First, here's a picture of me since it's the first thing everyone looks for. If ya wanna know more, read on...

I was born in just outside of San Jose in California in 1966. After second grade my family moved to Medford, Oregon with hopes of building a house on some property that my parents bought in the hills of Rogue River. Well, Thanksgiving Day the septic approval didn't pass. My parents sold the property and we moved to Antelope Road in Eagle Point and that's were I spent fourth and fifth grade. We then moved to Philomath and that's pretty much where I grew up.

I didn't really apply myself in school and never had any teachers that challenged me to be better. All I remember getting out of school was a couple of years of Spanish (which did become useful later on when I spent Christmas in Spain) and actually understanding Einstien's Theory of Relativity (I really liked my Physics classes).

After graduating from Philomath High in 1985 I entered college at Oregon State University and held a part time job washing dishes at Mazzi's Restaurant. Well, four terms later, 10 parking tickets and a GPA of 1.65 I left OSU in bad standing (imagin that!) and joined the U.S. Navy. Best mistake I ever made.

I was in the active Navy as a Sonar Technician, Surface, for three years stationed in Charleston, South Carolina, on the USS Deyo (DD989). The ship was considered the Cadillac of destroyers, which was cool, but my seniors were real losers (LIFERs). It was in the Navy that I decided I wanted to make something of myself and not be like the losers that surrounded me. April 1, 1990 (how appripro) I was honorably discharged from the active Navy, spent my free time at home with my parents (my younger sister -- and only sibling -- Kori was now in college) and working at Hewlett-Packard in Corvallis.

That September I began attending Southern Oregon State College (now known as Souther Oregon University) in Ashland, Oregon, and proceded to kick academic booty. I still had to perform active reserve duty in the Navy for the next three years, but money from that and the G.I. Bill helped me get through college (I put myself through). I was also a Resident Assistant for three years and really enjoyed it. SOSC had the best residential life program in the state (in fact, they have been number one nation wide several times).

I walked in 1994 but actually graduated in 1995 (darn senior project) with a BS in Computer Information Systems and two minors, Business Administration and Photography. My GPA was 3.44 and would've been quite higher if it weren't for those devil classes called Accounting. I was no longer a Navy reservist and had finally achieved third class petty officer.

I moved in with my dad in Corvallis and worked at Hewlett-Packard (this being the third time) and hoped to get hired into a permanent position, but they just kept dragging their heels. I became fed up and made the move to Portland, the Land of Better Opportunities. About a month later I became a 1975 COBOL programmer for a telemarketing company in Wilsonville. That job didn't bide too well with me and I ended up leaving. Again, about a month later, I found a job at Intel Corporation working as a technical support engineer for the FDIV addendum line. July 10th I became a blue badge (permanent employee) working as a Metrics Engineer for Intel Customer Support in Oregon.

Portland is home for me and I used to live with a good friend of mine from college, Keely. She was my first roommate ever and I think with us each having a creative sense of humor, similar thinkers and being good friends kept us co-existing happily. Well, and the fact that I finally had a big, two car garage to tinker in certainly helped. No, we weren't a couple...my hair was too short, I didn't smoke pot, I owned a car (several, in fact), am mentally stable(!?!) and I had a good job -- I didn't stand a chance (inside joke between us, ya gotta know her). I was lucky to have a terrific roommate.

After Keely left I moved in to Carrie's house. She knew I was looking for a house and that my stay would be temporary so she offered her place. I had a small room and it took my cat, Brittany, a couple of months to get used to the two Shelty dogs, Jake and Granny, and her hyper-active Australian Shepard, Bonsai. I trained the dogs the meaning of "Out!" and Bonsai learned to equate cigars with throwing the frisbee. Everything worked out fine and after 9 months I was ready to move in to my first house!

Thanks to the Navy finally paying for itself, I was able to get a VA home loan and buy my first house all by myself! No money down and no mortgage insurance -- WOO HOO! It's a great starter home, built in 1960, on an 8000 sq.ft. lot. It has just under 1300 sq.ft floor space, three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a nice two-car garage. I did some wiring and insulating of the garage, as well as installing a 240-volt air compressor so I've finally got my space! Here's the front and here's the backyard.

Around 2001 or so I became a foster parent for CAT (Cat Adoption Team), a no-kill shelter for cats. I wanted to do more than just give money. Though I'm very good about cleaning the liter-box, some people insist they smell "the cat" so I built a tunnel into the computer room. This allows the cats to come and go as they please while the room door stays shut, thus keeping odors down, children out, and gives them a safe haven. Here's the kitty tunnel I built for my cats.

In November, during my Intel sabbatical (eight weeks of paid vacation for every seven years of employment), I became another unemployment statistic because Intel had another round of lay-offs (they gave my job to two people in India). I used to be a business analyst/metrics engineer (programmer/analyst) for Intel Customer Support call centers world wide. I provided data and information to the vaious levels of management in ICS.

After being unemployed for 13 months because of the wonderful economy Bush gave us I found work! I use my computer reporting skills, along with Excel and Visual Basic, as a hired gun for various companies. Sometimes I think the computer industry is for the birds. Maybe I should've gotten my degree in mechanical engineering as I'm a natural in that area...

My Trini girl and sweetie, Antonette, moved in and sold her house. I was there for Bella's birth and later we had our child, Ronin. Life is really unpredictable and people change, even if it's while kicking and screaming the whole freakin' way...