The arcade kit sounds awesome. Would love to put together one for my nephews next Christmas!
Personal: I create custom minifigures using LEGO parts as a base. Commonly I sculpt and create my own parts when I canāt find parts from LEGO. I have created a wide range of well over 4000 custom figures from all genres. I write for the magazine Brick Journal where I have a series on Minifigure Customization and I have written two books on the subject; Minifigure Customization: Populate Your World! and Minifigure Customization2: Why Live in the Box? Both are available from Twomorrows Publishing.
Professional: I have a PhD in Molecular Biology and work for a Cancer Hospital where I am the Co-Director of the Flow Cytometry and Cellular Imaging Shared Resource. I help all the researchers at the institution with their Flow Cytometry, Mass Cytometry, and Cellular Imaging experiments through this shared resource were we provide access to large scale equipment for research purposes.
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Hey all,
Professionally: Art director by day for Motor Trend and half dozen other media brands.
Semi- professionally (at night unplugging from work): I run my brand, Blackthorn Leather, making hand made leather goods and occasional custom tooling. I canāt wait for my Glowforge to come along and enhance my leatherwork. I plan on using it to make embossing plates and engraving my artwork right onto the leather.
Have a look and give me a ālikeā: https://www.facebook.com/BlackthornLeather
Cheers,
Andy
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Welcome, fellow leather worker! I love your designs!
Thank you!
Love what you guys are doing, Tonyā¦ hereās my answer:
Professionally: Iām an anti-counterfeiter. Iām sure youāre thinkingā¦what?! And yes, itās what it sounds like- I work with major brand and governments to help them protect products and documents like pharmaceuticals, electronics,passports/ ID Cards, money etc. from counterfeiting or fraud attempts.
If youāve seen Catch Me If You Can, Iāve actually met the real Frank Abignale and I have to say, very interesting industry - never a dull moment. Iām the Director of Design & Development at our family-owned company (Iām the 3rd generation actually!) and this basically means that I play a key role in all design work and technology integration for live projects into document designs and branded packaging/ labels, etc.
I also am the key guy who does R&D here, which is really my passion - Iāve been listed on several company patents and Iām working on one of my own now. I get to travel the world, meeting with all kinds of different companies and government divisions and I also speak at industry conference pretty frequently.
If it isnāt obvious, I love my job and the challenges and creative outlets it provides!
Personally: Iām a husband to my college sweetheart - met the first day, started dating a year later and the rest is history. We are now expecting our first child - a son! Am I ready for itā¦no way! Ha, but Iām up for the challenge and itās time for the next chapter. Outside of family life, I am one of those kinds of people that bounces around different hobbies and interests. Iāve always been slightly involved in different sportsā¦although as you get older, tennis and golf seem to be the main onesā¦but I love snorkeling/ SCUBA and love going to the beach, which I actually do, despite living in FL (ask the next person from FL you meet when the last time they went to the beach wasā¦).
We bought a 3D printer for the company, but this has also become a personal interest as well - so much fun designing things that you can actually print and physically interact withā¦just awesome. I also love to play pokerā¦yes, Holdāem, and Iām an amateur photographerā¦or at least I just like to take pictures, ha! Above all elseā¦Iām a movie guy. Ask me again in 2 months and Iām sure this is all differentā¦except Iāll be a father at that point!
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Congratulations!
Enjoy the ride. There will be a time when you can thrill him just by lifting him over your head.
One day he will return the favorā¦ and you hear your Wife; "PUT YOUR FATHER DOWN!"
Now, he is a metallurgical and materials engineer - with two of his own!
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HA! Thatās great!! I bet it goes really quickly too - thanks a lot!
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Answer to Tonyās Oct 15 Question āQuestion: What do you do with your time (professionally and/or personally)?ā
Professionally: The simple answer to this after 40 years plus of bouncing around since graduating from high school and getting that fateful letter from my local Selective Service Office (Draft Broad to the younger generation) is I am currently a disabled Army officer and retired Government who now builds custom furniture and consults on embedded operating system design/development, and support local small businesses with computer file/system recovery.
Personally: I have been married for 40 years, and as of this past November finally have time to devote to my hobbies, well once I finish the āhoney doā list. We have three children, two who have left home and have their own careers and one who is still living at home attempting to figure out what he wants to do with life. I was trained as a draftsman and machinist during the ā60s at a technical high school, have a Masterās in Business Administration and System Engineer, was trained as a welder (arc, gas, MIG and TIG) by the Army, was trained as a Silicon Graphics OE2 Systems Support Engineer, have been trained/worked as a system administrator on Unix (System III ā V, and BSD), program in C, C++, and was a Microsoft Windows Embedded Most Valued Professional 2001, 2002, 2003 and 2004. I have designed and built large scale automated networked operating system testing arrays. Over the years I have built up a well-equipped wood working shop complete with cabinet saw, radial arm saw, planer-joiner, surface planer, wood lathe, floor mounted drill press, 14-inch band saw, Shark Black Diamond CNC router, scroll saw, dust collectors, and an extensive suite of Festool tools (track saw, Domino joiner, sanders, and cordless drills). I have also maintained my computer development/testing lab and my small (wire welder and gas welding) welding capabilities. Recently I have been combining some of the graphics capabilities of my computer work with my wood working using small laser etchers and software I already owned/used for other work such as Photoshop, Cut 3D, Inkscape, and PhotoGrav.
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Hey, @fineclonier, I thank God regularly for folks like you whose professions save my baby. And custom brick making is pretty cool, too.
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I found in graduate school that you have to balance the research days with something to let your mind wander. I do that with my LEGO hobby. The nice thing about the Glowforge is now I can play with lasers at work and at home!
Sounds like good things happened for your child, that is great, glad to hear. Working on the research side it is easy to loose the impact of what research leads to, which is helping patients.
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Professionally: I am a lead engineer for new technology for the Air Force Sustainment Center. My background is in analytical chemistry, software, and industrial engineering.
Personally: I enjoy making and creating, from Halloween props to Christmas decorations to handmade glass marbles. I enjoy almost any DIY project!
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Professionally: Former submarine sailor for the US Navy. Iāve done test-engineering and remote multi-system (mechanical, electrical, electronic, etc) troubleshooting for a government contractor that supports the Navy for the last decade or so
Personally: Creatively I do a fair amount of ballroom dancing. I also have a habit (compulsion? 
) of troubleshooting/problem solving or at least attempting to think of feasible solutions to any seemingly solvable problem/issue (with varying degrees of success, of course). My methodology/thought process originates from a combination of too much MacGuyver growing up, Mythbusters, and several years serving on a U.S. submarine.This leads to lots of ideas and potential designs for things that may be a bit āoutside the boxā and that I donāt usually have the resources to try and build even experimentally. Hopefully the GF will help at least a little with that last part 
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Ah, so you rode a boomer. I was on a bird farm. Howdy Sailor.
I understand what draws your intellect, who doesnāt love a good puzzle?
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Professionally / Personally: These two will be very similar as I am an Architecture student and I plan on using my glowforge for upcoming projects and designs. The thought of investing in my own machine is to save the hassle of lining up and spending money at other companies. Having my own will give me a sense of freedom and time management to my projects! I will be aiming to have a little business to assist fellow student architects that are not willing to travel a far distance to university for the use of a laser cutter.
Apart from architecture studies, my hobbies are into the branches of design and communication whether it be photography, graphic design and artwork creations. As a hobby stage I aim to create these lovely recyclable sculptures with scraps, offcuts and found pieces. So lets hope the glowforge will be amazing!
Great work Glowfroge team!! 
Professionally, Iām an IT manager at Ford Motor Company responsible for the day-to-day operations of our public facing websites. Iāve been with the company for 27 years in many different IT roles including project management, network and server administration. I love the technical side of the work, not so much the management headaches.
Personally: Iāve spend far too many years being logical and it feels great to begin to let my creative ideas out again. This includes metal working and jewelry design and creation, wood working, as well as glass blowing. Itās been great to see how all of these activates intersect and can be worked together. When Iām not think of new things to make, I enjoy many activates out of doors (biking, hiking, kayaking, and just hanging out on the beach). The more I travel around the world the longer my list of place I want to visit grows.
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I build automated production equipment.
LinkedIn Jeff Lee
I need some help designing and building a glowstick production line. If you, or someone you know, might be interested, then add me on linkedin (Alan Voliva) and we can discuss what is possible.
So many people in design, engineering, and IT. I teach English in South Korea, almost 10 years now. In my personal time Ive started a line of natural skin and body care (certified in aromatherapy). Im looking to use the laser for designing packaging, jewelry, and household items for use with aromatherapy.
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Iām a background designer and 3D modeler at Nickelodeon Animation Studio.
In my free time make props, cosplay, and figures.
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