Like many people, I got the woodworking bug from my father.  He was an amazing man who seemed able to build just about anything from scratch.  From the bathroom medicine cabinet to the addition on the back of the house, my dad did it all.  I was at his side all the time, watching and learning. Dad was always there with praise when I made something.  He was also there with criticism if I hadn't done my best.  He taught me to do the absolute best I can at anything I attempt.  This was one of the greatest gifts he gave me.  I don't think any other single thing I learned as a child has helped me so much in my life.

I really didn't take up woodworking as a serious hobby until fairly late in life. My wife and I lived in a very small house with little room for a shop.  My tools consisted of a 9 inch Craftsman tablesaw, a drill press and a few assorted power and hand tools.  My projects were on the simple side to say the least.  In 1997 we built a house in Germantown, Wisconsin about 30 minutes Northwest of Milwaukee.   I finally had the space for a serious woodshop.  My old Craftsman saw got replaced by a new Jet 10" Cabinet saw.  What a difference.  It was like going from a Yugo to a Mercedes.  I got the itch bad and started to try bigger, more complicated projects.  I used to watch Norm Abram on The New Yankee Workshop and I'd wonder just who could possibly need all those tools.  Now I watch and wonder how I can GET all those tools. 

I'm in my middle 40's and I'm married to a great SWMBO(Geri).  I have 2 wonderful kids (Leslie & Greg) and a dog (Welsh Springer Spaniel: Hunter).  I started my post-college work life in the early 80's as a flight instructor but, seeing as there were no jobs for pilots (kind of like now), I made a career change into photography.  I spent several years in advertising photography before joining Visual Image Photography where I've been for over 18 years. I do athletic team photography for high schools, middle schools, youth leagues and colleges. If you've got kids in sports in Southeastern Wisconsin or the Chicagoland area there's a good chance I've taken their picture. I don't get to do any flying anymore. It would seem I have plenty of other hobbies to chew up all my expendable income. We all love to fish and camp and, as you might guess, we spend a bunch of time on the computers. My wife and I used to be very active in dog obedience training but that was then. As soon as the two legged kids came into our lives a few things had to go and the dog training was one of them (and the danged motorhome) but I wouldn't have it any other way, It's a good life.