While I think it's safe to say I've been a tool guy my whole life, I didn't actually discover woodworking until junior high.  It was there, in Mr.  Anderson's 7th grade wood shop, that I learned just how much I love building things for people.  One of my very first projects, a beer stein, survives to this day.  I still remember the warm shavings on the back of my hands as I turned it on the lathe.  And of course I'll never forget the smile on my dad's face when I gave it to him.  That was 30 years ago.

In high school, I was a shop junkie, regularly skipping study hall (and, uh, my other classes) to be in the wood shop.  If it wasn't for industrial arts education, I don't know where I'd be.

After high school, I spent four years in the Air Force, working on B-52 electronics systems.  When I got out, I pursued a childhood dream of being a newspaper photographer.  It didn't work out.  I then spent the next 17 years in the Technology sector working as a technician, technical writer and software engineer.  I always had several woodworking projects going to keep me sane (energized) and eventually converted the two-car garage of my house into a small wood shop.

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