force Base. Some of his duties included analysis on adverse events and creating reports notating what went wrong in these incidents, and how to better fix it for the future. Grandpa describes the creative freedom given to engineers at the time to explore new solutions for things like solar panels, space travel and the like that he enjoyed being a part of. Lastly, he touches on the top secret work he did for the US government as part of a classified foreign intelligence program. Special thanks to Monica Giorgio for writing out show notes, and to Kevin Farkas for audio engineering.

In this episode grandpa talks about the accelerated program that he joined in middle school and high school that allowed him to enter college at the University of Dayton at the tender age of 15. He discusses the loneliness he experienced there and working to pay for his education after his freshman year. He briefly talks about moving around for his work and how college prepared him for his career, as well as the MBA program he attended at Xavier University. Special thanks to Kevin Farkas for helping with the audio engineering.

Our podcast has a name! Thank you to Dave Monsour for suggesting "At Any Rate" before he'd even heard the first episode. Episode 2 continues the conversation about Grandpa Zmurk’s childhood and explores his heritage and extended family dynamics. We learn that he grew up hearing his dad sing often and Grandpa grew to love music, too - even teaching himself to play an instrument by ear without ever learning how to read music, a trait a few of his grandchildren inherited. At the age of 16, it was with the same do-it-yourself spirit that Grandpa researched construction to take on the feat of building a home for the family with his father. And, perhaps unbeknownst to many of us, we are related (by marriage) to a Harlem Globetrotter. Please send questions and comments for Grandpa to [email protected] Special thanks to Monica Giorgio for writing our show notes and to Kevin Farkas for our audio mastering Grandma’s Feather Bed Down in the Valley My Old Kentucky Home Beer Barrel Polka Let Me Call You Sweetheart Judgement at Nuremberg Ohio State Reformatory

In this first episode, Grandpa reflects on his childhood and early life growing up in Cincinnati during World War 2. He recalls socioeconomic norms of the time including rationing of food by the government and the absence of commodities like freezers that were only just becoming available in the early 1940s. Grandpa talks about his parents, including his 10 year separation from his mother, who entered a TB ward when he was only 5 years old and his subsequent relationship with her. He touches on jobs he had while growing up, as well as his college years at the University of Dayton and his experience balancing school with family life. Special thanks to Monica Giorgio for writing our show notes!