I'm retired and have worked as an Army soldier, a biomedical technician, and a network technician for the phone company. I'm originally from Sycamore, Illinois and have been in the Denver area since 1984 when I finished my last Army tour which was at Fitzsimmons Army Medical Center. I taught Biomedical Repair there. We liked Colorado so much that we decided to stay here.

I've been a hobbyist woodworker for 30 years. In addition I am now a hobbyist Xylotomist ( I make microscopic slides of wood species) Microscopist (I study wood under the microscope) Wood Anatomist (I study the cellular make-up of woods) and wood collector. I belong to the International Wood Collectors Society (http://woodcollectors.org/). I have 1,050 species in my collection. I guess this could all be summed up by saying that I am a "Woodie" I have a 2 1/2 car garage that has never seen a vehicle (wood shop, of course) and a laboratory in the basement for my wood studies and collection.

My user name, Phloem, is the scientific name for tree bark. Kinda figures, wouldn't you say?