 I
was born January
25th, 1968 in St. Petersburg
Florida. That is after a considerable amount of coaxing from the doctors
and one very tired woman. The problem was my mother went into labor on
Christmas eve. Do the math. I was a month late. They had to pull me out
of there and I guess I pulled the works with me because they had to
adopt my sister a year and a half later. So I literally broke the mold
after I was born. Sorry mom!
I grew up in
Leesburg/Fruitland Park,
Fla. till 1979 with my two older brothers, a younger sister (adopted of
course, they wanted a daughter and I just wasn't in the mood to
cooperate with that) and later two step brothers, who my father later
adopted as well. I guess he figured he was having better luck with
adoption than the natural route.
(Do you want to see what I looked like growing up?
Click here)
It was a great place to grow up as a kid since we lived
on a 100 acres. There were plenty of things to do to get into trouble
and we did most of them. But that wasn't going to last for long. At age
10 my brother Mark, my sister Mellissa and I flew the coop and
transplanted ourselves in sunny
Huntington Beach California where my mother had escaped Florida to.
Wise choice mom. Florida is a nice place to visit and be from, but aside
from that it really sucks!!! You try and live in that constant humidity.
Fast forward to high school, I spent a year at
Huntington Beach High before moving to
Los Alamitos were I graduated
in 1986. With several of my friends going off to big universities, I
decided to join the
United States
Coast Guard where I served between 1987 - 1991. (Click
Here to see pictures from when I was in the Coast Guard) I had some foolish
notion about serving my country and doing something important with my
life. Truth is, I really just didn't feel like going to college. I was apart of some amazing rescues along the way, but
for the most part I just
learned creative ways to get into and out of trouble. At least I have some colorful
stories for my grandkids. I suspect my old XO is still telling stories
about some of my antics. What I wouldn't give to be a fly on that wall.
;)
After realizing that the Coast Guard was not the
profession for a self avowed trouble maker, I left for college to prepare for
a degree in international politics/history. That makes sense, right? Well I
graduated Portland State
University in 1996 w/BA in Middle Eastern History. It sounded like a
good idea at the time. However, I never made it to the Middle East.
(That is a story for a different day) The sad thing is that this degree
doesn't even help with Trivial Pursuit. When's the last time you saw a
question about the Ottoman Empire or the Palestinian/Israeli conflict?
Well at least I am the knowledgeable one when it comes to Middle East
diplomacy questions at a dinner party. I just have to make sure there
are no Republicans or Zionists in the group. I've made that mistake
before. ;)
Since college I have worked as a consultant,
consulting on network security, information systems design, and IT
controls design work. It's been a long road to where I am at now, but my
career has really taken off. Today I am working at a CPA firm as an IT
Security Manager in the Risk management consulting group. I audit banks
and manufacturing companies, either helping to make them compliant, or
testing to see if they are compliant, with government regulations on
businesses. I work hard, but at the same time work doesn't define me. How did I get here with a degree in Middle
Eastern history? That's a good question? It's a lot of smoke and
mirrors. ;) Shhh! Don't tell anyone. It's a good living for now, but just a
day job to afford me the luxury of playing in the surf and snowboarding
when the weather is right. My hope is
to pay down some debt and buy an Irish Pub one day. Hopefully one
successful enough that I can afford to do some more traveling. I just have to come
up with a good name for the place. Any suggestions?
Presently I live in Kirkland Washington in a four bedroom
house. (click here for pictures) I love this place. I am looking out my office window right now at
a view of Lake Washington and the Olympic Mountains. Between the view
and being in walking distance to several great shops, restaurants and
pubs, I am in heaven here.
I could write more, but
why bore you? They say that friends and family make the man, so if you
really want to know me, look at the pictures of my family and friends
and see what I have to say about them.
Check out my
MySpace Profile
if you are interested in seeing more.
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