remember driving to college and thinking — this ain’t right, I’m not happy, this isn’t the way things are meant to be. My parents would have rather seen me finish college, but it just wasn’t me. I didn’t think I would have been happy being behind a desk.

I always loved mechanical things. I loved lights. I just loved working with my hands. When I was a kid, my erector set was my favorite. Building model kits, all that stuff, was all fun. We used to work on stereo stuff and build bikes and go-carts.  We tried to put a motor on anything that had wheels. It was a ball.

This goes back to my dad.  He didn’t have the resources to pay other people to do things so he did a lot of it by himself.  I’d see him fixing the cars and I’d help him, for whatever help or hindrance I was at the time.  But I was with him.  I watched him. I followed him around. Yeah, just watching what he did had a lot to do with what I do now. I’m glad he was there, and now I really miss him. I’d like to tell him how much I appreciated what he did, but I’m sure he knows.  

So, if I didn’t fix it, I didn’t have a car. I’d go and find something that somebody threw out, old lawnmowers, and all this crap I was bringing home when I was a kid.  Oh, man, it was just phenomenal. I filled my dad’s garage with more projects.  And even now, to this day, I still have so many unfinished symphonies at home of things I want to do.

I like just putzing with mechanical things, seeing how things tick. There’s always something to learn.  There’s always something that’s changing with technology. You have to keep up with it.  So, it’s brain food and it’s — it keeps me in shape.  I get out and I work with my hands doing what I like to do. You know, you’re gonna have to work.  You gotta do what makes you happy, what you like doing. I think to myself, you know, I’ve kinda had a Cinderella life.

Stories from the Field