An Introduction Is In Order.

I was born in 1955. I guess I can vaguely recall the late 'Fifties, but my real understanding that the world was bigger than the street I lived on and the school I walked to everyday would be about the time the Beatles took America by storm.

It was an interesting time to grow up.

When the dust settled from that now mythical time I was in the Air Force dodging the draft like many young men my age. That may seem oxymoronic, but given the choices of carrying a rifle in Vietnam, Canada and a potential felony conviction or working on transport planes in Arkansas, enlisting in the Air Force was a great way to not get killed or end up in prison.

Upon leaving the Air Force in 1975, I spent about a year enrolling in and then dropping out of an engineering program then hit the road with my guitar and beautiful delusions. In 1987 I finally got a real job because not being a rock star was not paying off.

My alcoholic uncle had a friend in his AA meeting who ran a small mechanical inspection lab performing third party compliance testing for aerospace, automotive and other precision manufacturing markets.

I started of with simple hand tools, micrometer and calipers and soon worked my way up to something called a coordinate measuring machine. It's not something that can be explained easily, but it was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my life. I learned to think in three dimensions. You may not realize it, but you probably don't.

Eventually, I made a horrible mistake and allowed myself to get promoted to a management position.

They transferred me to Corona, California, about a 90 minute drive from L.A. I began full of optimism.

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