Well, I'm a guy that can't just relax. I always need something going on that keeps my mind active. My day job is a software developer, but my side hustle is electronics design. I also have a penchant for vintage computers.

Why the silly name? I've always liked whimsical business and product names. Apple Macintosh? Brilliant. (If you didn't know, McIntosh is a variety of apple from Canada.) I first thought about the name "Adwater & Stir" more than 30 years ago, registered it as a domain 18 years ago, and never used it. When I was trying to think of a name for my fledgling electronics kit company, my wife said I should finally use "Adwater & Stir" - because the name evokes the idea of making something. I'm still kind of embarrassed that I didn't think of that.

Me with my ZX81 in an actual (aged) newspaper clipping from 1981. "Local Boy Makes Good: Builds Computer". What can I say? It was a small town.

As a kid, I loved building electronic kits. Unfortunately, living in rural Minnesota in the 70s, I had very little access to kits. I had to come up with my own. I never created anything amazing and memorable, but I sure had fun (and even learned a little...)

I'm excited that through-hole electronic kit building is stilll a popular hobby. So far I've shipped kits to all 50 U.S. states, 45 countries, and six continents.

So I'm making up for lost time. I want to create kits that embody the excitement of the birth of the home computer revolution. I hope you like them!