There is not a question. Things work fine.
Take a look at Nick's example and see if you can follow it easily. What I had a hard time with was how he structured his state machine. I looks like he chose his states based on the inputs coming in. I chose mine based on what was to be done with the inputs.
I'm not a programmer, but a EE. I like logic flow. I have been looking at state machines on and off for the past 20 years, and now with the arduino, I've found something that I can play with easily.
I cut my teeth on state machines using a program call Libero. The guy who wrote it wanted users to understand why they were using a state machine. They are overkill for some things, but can simplify others. He also wanted the code to be easy to maintain, and follow. To me, Nick's program isn't easy to follow.
That is why is said the state machines are a state of mind. When you choose the right states, things are simple.