About Me

I am from a small town in Bavaria, Germany. When I was young my mother married an American Soldier, who moved us to the U.S. without me speaking a single word of English. I can't say it was the easiest system to adapt to without understanding the language, but there was math, at least it was the same, sort of.

My family in Germany had what I thought was a close relationship with cars, my adult brother had a fixed up VW polo, my grandparents had big Benzes, one uncle had several super cars and a few Americans. But...... then came America! That step-father's entire family was into Drag Racing, and I don't mean hobby bracket racing, but serious traveling full out Drag Racing. I spent every single season weekend of my first couple of years in the States at a Drag Strip. While that part was a blast, but... and after a couple of years we moved on.

My youth was, "if you can't fix it, or make it, you don't need it." Didn't really have very much. I was lucky enough to go to a high school that still offered vocational classes, so I took what I could, Auto Shop, Wood Shop, Technology Studies, Electronics. After school I worked at an auto-parts store, figured a discount couldn't hurt. When I finished school I started working at a body/speed shop, mainly fixing cars, but later learning how to paint them too. Between working on cars in a shop, and picking up nights bouncing at a local club I had it all figured out.

One Summer I broke my hand at the shop. I figured I was going to be down for a bit, so It would be a good time to try college. I always liked Electronics so I started an EE degree, the CS degree wasn't too many courses off so I took that too. After a couple of years the fun and money ran out so it was time to go to work.

I started working for a small Industrial Systems Integration company as a technician, building control panels, calibrating instruments. I worked my way up to Systems Designer working in AutoCAD laying out the Schematics. Then Systems Engineer, programming PLCs and HMIs. A few years later Senior Engineer working on large SCADA systems and developing MES systems. Finally, I was promoted to Director in charge of MES, R&D, and IT. After 20 years of doing it for someone else it was time to move on.

In my personal time, if that is really a thing, I still love cars, a few in the stable I don't know if I'll ever get to. I have a little metal shop that I can weld and machine in. One day I'd like to add a forge and an Anvil. Somewhere along the line I learned fiberglass work, sewing, and various other skills.

Well, Thats about it. Hi, my name is Mike, it's nice to meet you