Your host

Some recent emails have me thinking I have never introduced myself. While most of the pen guys know me, the puzzlers are starting to outnumber us, so if you want to know a bit more about me, here goes.

Born in 1951 in Washington DC. Grew up the son of a US Navy Pilot, so we travelled a bit while I was growing up.

We moved to Northern Virginia (just south of Washington, DC) in 1965 and I have been in the area most of the time since then.

After high school, I did a brief stint in the Navy. Got married in 1972. Louis was born in 1979 and Audrey in 1982. Louis has given me two grandchildren, Mikayla (1999) and Braeden (2001). They live nearby and I see them a couple of times a month. I have two brothers who live fairly close and my mother, who will be 80 in July, lives about 30 minutes away.

Received my BS in accounting in 1978 and became a CPA for a few years. In 1982 I changed careers and went to work as a salesman for AT&T. Stayed there 14 years.

Became an independent consultant in sales and telecommunications in 1999 and kept with that until the end of 2005. Somewhere in there, I don't remember the year, I got divorced.

I joined my current employer, Booz Allen Hamilton, in 2006 as a telecommunications specialist.

I have no background in woodworking but started making pens towards the end of 2004. I don't do anything special, I just like to make pretty, mostly wood pens.

So, if you are still reading, that gives you the fifty-cent tour of my life to date.