It beats frying burgers
Student says he enjoys his ‘highly’ unusual occupation
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facility will be covered by tuition,
Lucas said. He said he expects a
small operating budget to be estab
lished to pay the faculty members
who teach in Grand Island.
Communications systems will
constitute the most expensive pan
of participating in the park.
Lucas said he believes that most
UNL classes will be taught by-sat
ellite.
Most other classes at the park
will be taught the traditional way,
with instructors traveling bom
their institutions to teach the stu
dents. Manchik said.
Some classes will be taught by
television through either satellite
or fiber-optic communication sys
tems.
Satellites transmit only one
way video and
SEIKO from Page 7
she said.
Rosa Vinsonhaler, retail assistant
for the University Bookstore, said her
department doesn’t have electronic
dictionaries or translators. But, she
said, she can order Franklin linguistic
products from Omaha upon request.
Special orders take about two
days, Vinsonhaler said.
Michael Gilmour, electronic sales
representative at Nebraska Book
store, said his department carries
some of the 18 products in the Fran
klin Computer line. He said he can
special order products not currently
available.
Nebraska Bookstore is one of the
few retailers in L incoln to carry the
Sharp Wizard, a new electronic or
ganizer that can perform many tasks,
depending on the computer card in
serted into the organizer, Gilmour
communication so teachers and
students could hear and see each
other.
Manchik said that by using tele
vision, an instructor can *Ywork
with three here, three in Kearney,
three in ScottsblufT."
By teaching students in many
different locations at once, Man
chik said, the university can justify
the cost of fiber optics.
Lucas said the university has
been involved in talks with Grand
Island officials to provide higher
education in the area for about a
year and a half.
"Technology is allowing us to
fill our higher education gap,"
Manchik said,
Bach participating school will
be responsible for its own admini
stration, Manchik said, though
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said.
The cards, which look like credit
cards, provide not only a new touch
sensitive control pad but give the
Wizard a new range of memory.
The original Wizard works as an
organizer, capable of arranging such
things as personal schedules and
phone numbers. But with the addition
of the IC Language Card, he said, the
Wizard can translate more than 450
phrases in eight languages.
Sharp also offers a card for ex
panding its organizing capabilities
and a card for an electronic diction
ary/thesaurus, Gilmour added.
In addition to increasing capabili
ties with new program cards, extras
like expansion ports for printer and
computer hookups seem to be the
wave in future electronics, Gilmour
said.
By C.J. Schepers
Staff Reporter
A University of Ncbraska-Lincoln
senior says he has a “highly” un
usual part-time job. He climbs sky
scraping radio towers that are as tall
as the Empire State Building - about
1,200 feet.
No, it’s not your typical part-time
job, says climber Chris O’Callaghan,
but it sure beats the humdrum of
frying burgers at a fast-food chain or
clerking at the local discount store.
And it also helps pay his tuition.
O’Callaghan has been scaling and
repairing towers since 1987 for
Tower Base Inc. He says it’s actually
one of the safer jobs he has had.
Other jobs he’s had include work
ing construction at great heights and
clearing thick sections of the Ne
braska National Forest at Halsey.
But, he said, he secs his current job
as nothing more than a cautious climb
up a ladder.
“It’s actually safer than climbing
a ladder,” he says, because a tower
never tips.
Climbing cloud-piercing towers
isn’t for everyone.
In fact, UNL graduate Butch
Blankenau, an enthusiastic rock
decided to give the job a try. Ascend
ing the tower with O’Callaghan and
his boss, Greg Kozisek, Blankcnau
climbed up to 100 feet and could go
no farther.
“It’s different,’’ he said, shaking
his head.
“There’s no rope. At least in rock
climbing you have a rope on you all
the time.’’
But O’Callaghan says the trick to
fighting the altitude fear is learning a
basic rule: Never let go of the tower.
Although once stationed to make a
repair, climbers’ belts hook on to the
tower securely, the journey to the top
is made without any safety props.
No ropes. No nets. Just trusty feet
and hands.
“Just make sure you have a three
pint contact” between both feet and
hands, O’Callaghan said.
And that’s about it for safely pre
cautions, he said.
What about hard hats?
Forget it, he said.
O’Callaghan recalls one day when
a co-worker who, at 300 feet, let a
bolt accidentally slip through his Fin
ger. It sliced through an opened van
door.
Other than remembering not to let
go or drop anything, it’s just another
part-time job to O’Callaghan.
The English major says he sees his
job as a reprieve from the everyday
stresses of school.
He mattcr-of-factly describes it as
“nice up there.’’
“You can even see the ocean up
here,’’ he laughs, shouting down
from a Lincoln tower at 200 feet.
In Nebraska? Now, that’s a tall
tale.
UNL
Taekwon Do Club
‘Stretching & Weight Training
‘Womens Self-Defense & Rape
Prevention
, 'Basic Kicking, Punching &
Blocking »
‘Basic Blocks & Counters
Movements & Stances
First meeting Aug. 31,1989,
7:00 p.m. at Lee s School
611 North 27th Street.
For more info, call: 476-0788
xor on campus 472-3915.
Club master: Joo Lee
Enjoy some classy concert entertainment and some great fun.
beginning this Friday at the Nebraska State Fair.
Get your concert tickets in advance at the State Fair Ticket
Office, or charge them to VISA or MasterCard by calling
473-4105. Tickets also available at the door.
We’re More Fair Than Ever.
NEBRASKA STATE FAIR
September 1-10 • Lincoln
