Hi Mikal,
I guess I am a bit of a paradox. I remember, as a child, always being fascinated by vortexes (tornadoes) and gravity. I don't know why.
I was very good at math in high school and in my first year of college. When I couldn't afford a calculus book and fell behind in that class, I wasn't able to catch up so I threw my hands up and walked away from school. That was 1969. I guess I had my head up my a#&. To bad, so sad

. Woulda, coulda, shoulda.
My wife,Sue, and I had our first child in 1971, and I bagan a career in land surveying.
I think it was 1984, Sue and I and the kids were living in Tennessee when I got layed off at work and I had to travel to Atlanta Ga. to get work (home on the week ends). It was a very stressing time. I remember being home on the weekend and having an epiphany (a comprehension of reality by means of a sudden intuitive realization) about gravity. Since then I have tried to make my gravity machine work, in my spare time. like a hobby. Sue and the kids have played along but I'm sure they think I'm a little bit crazy. I may never get the thing to work but I believe in it. I think this is the sixth rebuild and experiment.
I think I am scientifically minded. Just not formally educated and trained in physics.
I have been parenting with Sue for 38 years during which time I have taken my responsibility to Sue and kids very seriously. Land surveying has provided money for us to live but taken up almost all of my time. In my spare time I study physics and work on the gravity machine.
Talking and listening to you folks on TOE has been a joy for me. If truth is vibrant in any thing I say I don't take credit for that. I only hope that truth will grow in all of us.
One last thing. I have tremendous respect for academia. My daughter has a double masters degree and her husband has a PHD. My oldest son is a PS(professional surveyor) like dad and my youngest son [18] still lives at home with me and Sue.

jag