In everything we do, we must seek to better ourselves if we expect to grow. I am going to make an assumption that if you’re taking the time to open this magazine and read the articles inside, you are looking to better yourself in one way or another. Learning is a learning process, if you know what I mean.

Growing up in California in a small farming community, I was raised from the sixth-grade by my grandparents. School work was never for me. In fact, I would much rather be at the body shop with my grandfather sanding and painting cars than doing homework or even going to school. I was always pretty good in math, but my English skills were terrible, which is kind of ironic that the kid who almost did not graduate from high school is now writing articles for a trade magazine. After barely squeaking through high school, thanks to a compassionate English teacher who saw more in me than I saw in myself, I went into the Air Forcei. What I learned in the Air Force is the basis of this article, quality, quality, quality. While in the Air Force, I was a crew chief on a C-130 aircraft. I had an instructor that told me every time a plane flew over that he sure hoped that the airman who bolted the engine on that plane paid attention and tightened all of them. This always stuck with me, and every time I see a plane fly overhead I think of that phrase.

So why did I write a mini bio to start off an article on quality? One reason ... 

Read the rest of this article in the March 2010 issue of Sign & Digital Graphics magazine, or online in our article archive: The Wraps Game: Learning is a Learning Process.