If you see a staircase rising in your future, or if you would like to know the nuances of stair construction, then Jet Manalo is our go-to guy for all things relating to stairs.

"I can talk about stairs all day if you want," says Jet with a smile. With nearly 15 years experience helping people design and build stairs prior to his arrival at Sears Trostel in 2007, he knows his stuff. "I can help with all the details that go into the process -- from the transition to make from flooring, to the staircase itself -- every piece."

While Jet knows a thing or two about stairs, we're pretty lucky to have his extensive construction background for all of our customers to tap into. His first job at 14-years-old was as an electrician's apprentice. He later went on to study and work in solar retrofit technology, which required him to drill through roofs and make his way through each floor to the basement, familiarizing himself with all the nooks and crannies of building construction. He even studied physics for awhile at Colorado State before deciding that construction was really his preferred path. Here at Sears Trostel Jet likes to find out what customers are up to, and the projects they are undertaking. "I'm curious. I like to talk about building things and getting their projects done," he says. "I actually find some satisfaction in just making sure they get it done! It's kind of my way of living vicariously through them," he laughs.

Off the job, Jet enjoys building things with his 10-year-old son, Jonas. Specifically -- building with LEGOS. The two of them have been involved with FIRST LEGO League for several years, and Jet coached his neighborhood's FIRST LEGO League team for two years. Teams compete in creating robots with LEGOS, and program them to do specific things.

"FIRST LEGO League is like the new Cub Scouts," says Jet. "Though, it's all about science, technology, engineering and math. LEGOS have come a long way."

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Would you like to know more about FIRST LEGO League?
FIRST® LEGO® League introduces young people, ages 9 to 14* (grades 4-8), to the fun and excitement of science and technology.

Teams, composed of up to ten children with at least two (2) screened Lead Coaches, can also be associated with a pre-existing club or organization, homeschooled, or just be a group of friends who wish to do something awesome.

In FIRST LEGO League, the children do the work; like program an autonomous robot (using the LEGO® MINDSTORMS® robot set) to score points on a thematic playing surface, create innovative solutions to a problem, all while being guided by the FLL Core Values. These three elements - the Robot Game, Project, and FLL Core Values - make up what we call our yearly Challenge. Teams also fundraise, create a team identity, and talk to experts in the field.

With over 25,000+ teams in approximately 80 countries, FLL is constantly expanding.

Twenty years ago this month, Carl Herrmann began his career at Sears Trostel "catching boards out of a planer," he remembers with a smile. Now you'll find him at the helm of our Airpark Dr. wholesale and manufacturing facility, managing all the daily operations.

Other than high school shop class and a few projects as a kid, coming to work at Sears Trostel was his entry into the woodworking and construction world. 

Once Carl honed his skills on the planing machine, he moved into an inside sales position where – being a congenial fellow – he could spend more time with customers. From there he moved on to split his time between sales and purchasing, and several years later he was doing all the purchasing of lumber and goods for our wholesale division. 

In May 2001, as we made organizational and procedural shifts to incorporate Lean Manufacturing principles into our process, Carl moved into his role as Operations Manager to help make those changes. Now, in a day's time, you may find him collaborating with a customer on a project, fixing a machine, or up on the roof with a contractor to resolve a roofing issue. His knowledge and versatility has grown through the years.
"I like that it's really a different challenge everyday," says Carl. "There's always something new about what we do here."

Carl remains the inside sales contact for several key accounts, since he has worked with them for years to bring great projects and products to life. He really enjoys the engineering and creative thinking. "I very much like to figure out the BEST way to make something," he says.

An example of this creative thinking came through with snowboard blocks for customer, Never Summer Industries – a snowboard manufacturer. "They came to us several years back wondering if we could make the pieces that they needed...with specialized cuts and pieces to be located in the blocks for the snowboards," Carl recalls. "It took some time to figure out how to do that, do it efficiently, and then mass produce them." 
 
After a busy day at work, Carl enjoys retreating to the 80-acre "mini-ranch" that he and wife Leslie share with Fancy and Ruby the beef cattle, Latte the llama, eight goats, and chickens. There's always something to tend to, but life on the ranch is "very rewarding," he says with satisfaction. But even life out on the ranch can get a little quiet, and that is when Carl picks up his electric guitar and 'plays the blues with his friends! In the summer months you'll find their band – the Atomic Pile Drivers: Severe Rock & Roll, and Blues Revue  – at local venues, singing and having a great time. Be sure to check them out at the Hideout in Fort Collins, near our Airpark location!  Asked why he enjoys working at Sears Trostel, Carl replied "I like the fact that I work at a place where I can have an affect. I'm in a position – and have been through all these years, no matter what position I've been in – to have some type of affect on the outcome of a project." He further explained, "Anyone here can contribute their ideas to make a process better. That's where 'Lean' principles come in. And that's really what it's all about." 
 

Talent abounds in our woodworking community here at Sears Trostel! We had a great turnout for our 12th Annual Woodworking Show, Sale and Competition last week, February 19-21 -- with just over 60 entries.

With so many beautiful projects, it was a challenge for our judges to pick the winners. Longtime Sears Trostel customers and expert woodworkers, Allen Jensen and Chad Wierema, evaluated the pieces on creativity, workmanship and finish. Here are the ones considered to be the cream of the crop -- even though we consider them all winners!

Chances are that if you come to Sears Trostel with a question regarding construction, woodturning or furniture building, Aaron Jensen (a.k.a. AJ) will have a good answer. 

Relatively new to the Sears Trostel team, he and his family's home construction business were customers of Sears Trostel for 15 years prior to his coming aboard. 

Growing up in his family's business of custom home building -- where few steps of a home project were done by sub-contractors -- he learned most every trade from the foundation up. Home design. Framing. Building. Drywalling. Insulation. Siding. Roofing. Electrical. Cabinetry.

All this, along with an associates degree in Architectural Drafting, make him a very knowledgeable guy. 

"I try to make sure I get equipment or materials for the customer that will do the task the best. Whether it's the lumber, the tools, the fasteners, the hinges, the hardware, the finishes," says AJ. "My personal ethic that I grew up with is 'make sure you have the quality from start to finish,' because if you don't, the project is not worth doing." 

As part of the home building process, AJ's father taught him and his brothers how to build cabinets. And outside of work, he taught them how to build other furniture, as well. AJ continues to create furniture pieces as there is a functional need. An armoire and bookshelves are his current projects.

In addition to the woodworking instruction his father provided, AJ took shop class through all four years of high school. It was his shop teacher that inspired his interest in woodturning.  With his teacher's encouragement, and getting involved in the Rocky Mountain Woodturners Club in Fort Collins, his expertise has grown...and he finds it a soothing and relaxing art. He enjoys turning bowls, vessels and sculptural pieces, with a particular affinity for turning pens. His collection of beautiful pens continues to grow -- made of both wood and acrylic.
AJ says with a laugh, "I hate to say 'it's a Zen thing' but it's pretty close to that." 

>> Check out Aaron's pens & projects

Lenny Scovel's path to woodworking surfaced in an unusual way — while studying for an acting career. Working in the scene shop building sets for the theater, and the aroma of wood, stuck in his mind when he decided that the pursuit of acting as a full-time profession wasn't practical for him. 

Soon after making that decision, he began working at a furniture manufacturing company. Now with 25 years in the woodworking industry, and 13 years at Sears Trostel, he characterizes himself as an architectural millwright, in addition to being the shop supervisor at our Riverside location.  Along with his management duties, he creates architectural components from wood, with a special knack for radius work — arched casing, curved base, and curved crown mouldings. His work in historical restoration, prior to his life at Sears Trostel, prepared him well for such work.

While he enjoys his work and the autonomy it affords him, it's the relationships with customers and his co-workers that is one of the things he enjoys most about being at Sears Trostel.

"I know so many contractors now after being here 13 years and it's more than "Can I sell you some wood?"..."Can I make something for you?"...It's more about "How are you doing?"," said Lenny. 

"I'll walk out into the warehouse area and I'll see so many clients that I know, and I know more about them than that they are a woodworker, contractor, carpenter or installer, because we've built those relationships over the years," he continued. "And they know that when I say I'm going to make something for them, that I'm going to bring my whole self to the process. And they're going to receive it in a different way than if it came off a boat from China. They are going to take a new special care with the thing that I give to them, as they go and make it a part of whatever they are doing. There's a little sort of a 'paying forward' to it."   He likes that. Outside of his work at Sears Trostel, relationships and play still take center stage. Play as in he still enjoys acting with local theater companies; and play in that he has fun playing board games...and even building game boards from wood. A particularly favorite game is Crokinole. When he discovered that boards for the game are difficult to obtain and no one makes them commercially, he felt called to the woodshop to make one for himself. Then make more for friends!  

> Check out some of Lenny's beautiful game boards

Seeing life as a spiritual practice in itself, Lenny at one time considered becoming a Unitarian Universalist minister. His path eventually lead him, instead, to become a Certified Life-Cycle Celebrant.

"We're becoming more of a secular society, where more people are calling themselves 'spiritual but not religious', but still want meaning and ritual in their lives," Lenny explained. "Particularly in the transitional moments of their lives...weddings, memorial services, naming dedications of babies, coming of age of teenagers. And that's what the Celebrant Institute prepares its students for.

"Being a Celebrant feeds that part of me that was drawn to ministry. It also takes advantage of my skills as an actor and my confidence in working with people." 
In the past 2 years since becoming certified as a Life-Cycle Celebrant, Lenny has facilitated around a dozen weddings and three memorial services. Each time incorporating the values, and what is important to the individuals, into the ceremony.

Summing up how he feels about life, work and play, this is what Lenny had to say...

"The only thing that we will ever create in this life, that will have any lasting importance after our death, is the relationships that we build with each other. Everything else is set dressing."