Here's the obligatory about me page.
I never liked high school. I really didn't get along with the kids in my school, but had some friends who went to other schools in the area. This made high school pretty awkward and really shaped my decision for the college I went to. I remember that they had a wall in one of the classrooms senior year that everyone put their college choice on. I would check that wall everyday just so I could find a college that no one in my class was going to. I actually succeeded and went to St John Fisher college in Rochester. There was no way I could afford it and it didn't even offer anything I was interested in but, I felt that I had a change to re-invent myself... to actually fit in somewhere. Well, it worked out great. When I left Lockport I really did leave it. I left anything that was the old me behind. I made a bunch of friends, joined the rugby team and had a blast freshman year. Unfortunately I didn't care at all about my classes. I was a English/Philosophy major and since I had a good background in Shakespeare I was floating through English and I couldn't afford my Philosophy books so I just made stuff up in those classes. It actually worked pretty well for a while.
Well, freshman year went great. My summer home was dreary. I had to go back and work my tail off just to get back to college next year. I worked at a gutter and siding installation job called Alsides. I was working with these guys who did it for years and I just couldn't keep up. It really sucked. Luckily it went quick and I was back in school. This year I couldn't afford the lunch program so I forged a letter from my parents that I didn't need it and got a job in the cafeteria. That way I was able to 'borrow' food when I needed it and I was making some much needed money on the side. My grades got a lot worse but I was finally having fun. I made some great friends there and I really started to like who I was. I finally figured out that it doesn't matter what other people think, as long as you like you then you'll be fine.
Another summer and another crappy job. I was working the siding job for about a week when they fired me. I might have broken their gutter bending machine by running a cotter pin through it. Oh well, back to McDonalds. I was working there under this monster of a lady with about three teeth in her head. You know... the 55 yr old manager. I couldn't take it and stormed out. You know... I think the owner still feels I owe her two weeks for that.
Back to school and this time I couldn't afford room and board. I had a truck with a cap on the bed so I filled it with old blankets and went to school anyway. At first I found two guys that would let me stay with them. Matt and Dave. They were pretty awesome, and we had a lot of fun. That's where I turned 21. That was a good time. I started out in a small bar in Rochester at about 6 pm and ended up in a sorority house in Corning around noon the next day. Anyway, I had to drop out of school shortly there after. I was too proud to go home and explain to my parents that I screwed up so I joined the military. I went into the Air Force and using my quick thinking joined up open general. Luckily for me I did well enough on my tests to warrant a position as a Russian linguist. This meant I would be stationed in Monterrey California for a year and get a good bonus on top of that. I signed up and left as soon as I could.
California was awesome! Monterrey is the most beautiful places I have ever seen to date. I'd wake up every morning and run 5 to 10 miles around Pebble Beach or Spanish Bay, I loved it there... except for that pesky military part. Russian was boring. I did pretty well in the begging but when I found out what we'd be doing for the next 6 years I got pretty discouraged. No spy gear, no shoe phones... just sitting in a little room listening to Russian all day. Yarf. I went to my instructors and had an honest conversation about how I didn't want to do this anymore. They were really cool and told me about the 'rock out/roll out' process. Basically, if you refuse to train... or quit, the military rakes you across the coals. If you try really hard but just can't do it... you get a new job. So, oddly enough my grades started to fall. I tried 'really' hard but just couldn't hack it, and I got what I wanted... a new job.
I started 3C0X1 training in July of 2000, It was at Keesler AFB in Biloxi Mississippi, and it was a blight on the world. Compared to Monterrey, anywhere would have sucked but Keelser did like it was a competition. Well, I flew through my classes and got to experience Mardi Gras as well, so it wasn't too bad.
I was stationed at Lackand AFB, in San Antonio TX after that. I was one of the only guys who already had a clearance coming in so I was able to go right to work. This was a really big break because I was read into a lot of programs and worked on a lot of projects because I was the only airman who could at the time. I gained a ton of experience and got a good reputation for tackling some tough problems. That kind of set the tone for my job, I was really lucky and worked my tail off to learn as much as I could. For the first time in my life I was doing a job that I actually thought mattered.
I met my wife in San Antonio as well, we dated for almost 3 years. Then we got married at a court house where we promised each other that we'd have a wedding as soon as we could afford it. I put in a request for England thinking that would be a great place to start our family, and get to know each other away from her parents. Well, about a month later I got orders to Korea... a month after that Joy got pregnant. So got on a plane to go to the other side of the planet with a newlywed pregnant wife back home. Good times.
Korea was tough, I learned more there than anywhere else, but being away from Joy put a big scar on our marriage that we still are trying to heal. There was a CCIE (read - really smart guy) who took my under his wing and taught me a ton of stuff. I also worked with a bunch of guys who had no business working on networks. This forced me to shoulder a ton of responsibility. I also had my clearences which gave me a lot of opportunity to work on some pretty awesome stuff. It really honed my troubleshooting skills because, most of the time I had no one to turn to for help. Like I said, it was tough. I made it a point not to go out at night with the guys. I had a pregnant wife and home and I wanted to do the right thing. This helped out in two ways. First, would usually spend 12 or more hours at the office because I had nowhere else to go and secondly, I toured most of Korea just to get away from work without drinking. I literally went from one side of the country to the other.
When I got back I had 15 months left in my enlistment. I took all of that time and worked towards getting a contractor job when I got out. The military contracts out a lot of their technical positions and they prefer to get prior military employees. All the work paid off and I got a great job with a company called Northrop Grumman. I run 3 Windows networks for them, but I also get to mess with everything from Linux to VoIP. Its a great place to learn and expand my knowledge base. I've been there for over 3 years now and things are going really well.
Joy and I built a house and are working to get it fixed up the way we want it. We have two kids now, Hayden who's 5 and about to start private school and Serenity who's 1 and about to tear our house apart! Joy has been playing the piano for years now and we bought one for her to play at home. She's also taking harp lessons. I started on the guitar and it's really fun.
We're planning on moving to North Carolina or at least somewhere closer north to get away from all this heat. That probably won't be for about 5 years or so. In the mean time we're doing really well.
As for the blog, I'm just writing this for me. I don't think I have any real literary skill and I really don't care if anyone reads it. This just gives me a chance to organize my thoughts and record things that interest me. So, enjoy... or don't.
