OldTools Archive

Recent Bios FAQ

84336 "Dirk and Carla Wright" wright@k... 2000‑09‑29 my Bio
Well, I suppose I should talk about myself a little, since
I rattled off about the Patent Office awhile back.

I live in Reston, VA, just west of Washington, DC. I've been
here since about 1985 or so. I'm 40 years old, married to my 
second wife. She teaches special ed at a small private school.
I am a patent examiner at the Patent Office, specializing in 
automotive transmissions and differentials. I have a BS in 
Mechanical Engineering from Tulane in New Orleans. I've been
at the patent office now for 18 years. I could have worked at
NASA in Huntsville Alabama, but I wanted to be near the culture
of DC. I have a 12 year old daughter from a previous marriage. 

I have had numerous hobbies over the years, including restoring
old cars, photography, and gardening. I've never done an really
serious woodworking, but I have done some refinishing. I hope to
learn from the group and continue to read many books about this 
craft. I found the old car hobby far too expensive and impractical
since I don't have a garage or a basement. I'm still climbing out of
the hole of debt from the last entanglement with 3 old German cars. 
I have a special affection for old sports cars and I probably always
will. It's in my blood. I automatically turn my head when I hear the
whine of Porsche flat 6 motor go by on the road. 

I love plants and landscaping. I particularly love dwarf conifers and 
other rare and dwarf plants. I live in a townhouse cluster on 18 acres
with only 90 homes. I do much of the landscaping for the community, 
though there are the perpetual complainers that don't like what I do. 
Today for example I ripped out about 200 sqft of weeds, raked it, planted
6 dwarf crepe myrtles, and mulched it with free wood chips. I also spread 
the rest of the chips over another 400 sqft under some dogwoods. I get a 
little twichy after all that work. Time for a glass of wine......
I used to be heavily into photography. I almost started up a portrait
studio in the basement of one of my previous houses. Now I just shoot
35mm. I did a bunch of shots for my community. I also created a small 
web page about this place that I live in:
http://www.kreative.net/wright/hickoryclusterweb/hc2intro.html
These homes are "special" and built differently than most anything
else. The web site explains it all.

Right now, I'm planning on making some space in this small house for
a workbench in a spare bedroom upstairs where I'm typing this now.
I need to rig up an exhuast fan first, then make some storage space 
for all the photo gear, get rid of some stuff, etc....Then I can think
about building a bench. I have some ideas, we'll see how they pan out.
I almost never think that the first idea is the best one. I like to lay
on the couch in a quiet stupor and mull things over, and over, while 
looking at the japanese garden I built on my patio. Ugh, I have so many
things to do, front and back doors need to be replaced, and they are
completely custom....need to make some decent furniture....oh well,
I hope I haven't bored any of you with this really long post...

Be seeing you.

Dirk Wright



Recent Bios FAQ