Starman
Well-Known Member
I didn’t introduce myself here so I guess I’ll do that now.
HI!
I’m sixty years old now, have a wife, kid, house, dog, and a place I’m building in the mountains, the full catastrophe; but no plane, a bigger catastrophe! Planes have always been dear to my heart and I’ve studied them ever since before I was ten.
I was born in the US but grew up in various different countries in Latin America + the Philippine Islands (Spanish speaking). My dad was an executive for a couple of international firms and worked his way up to being financial manager of Chrysler International, and lived in Madrid. I had left home by then so I didn’t get to live in Europe.
When I was in High School I was going to join the air Force academy and learn to be a fighter pilot and then later an airline pilot but my last year I got slightly nearsighted and so that killed that plan. I went to the University of Washington to study Aeronautical
Engineering but it was too boring so I dropped out.
I’ve been self employed for over thirty years. I started making custom wood stoves and fireplace inserts and had up to 18 employees running around making mistakes. I had to work two shifts and stayed up the third shift worrying about the other two, the stress was bad! Then the wood stove emission law put all but the three biggest manufacturers out of business, they liked that a lot. So I started building custom high end glass fireplace doors, some of them get 24K gold plated and look like jewelery. Also, I switched to working home, alone, in my garage, where I belonged all along.
Here is my Fireplace door website: Airtight Custom Fireplace Doors
I also am a serious student of Tai Chi and Chi Kung and now teach a few people as a hobby. I was very lucky to have been accepted as one of a handfull of students by one of the most advanced Chi Kung masters in the world, he’s also the most advanced Kung Fu master on the West Coast. He was Bruce Lee’s uncle and Primary Kung Fu teacher. He lives in Seattle and is in his upper nineties now and still in great condition. I’ve found that Chi Kung (I call it the miracle youth exercise from China) is the most amazing thing. I used to be like a Mr. Science and thought all the stuff about bio energy and psychic and all that mystical stuff was total BS, I was sure of it, but I found out I was wrong about everything.
I'm now studying with an amazingly advanced martial arts teacher who is in my Chi Kung 'family' and it is a huge amount of fun. It's like the kind of stuff they teach Navy Seals and Secret Service, not the local strip mall Dojo for kids.
Here’s my Chi Kung website: Tien Shan Chi Kung
and here’s my picture:
I also like to design the stuff I make. I won’t make things that other people have designed but I can learn form them and use their ideas. I designed the house in the mountains, it’s my first one, but I got expert advice from a Feng Shui expert, and so it’s and the landscaping are turning out really well, the original would have been a disaster, like the plane I designed =)
I’m hoping to learn the ropes here, and also learn about airplane design.
HI!
I’m sixty years old now, have a wife, kid, house, dog, and a place I’m building in the mountains, the full catastrophe; but no plane, a bigger catastrophe! Planes have always been dear to my heart and I’ve studied them ever since before I was ten.
I was born in the US but grew up in various different countries in Latin America + the Philippine Islands (Spanish speaking). My dad was an executive for a couple of international firms and worked his way up to being financial manager of Chrysler International, and lived in Madrid. I had left home by then so I didn’t get to live in Europe.
When I was in High School I was going to join the air Force academy and learn to be a fighter pilot and then later an airline pilot but my last year I got slightly nearsighted and so that killed that plan. I went to the University of Washington to study Aeronautical
Engineering but it was too boring so I dropped out.
I’ve been self employed for over thirty years. I started making custom wood stoves and fireplace inserts and had up to 18 employees running around making mistakes. I had to work two shifts and stayed up the third shift worrying about the other two, the stress was bad! Then the wood stove emission law put all but the three biggest manufacturers out of business, they liked that a lot. So I started building custom high end glass fireplace doors, some of them get 24K gold plated and look like jewelery. Also, I switched to working home, alone, in my garage, where I belonged all along.
Here is my Fireplace door website: Airtight Custom Fireplace Doors
I also am a serious student of Tai Chi and Chi Kung and now teach a few people as a hobby. I was very lucky to have been accepted as one of a handfull of students by one of the most advanced Chi Kung masters in the world, he’s also the most advanced Kung Fu master on the West Coast. He was Bruce Lee’s uncle and Primary Kung Fu teacher. He lives in Seattle and is in his upper nineties now and still in great condition. I’ve found that Chi Kung (I call it the miracle youth exercise from China) is the most amazing thing. I used to be like a Mr. Science and thought all the stuff about bio energy and psychic and all that mystical stuff was total BS, I was sure of it, but I found out I was wrong about everything.
I'm now studying with an amazingly advanced martial arts teacher who is in my Chi Kung 'family' and it is a huge amount of fun. It's like the kind of stuff they teach Navy Seals and Secret Service, not the local strip mall Dojo for kids.
Here’s my Chi Kung website: Tien Shan Chi Kung
and here’s my picture:
I also like to design the stuff I make. I won’t make things that other people have designed but I can learn form them and use their ideas. I designed the house in the mountains, it’s my first one, but I got expert advice from a Feng Shui expert, and so it’s and the landscaping are turning out really well, the original would have been a disaster, like the plane I designed =)
I’m hoping to learn the ropes here, and also learn about airplane design.
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