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smessick

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Stan Messick
O.K., I said I would do this so I'm doing it.

My actual name is Stan Messick. I grew up in Hickory. My dad started a woodworking business there right after the war and some of my earliest memories are of the sights and sounds and smells there. Much later he dabbled in used woodworking machinery and opened a side business dealing in new, rebuilt and used. I managed that business for several years.

I just retired from a 31 year career with Reynolds Aluminum, which is now Alcoa, in flexible packaging printing. I spent the last ten or so years of that operating a Mac (an actual computer) using graphics software, prepping print jobs for everybody from Nestle Beverage (Coffee-Mate, Nesquik) to Eli Lilly (Prozac, Cialis) at a printing plant in southeast Pennsylvania.

I built my woodworking shop over many (mostly poor) years. Some of my stuff is nearly as old as I am (60); as a matter of fact I have the Craftsman/King Seeley drill press I operated the first summer I was allowed to operate machinery in my dad's frame shop.

I built a fair amount of furniture over the years. I thought about posting pictures until I looked at some of the pictures posted. When I grow up I want to be able to make stuff like that.

One morning four and a half years ago while I was out for my daily bike ride before work I ran into a 21 year old nurse on her way to work. Well, actually, she ran into me. I got to stay out of work for six months and tell stories about my 22 fractures and my titanium stuff.

I can still walk, hike and ride my bike. I decided that I would retire while I could still do those things, who knows for how long.

I spent about three years looking around the NWNC mountains for a place to retire to, found it, and moved here the first day of this year. Here is between Blowing Rock and Grandfather Mountain and about 600 feet from 8,000 acres of National Park land. It has a name: "End of Daze". I have spent much time since then hiking, fixing, painting, setting up my shop and making a few projects.

I used to think of things I wanted and would usually put off buying them until later. When I was thinking about upgrading my Delta tilting table saw last month I did that and then I realized that, hey, it IS later.

There's maybe a little bit more that happened over the last 60 years; children, grandchildren, war, peace, but Random House won't let me use much of it (just kidding, of course).

Dirty Harry once said, "A man has got to know his limitations". I prefer "A man has got to know where his fingers are (in relation to the saw blade)".
 

sapwood

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Roger
smessick said:
I built a fair amount of furniture over the years. I thought about posting pictures until I looked at some of the pictures posted.

Stan,

I would like to see pixs of your furniture (and NO photochoping). I haven't made anything other than 2x4 tables, etc. Viewing mshel's and others work strikes fear in my heart. :( I want to see something that might be within my reach.

smessick said:
I spent the last ten or so years of that operating a Mac (an actual computer)

I, too, have spent many years behind the Mac prepping jobs. With the addition of OSX I can't imagine why anyone would want a PC. I've owned or managed many Macs over the years and their reliablilty and ease of use is unsurpassed.

Keep up the Biking and Hiking. Hopefully the next 21 year old nurse you run into will be on the trail :D

Roger
 
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