I grew up in the 60's, and with Viet Nam going on, found myself
concerned about the prospects of my future, and took each passing
year with anticipation. Studies were not a high priority to me, in
fact I always looked for the easy way out, however, Chemistry and
Math I considered fun, and fascinating. I was always curious about
things, always tried testing things, even as a small child. I was
one of the boys you would see burning a host of things with a magnifying
glass to see what they would do.
Unwilling to endure the barage of unrelated subjects required to get
an education in your specific field of interest, I went to work immediately
out of High School. Four years out of High School I found myself working
in a small bottling plant, and in time, I had worked as a plain laborer,
forklift operator, Mixologist, Lab Technician, and eventually did
the work of a plant manager. The primary reasons for the successful
climb with only a high school education was due to my ability to always
find and easier, more cost effective way to accomplish a task, no
matter what task lay at hand.
There was a major problem though, I did not really deal well with
the brunt of responsibility on my shoulders, so when my parents retired
and moved back to the Mid west, I gave up my career and moved back
to what I had always called home myself. In 1988 I relocated back
to Indiana where I began working as a Clerk at a major drug store
chain. I wasn't there for 3 months before I was offered a position
in charge of the Liquor Department, which I accepted, and while in
that position I was given full reign. In six months time I was able
to show both a 3% increase in profit margin from this department,
and a 15% increase total sales. That's all it took, in I was then
recommended, and accepted into a management training program through
the store. Within one year I was a Senior Assistant manager, and again
found myself working my tail to the bone, and bearing the brunt of
responsibility, so I gave it all up for a warehouse position, the
kind of work I really felt good about doing. It was hard work, good
exercise, and left me plenty of time to think, which was always my
favorite past time.
While working at the warehouse, I met my wife to be, Carmella and
soon began a different course in life. She walked me through the ropes
of working for yourself, we opened our own business, and began doing
festivals, and began growing gourds. Eventually, after 10 years in
the warehouse, I lost my job there, but our business was just beginning
to boom, then another change in life. I suffered a back injury, and
after having an MRI, discovered I have a Herniated disk, a bulging
disk, and degenerative disk disease as a result of working warehouses
all my life. We were still into gourds, but we had to quit our business.
Then, Gourds became the focus of my intentions.
With gourds as my Priority, I began once again, following my nature,
and seeking ways to make things easier, faster, more efficient, and
along the way began to discover that idea's and research of something
easier also created a platform where new effects could be achieved.
With that in mind is a whole new host of experiments to try, and who
knows where it will end...
In the meantime, here for your review are a series of methods which
I have tried, and experimented with, with some interesting results.