Profession: Engineer/Designer

Number of times previously entering contest: never

Favorite design and analysis tools: Solid Edge, SpaceClaim, TI Webench Designer, E.A.G.L.E., Excel, Quickbooks, Adobe CS3

Hobbies and activities: Outdoors ethusiast, anything manufacturing

Online communities: Facebook, Twitter,

Inspired by: Letting go, and reminding myself to be truly "aware" of the technology world around us. Openly investigating areas outside of my expertise and training to bring in new thinking and methods often only found in non-related industries (e.g. I enjoy commercial trade shows as: Toy Fair, Halloween Show, AWS Woodworking, Pack Expo, MATS, NTEA, etc.) Always challenging the status quo with emphasis on 3D thinking (never being too zealous or afraid to pick a design apart ahead of official Alpha / Beta test phases) vs. 2D thinking(only seeing things on the surface). Solving the simplest gaps with the most clever use of simple and robust technology using minimum number of parts while always being keenly aware of customer and marketing requirements for product to get off the ground. Often I limit new technology in a design to 15% or less as well as being patient to wait for customer driven opportunities vs. 100% internal from ground zero.