Josh Spray.

At Alien Industrial Solutions, my hat rack is practically a department chart: technology, marketing, branding, B2B sales, training, research and development, and manufacturer and dealer relationships. I enjoy the whole journey—from spotting a possibility to helping someone understand the equipment and put it to work.

Lasers, robotics, automation, and AI keep my curiosity well fed. So do the people behind them: manufacturers building the technology, dealers connecting it with the right shops, and customers figuring out what comes next. My job is to connect those worlds and help good ideas become useful solutions.

I hold a Laser Safety Officer certification. I work alongside welding, robotics and service specialists, who own the engineering. Bringing the right people together is part of building something that lasts.

Expect curiosity, a clear explanation, and probably an enthusiastic equipment demo.

I'm the father of four sons: Gavin, Landon, William, and Jackson. Gavin passed away in 2005 and Landon in 2006. They are, and always will be, part of our family and my story.

William, 18, is a basketball player and college student at Eastern Arizona. Jackson, 15, is a high-school student and gamer. Being their dad means cheering them on as they discover who they are and where they want to go.

Through Laurel, I also get to be bonus-dad to Ty and Alithea. Ty, 13, is a writer and birder with a curious eye for the world. Alithea, 11, is our fashionista and aspiring esthetician and makeup artist. Between basketball, gaming, birds, stories, and beauty, there's no shortage of things for this dad to learn.

Different personalities, different dreams. I love having a place in each of their lives.

Ages as of November 2026.

Laurel and I married on October 10, 2025, and we're ride or die in this wonderfully unpredictable game of life. We're movers, shakers, and partners in imagining what could be—and then getting busy making it happen.

Her whimsical spirit and beautiful energy bring a kind of magic to our world that I absolutely love. If I'm building a kingdom, she's my Queen. What makes it ours is the life we create together, the family we love, and the way we keep showing up for each other.

Big plans. A little magic. My favorite person beside me.

I've been an educator in more settings than one classroom can hold: school, martial arts, laser equipment, photography, AI, and The Artist's Way workshops. If I've learned something useful—or discovered something exciting—I want to help someone else explore it.

I love that moment when a complicated idea suddenly makes sense. Sometimes it takes a different explanation. Sometimes it takes getting your hands on the equipment. Sometimes it takes permission to try, make a mess, and try again.

Teaching keeps me learning, too. Every person brings a different question, perspective, or way of seeing the world. That's a pretty good reason to keep the classroom door open.

My favorite lesson ends with: “Oh! Now I get it.”

The whistle is real. I'm a PE and intramural coach, and I love the energy of people working toward something together. Competition gives us a reason to stretch ourselves; teamwork reminds us we don't have to do it alone.

I want players to care about how they compete: work hard, respect the other team, encourage a teammate, and learn how to handle both a win and a tough loss. Those habits travel well beyond the gym.

Sportsmanship matters to me because the scoreboard tells only part of the story. How we show up for one another is a part we get to write ourselves.

Bring your effort. Bring your team spirit. Let's play.

My imagination doesn't always wait for an invitation. I'll spot a problem, connect a few unlikely dots, and start wondering what would happen if we tried something different. Then comes the part I really enjoy: giving the idea a form we can test.

I prototype in both the physical and digital worlds. A concept becomes a model, a tool, an interface, or an experiment—and each version teaches me what the next one needs. I'm happiest when an idea starts becoming something people can actually use.

I'm also an inventor on a confidential AIS project planned for release in 2027. We have big ambitions for it. For now, the details stay under wraps.

The best part of a new idea is finding out what it can do.

I'm an unofficial scientist and a thoroughly enthusiastic science nerd. Give me a laser machine and a seemingly endless menu of settings, and I can happily spend hours exploring what changes, what works, and why.

That curiosity reaches beyond the machines. I enjoy developing hypotheses, designing research studies, testing ideas, and paying attention to the results—even when they send me back to the drawing board.

There's something deeply satisfying about dialing in a process after a string of experiments. The surprise is often as interesting as the answer I was looking for.

“I wonder what happens if…” is a perfectly good way to start an afternoon.

Lasers sit right at the intersection of my favorite things: technology, experimentation, precision, and making something with my own ideas. I can appreciate a machine's capabilities and immediately start imagining what I want to create with it.

That enthusiasm helped lead me to create LaserIQ, a database of laser machines and manufacturers for customers and distributors to compare equipment and do their research. I want people to have useful information as they work out which tools fit their goals.

Then there's the hands-on fun. I love creating with my laser engraving machines, testing a new material or approach, and watching a design become something I can hold.

Fair warning: ask about lasers and you may get the enthusiastic version of the answer.

I've always been an artist at heart. I love the freedom of abstract work and the satisfaction of perfect geometry. There's room in my imagination for both a beautifully unpredictable shape and a line that lands exactly where it should.

Nature and the world around me keep supplying ideas: patterns, textures, light, movement, and the small details that reward a second look. Creating gives me a way to respond to what I notice.

I'm especially excited to bring that imagination into my laser work. These tools offer so many ways to explore detail, materials, and form—and I have plenty of ideas waiting for their turn.

Sometimes I follow the pattern. Sometimes I want to see what happens when I break it.

Music has been part of my life since I was 13. Guitar, bass, MIDI controllers—give me a way to make a sound and I want to see where it goes. Making music is one of the ways I get an idea out of my head and turn it into something I can feel.

I’ve played in punk-rock bands, chased those wonderfully funky slap-bass grooves, and spent time with the quieter, emotional side of classical and Spanish-style acoustic guitar. I love the range: sometimes the mood calls for a little chaos, sometimes a groove, and sometimes just a few notes that say enough.

That same curiosity follows me into everything I create. With music, I get to listen, experiment, and let a feeling lead for a while. The instruments change. The fascination that started at 13 is still here.

There’s a good chance I’m working out a bass line in my head.

I've been into photography for more than 26 years. For many of those, I owned a professional photography business, photographing bridal sessions and weddings, little-league teams, dance studios, and karate studios. Different subjects, different energy, and always another moment worth catching.

These days, my family, my dog, and nature get most of my camera's attention. I still love the process of noticing something, finding the light, and choosing how to tell its story in a frame.

And then there are the stars. I love shooting night-sky time-lapses to capture movement across the sky and the Milky Way. Watching a scene unfold over time scratches both the artist and science-nerd parts of my brain.

The sky gets dark. The camera gets busy.

Life is a lot more fun with laughter in it. I love making people laugh, and I just as much enjoy being around people who can make me crack up.

If we work together, expect some humor along the way. I care about doing good work, and I enjoy the human side of doing it together—the shared joke, the unexpected observation, and the moment everyone gets to breathe a little easier.

There's always room for another good laugh. And, occasionally, a joke whose confidence exceeds its quality.

Consider a sense of humor part of the package.

Martial arts has been part of my way of life for more than 33 years. I've earned black belts in Kenpo, Shotokan, and Bushi Ban, and created my own style, Shiro Raion—White Lion Martial Arts & Fitness—which I taught through my program from 2008 to 2012.

Over the years, I've taught thousands of men, women, and children across North and South America. I love sharing karate with anyone who wants to learn. Today, that includes introducing self-defense basics in PE.

The practice continues to guide how I learn, teach, and meet challenges. A black belt marks an accomplishment, and it also gives me plenty of reasons to keep showing up as a student.

I'll happily teach you what I know. I'll happily keep learning, too.

“Chef” sounds a little formal for me. I'm a home cook who loves feeding family and friends—and seeing what happens when an idea meets whatever's in the kitchen.

From deconstructed French toast to elevated mac and cheese, I like taking something familiar and giving it a new twist. Leftovers are especially good material. A few things in the fridge can become the beginning of a completely different meal.

The kitchen is where I find flow: tasting, adjusting, experimenting, and making something to share. It's a creative process with a particularly satisfying finish.

Pull up a chair. I'm trying something.

I'm a lifelong learner. I want to stay curious enough to ask questions and open enough to change my mind. Certainty can close a door that a good question might have opened.

I'm also learning to loosen my grip on expectations of other people and things I can't control. Life has a way of surprising us. I would rather meet it with some flexibility than spend all my energy arguing with the unexpected.

Where I do set high expectations is in how I show up: taking responsibility for myself and working toward being a good, happy human. I won't get every day right. I intend to keep learning from it.

An open mind is one piece of equipment I try to bring everywhere.

Philosophy gives my imagination somewhere to roam and something meaningful to bring home. From Bruce Lee to Alan Watts, I'm drawn to ideas that change how I see a situation, relate to people, or move through life.

Bruce Lee is my favorite philosopher, and his words about water are my mantra. I take them as a reminder to stay adaptable: meet the moment, keep learning, and find a way forward without becoming rigid about the shape it has to take.

I enjoy the big questions, but I also want those ideas to show up in everyday life—in how I treat people, handle change, create things, and help myself and others grow.

“Empty your mind, be formless, shapeless—like water. Now you put water into a cup, it becomes the cup. You put water into a bottle, it becomes the bottle. You put it in a teapot, it becomes the teapot. Now water can flow or it can crash. Be water, my friend.”

— Bruce Lee

A flexible mind. A full imagination. Room to keep becoming.