Since this is, after all, my website… I guess its ok to have a page or two where I blab about me… here’s a page where I can give those who don’t know me and idea of who I think I am… for those who DO know me, well, you’re free to read, too… and be sure to let me know if I’m WAY off!
My Life in 5 seconds:
For more information… read below… =]
The Early Years
For starters, I’m In case you were wondering, I’m about 19,600 Days old.
I was born in the smallish town of Biddeford Maine. I had a fairly normal childhood… we might have had it tougher than some concerning some things, but we came through it OK, and I remember my childhood with mostly fond memories. I am the oldest of two siblings, by two years. To view some pictures of me as a Kid, Go Here .
I did OK in school, I guess… I wasn’t the brightest kid in the class. I spent some time in “Special Ed,” until a teacher convinced me that I was just being lazy, and that if I applied my self, buckled down and worked hard I could be “better than that.” He somehow motivated me to work out of the special ed, and into classes with the general population. I got mostly average grades (C’s, some B’s), and I even made the honor roll every so often.
Religion was a major part of my life growing up. My Mom came to the Lord when I was 4, and her influence over my life has stuck with me (“Raise them up in the way they should go…”). We attended a local Independent Baptist Church every time the doors were opened, which really burned into me the importance of church and the values that can be reinforced in a Christian community of believers.
I came to Christ when I was 5, and have reaffirmed my faith over the years. One of my best memories as a kid is spending about every weekend with the Men of the church for about a year digging with shovels under our church building, which was originally built in the 1700’s as a theater, so that we could build a series of classrooms, and a separate auditorium for teens… we COULD have gotten heavy equipment under there to make the job easier, but our pastor decided thought it would be a good thing for church unity to do it using manual methods. It was a lot of work, but it was a lot of fun, too… we literally wore out a whole pile of shovels, but we got it done, and felt real good about it!
I have worked at one job or another ever since I COULD. When I was real little, I helped the older ladies clean up the place at the Wardwell home for whatever they’d give me, emptying out the trashcans, cleaning out fireplaces, and whatever else they would ask me to do. As I got older, I mowed lawns in the summer, and shoveled snow in the winter. I had both morning and afternoon paper routes, which I enjoyed quite a bit. In high school, I got a job with Atlantic Coastal Printing, a local print shop that did booklets, business cards, letterheads… you name it.
I graduated from High School, ranked 113th of about 125 or so… not great, but I did it! My ‘claim to fame’ in high school is that I wrote an inventory program to manage my home town’s library (books, inventory, the library cards, who signed what out, what was late, etc). They’ve since replaced it once the rest of the state standardized on one system, but it was cool while it was there. I also won a Governor’s Award for Computer Science. Not too bad for a “Special Ed” kid, I think.
G.I. Jim
My plan, from as long as I can remember, was to be a soldier. As soon as I was able, I joined the Maine Army National Guard, and when I graduated, I went active. I didn’t have the resources – nor did I think I was smart enough – for college, so I joined the US Active Army as an Armor Crewman, and signed up for the Army College Fund, just in case.
I quickly discovered that I REALLY enjoyed the life in the Military, and stayed in. I started my Military Career at Ft. Knox, KY, at the US Army Armor School, and spent my career in the US Army Armor Corps. I’ve been on (in order) an M48A3 (National Guard), M60A1 (RISE), M60A1 (Passive), M60A3 (AOS), M60A3 (TTS), M1IP, and M1A1.
When I left, I was a Master Gunner for two tank companies at the same time (who placed 1st and 2nd in the battalion during gunnery), and was a tank commander as well.
I was stationed in the following units and locations:
Some of those units are gone, redesignated, or moved; but when I was there, that’s where I was, and where they were.
A 1-2 ACR, Bindlach, Germany
D 2-68 Armor, 8th Infantry Division, Baumholder, Germany
B 2-77 Armor, 9th Infantry Division, Ft. Lewis, Washington
B 4-7th CAV, 2nd Infantry Division, Camp Gary Owen, S. Korea
B 1-33 Armor, 1st Corps, Ft. Lewis, Washington
A 2-37 Armor, 1st Armored Division, Ansbach & Vilseck, Germany
B 2-34 Armor, 1st Infantry Division, Ft. Riley, Kansas
E , 2-11th ACR, Wildflecken, Germany
C 1-1 CAV, 1st Armored Division, Buedingen, Germany
D 3-37 Armor, 1st Infantry Division, Ft. Riley, Kansas
Continuing Mission
I went to Desert Storm with 2-34 Armor. My platoon was picked to be a breach unit, and I had the honor of being the first tank to enter Iraqi territory from the 7th US Corps. My platoon led the way for the 1st Infantry Division throughout the entire 4 – day Assault.
I ended up spending 12 years in the Army, and was a Master Gunner for M60A3 and M1/M1A1 Tanks. My Companies and Troops Shot First or Second every gunnery, and my average score on a tank ranges as a TC and Gunner is around 910 or so, with 3 1000 point runs.
During my time in the Army, I managed to maintain, for the most part, my relationship with the Lord. I was raised a Baptist, but when overseas, it was difficult to find a church that believed the same way I did… I checked out other religions as part of my quest for knowledge, and I learned a great deal in doing so. I attended at a German Lutheran church for a while, but I eventually came across a minister with the church of Christ. (NOT the “of LDS”, or the “United Church of Christ”!)
Back to Civilian Life
When I was stationed in Ft Lewis, Washington, I realized that the Pacific Northwest and I were suited for one another. The weather, the climate, the mountains… I really connected with it, and I thoroughly enjoy the region. As soon as I got out, I moved to the Portland, Oregon, area.
I quickly hit the books again, picked up on my interests in Computers, and turned my Hobby into my Profession. I took classes at the University of Oregon, Portland State University, and Portland Community College, in Oregon, in their CIS and CS Associate programs.
I quickly found out that it was easy to find work, and worked as a Programmer for a few smallish software/consulting shops in Portland Oregon, doing work for businesses such as Leatherman Tool Group, The Oregon Education Association, Northwest Engineering, the Firestone Agricultural Rubber Products Des Moines Plant, and
Lawrence Livermore National Labs, among others. I specialized in Custom Database applications and Custom Business Software for small to mid-sized companies.
My focus has been primarily Services, desktop applications, SQL Server, Internet/Intranet, and MS Office automation. I’m familiar with VB, C#, ASPX, C++, JAVA, HTML, SQL… blah, blah, blah… 🙂 Was “on the road” for quite some time, going company to company, as a contractor; when one job ran out, I simply went and looked for another one… more often than not, I had a job waiting as one was finishing. Things were good.
Digging roots in Washington
Because my hobby is my job, I feel like I’m playing at work (well, most of the time). I’ve always enjoyed programming, and did it for fun while I was in the military, which helped me use my free time wisely, rather than getting myself in trouble.
Those who say that making your hobby your job is a bad idea have never done it, in my opinion. I enjoy what I do, and its a pleasure to go to work. 12-15 hour days are common, but not a problem for me, because most of the time I feel like I’m getting to play longer. Its a blast, and the pay is not half bad… how can you beat that?
When the economy looked like it was slowing down, I gave up the “road dog” days, and took a job at a division of Seattle’s Safeco Insurance Corporation, Safeco Life and Investments, which was headquartered in Redmond Washington. It was right around then that the “Dot Com” bust happened, so it was a good thing I played it safe!
I enjoyed my job with Safeco quite a bit, working largely on insurance calculation engines, primarily for web sales applications, designing and building new ways to sell insurance. I was even a “Co-Inventor” on a system that allowed Life Insurance to be sold and bonded online – a first in the industry. Before too long, a majority of the sales at the company were happening on the systems I designed and built.
I lived in Redmond, Woodinville, and Olympia, and for a few years, and went through some pretty trying times — not at work, but unfortunately at home. Prayer, friends and family came through for me, though, and it wasn’t too long after that things smoothed out, and got better.
It was during this time that I was discouraged by different events that happened within the church of Christ I was attending, and I went on a search for a new place to worship. I went from the church of Christ to Living Water in Olympia, a Foursquare Church. That was a huge shift for me, and it stretched me in ways that was good, and it relit the embers, but in the end it was a bit too far. I reeled it back a bit, attending at Union Hill Church in Redmond, and then a coworker invited me to Mercer Island Covenant, now called Evergreen Covenant. I’m happy to say that I regained some of that “First Love” that Paul spoke of, and have really been reveling in the benefits of a closer walk with God.
Safeco Life was eventually spun off and sold to a consortium led by Berkshire-Hathaway, and was renamed Symetra Financial I followed them to their Bellevue Headquarters, and not long after the transition work was completed, I went to work in their Financial Management Systems Department as a Sr Systems Analyst. (fancy-talk for “programmer, et al”)
Major Changes
Like I hinted to earlier, I met a lady at work. When I was moved to the Financial Management Systems department, she was an accountant in the Financial Department, and things clicked. She’s a Christian who places a high level of inortance on living for Him, and just geeky enough to appreciate (or at least tolerate) my own geeky quirks, and we get along quite well. With that nearly-impossible combination of parameters successfully navigated, there was no way I was going to let her get away! After about two years, we got married.
I was moved to a different department in the company we worked at, and after a few months, it seemed that it was time for me to move on. I found a job after less than a week of searching. I took up a job with a contracting firm, and rejoined the “Road Dog” days again, only this time, on a more localized basis. I worked as a contract Business Intelligence database programmer, for various companies such as Group Health, Weyerhaeuser, Fluke, among others, and loved it!
My spouse, “The Shadow Lady”, also changed jobs, and we moved to a house that’s out of the hustle and bustle of the city – we’re both small town folks, and we feel very much at home in a town that city folk would call “Po-dunk”. Our home town has a population of about 4,500 or so, with about 10,000 living around the town, in the same zip code. Its in the foothills of the Cascades, and it seems like a great place to bring up kids. There’s certainly a lot to do around the area, and the neighborhood seems to be perfect for a kid for finding friends, and places to play.
Just under a year and a half after being married, we were blessed with a boy… which is sort of a miracle in itself, because I had been told when I was in my early twenties that I couldn’t have children back in the Army, after an unfortunate accident that involved a spider. Apparently, God had other plans, and has given us the incredible opportunity of raising a little one. plans, and has given us tHe’s awesome, and despite not really liking kids all that much before he arrived, I’ve found that the experience of being a dad REALLY suits me! He’s a blessing, and he’s a great kid! As he’s growing, I can see the changes in myself almost as clearly as I can see the changes in him. Its pretty incredible.
The economy tanked a bit, and being on the road wasn’t quite as appealing, so I got a job at Microsoft as a database administrator, figuring they’d be around for a while. I enjoyed working at “the evil empire”, but I wanted more in the way of work-life balance, and I got a job with T-Mobile USA, the mobile phone company, as an business intelligence database engineer. I pretty much did the same thing I did on the road with the consulting firm, only I had the stability of a company I worked for. If anyone is curious,
T-Mobile is a GREAT company to work for! But, after a good run, my unit was down-sized, and I was moved to a group that I didn’t see a good future in, so I went back on the road, and have been there since.
Lightening struck again, and the little guy had a younger brother! Like his older brother, the littlest guy is growing like a week and we are all having a pretty good time growing with each other! Two great kids, a wonderful wife, and I live in the Pacific Northwest! It just doesn’t get much better than that.
So, that’s pretty much me. I guess I’m a long way from my old home town, but I like this area tremendously. I actually cannot think of a place I’d rather live more… There’s lots to do – I can be in the city, or in the desert, or on the Pacific coast, or in the Mountains, or in a sub tropical rain forest, all within a 1 to 2 hour drive. Not only that, the weather up this way really suits me… It rarely gets very hot, or very cold, and I prefer it to be either mostly cloudy or overcast… drizzle is OK, and so is a light misty rain… some people think I’m weird about that, but that’s OK.
Added in 1998, updated in 2000, 2001, 2003, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008, 2014, Ported to WordPress in 2019.
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