Automotive Engineer that loves food!

Hello everyone.  I am new to the forum, and new to smoking meat.  I plan on buying a gen 2.5 MES 40" to get started.

A bit about myself; I grew up in WI, where meat is very much part of the menu all the time.  So many good meat markets with German and  Northern European background, smoked meat was always a common food growing up.  Now I want to recreate some of those tastes from my childhood, and do it myself.  The smoked sausage, smoked fish, smoked cheese, pulled pork, Pastrami.....

I moved from WI to MI about 15 years ago to pursue a career in the Automotive industry, and I have lived in the Ann Arbor area since moving to MI. Currently I am a Manager of a Transmission Calibration team for one of the "Big Three".  Engineering is very rewarding, but cooking and being able to "not follow the rules" all the time, is a nice release from the daily grind of dealing with federal regulations, and compromises I deal with all the time.  Smoking meat is just another thing I want to add to my list of cooking abilities.  After all, it goes well with brewing beer, which I have also done.