About Me
I've never been real comfortable talking about myself, and writing about myself is really no different. But if you're here, then obviously you have some interest in who I am. So here's the condensed version.
I was born in 1975 in Virginia Beach, VA. My family didn't stay there very long. They moved to Silver Spring, MD; then Violet, LA shortly afterwards. I stayed in the New Orleans area until I was about eight years old.
In 1983, my family moved to Omaha, NE. That was where I really grew up. I spent the better part of my life there. I went to Millard South High School, where I was in the Drama Club, the Forensics Team, as well as Editor-in-Chief of the Literary Magazine my Junior year (a first for MSHS), and the Senior Class President for the class of 1993.
My Junior year was probably my best year there, because of my involvement in a variety of activities. I was also the first Junior from MSHS to attend the Young Writers' Workshop at Nebraska Wesleyan University. It was a pretty big deal for me, because only 5 students are invited to go, and I was able to go both my Junior and Senior years. It was at that workshop that I met Bill Kloefkorn, Nebraska's official State Poet, and other faculty from Wesleyan.
It was largely because of Bill, and the workshops that I decided to go to Nebraska Wesleyan after high school. Alas, I didn't stick it out. I got to take all the classes I really wanted to take as a Freshman (Shakespeare, Advanced Poetry, Creative Writing, and Intro to Linguistics).
So, in 1994, I dropped out, moved back to Omaha, and got a job selling computers at Best Buy. It was there that I got a chance to get into computers, and apply some of the skills I had picked up from tooling around with a computer my mom gave me as a graduation present.
From there, I continued to learn more and more, taking jobs in banks, data processing centers, and then doing desktop support and some Jr. Administration tasks. In 2001, I became an MCSE (Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer) in Windows 2000, and shortly afterwards, became an MCT (Microsoft Certified Trainer).
I discovered I had a real knack for training, and really enjoyed it. However, in early 2002, I had an opportunity to move to Seattle (to be closer to my future wife!), and I took it.
When I moved to Seattle, I had no job, and a hard time finding work without any contacts. Coincidentally, shortly before I moved, and old friend of mine from Jr. High had called me to let me know that she was in Omaha for a few days visiting her folks, and wanted to catch up. It turns out that she and her husband were living in Tacoma.
After a few months, when the four of us finally were able to get together for dinner, my friend's husband offered to take my resume in to his office to see if anyone was interested. Shortly before I completely ran out of money, I was offered a position there.
I've been moving steadily upward in my career since, and am about to embark on a new chapter, back in the training realm.
I also go married in 2004 (sorry ladies, I'm taken!) to a wonderful woman who doesn't want her private life and information on the internet, so I rarely refer to her by name. We have a nice house, a cat whom we call a jerk, but is really a sweetheart, and loving families.
So that's my life. I've tried to keep it brief and interesting; but I've yadda-yadda-yaddad through the juicy parts, mainly to protect the guilty (myself included).