Proper Intro (Loooooong)

Hello everyone. I posted last week in the newbie forum, and thought I'd put up a proper introduction.

I have been in the so-called graphics industry my entire life. When I was born, my dad worked for a large commercial offset printing business. At the same time, his mother (Grandma) lived in Florida and ran a T-shirt business while living with a man running a Sign company. Man could that guy paint and play the piano. (Hey Dick, you here by chance???) I spent a good part of my younger summers filling in letters and screen printing shirts. Moving on, my parents divorced when I was 2, and my mother re-married a man whose family started, ironically, a printing business, and they both worked for them for about 12-13 years. My father also re-married. My stepmother worked...wait for it...at a printing company.

Well, the years went by, and when my stepfathers parents closed their printing business, my mom and stepdad moved us to a rural community and opened their own printing business. Starting to see a pattern yet??? LOL Somewhere around 1992 or '93, they decided to buy some software and a plotter and started making all the signs that they had been farming out to another sign company. Working for them after school and then after I got back from my drunk year I took after I got out of school, I took to the signs quickly and loved it. I was soon producing the same income in signs that we were doing with printing.

Well, stuff happened, and the shop closed. I had 2 directions to go...printing or signs. At the time, I could make more money running a printing press, so that's the direction I went. I did pretty well, too. At the ripe old age of 25, I was the production manager of a 10 million dollar a year commercial printer and I had a nice $35K salary to boot. As it turned out, that place was poorly run and I turned out to know nothing about managing others...I was fired and shortly after the place shut it's doors. No, they don't have anything to do with each other...thay were in the crapper before I went there, I just didn't know it then.

Okay, okay, I'm wrapping this up. I find myself here today, owning my own business...yup, printing. Whoda thunk it??? I have come to the conclusion that I am just plain burnt out on printing, so I remembered how much I really enjoyed making signs and I was halfway decent at it. I still see my signs on display in that rural community and they still look good.

So, I bought a Summa D60 24" plotter and FlexiPro software. I already have CorelDraw, so I should be set up pretty good. The equipment should be here Thursday, but wouldn't you know it, I've suddenly gotten slammed with printing work, so it'll probably be this weekend before I can break it out and set it all up.

Anyway, that's more than you ever wanted to know about me!!! I am very excited to get back into this business and can't wait to get it all up to speed. This place is an amazing resource and I hope to contribute where I can.

That's it, I'm done..................................................................no seriously, it's over..............................................................go back to work now.................................

 

Just a few. When I look back, I just think it's interesting to see how printing has totally surrounded me my whole life. I'm surprised I didn't marry a printer. Actually, I almost did once, but that's another story for another time...

Thanks for the welcome.

 

Howdee...I'm up here in Richmond...I ride my bike in the SW area of the state quite often, I'll have to drop by one day and say hi!

 

I'm in Virginia. Thanks for the welcome.