You can call thank
Wally for this.
Taking the "five things" challenge the following are five things you didn't know about me and five
people we'd all like to know a little more about:
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I graduated summa *** laude from DeVry Institute with a Bachelor's of Science in Business Operations in
1996. While this might sound impressive I remain dubious.
My class was the last group of students in a major that was being cut from the school's offerings. Business
Operations was really inventory control and production management - manufacturing - which had been a dying
industry in the US for, what 20 years? (Thanks for keeping the curriculum up-to-date DeVry!)
I started school two weeks off my high school graduation and was still a bit green to the world. I thought my
business schooling was more like business administration until about half way through my time. Once I did figure
out what was going on I realized that I had no interest in what I was learning about!
We didn't really realize as students the implications of a program being cut until we got to know some of our
professors. A number of these people were out-of-work industry folks who needed a paycheck. Teaching was
obviously not a passion for them and it manifested itself in some odd ways. One professor had a penchant for
giving grades based on whether or not he liked you. My group of friends were in the favored bunch and got good
grades. This professor's laziness insulted us because we were all bright and wanted to be graded on our merits,
plus we were paying for our education ourselves so we wanted a high ROI!
In an attempt to make a splash, my friend put the lyrics to "Mary Had a Little Lamb" in the middle of
an essay test to prove that the prof wasn't grading our papers. Sure enough he got an "A" on the paper
and when nothing was done after we reported it to the Dean, we gave up and took our good grades with us.
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I was born in my parents bed and my dad delivered me. This was a total accident... I have a brother that
is two years older than I am so you would think that my mom would know when she was in labor, but as she
describes it she was experiencing "back pains" instead of regular labor pains. Through what I like to
think of as divine intervention my dad had just come back early to our house with my brother from the park.
While my mom was doing what most people do in the bathroom and realized I was about to make my grand appearance
she started yelling for my father. Now, with a two-year-old in the house a common practice is to have a hook-lock
on the bathroom door. After my dad broke through the lock and carried my mom to the bed I was out and blowing
bubbles in my dad's arms within minutes. Luckily we had a neighborhood nurse who tied off my umbilical cord with
kite string until the paramedics made it on the scene.
Yes, I know I was almost born in the toilet. Let this be the last time we discuss it,
okay?
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I have been skydiving twice. I have a buddy who is an ex-airborne military guy. He and a group of my
friends always talked about skydiving, so one day he set it up to call our bluff. When I envisioned going
skydiving I always thought that we would do the kind where you are strapped to a professional and you are just
there for a ride. No so for my military friend. We were signed up for Accelerated Free Fall (AFF).
AFF is the training you go through to become certified to sky dive on your own. To be AFF certified you must pass
a series of ground training courses each which is followed by a jump. You must pass seven sessions to be
certified. After five hours of ground training I was ready for my first jump. The instructors take you up in a
small plane with only benches in the fuselage to, you know, "make your exit a quick one!" When you
leave the plane you are accompanied by two highly-trained jump masters. These jump masters guide you through the
free fall to test your form and allow you to quickly try some exercises. In the minute it takes you to fall from
13,500 feet to 5,000 you are done with free fall and then you must deploy your parachute.
This was one of the most fun experiences I have ever had in my life!
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I have moved more times than you. I have lived in Colorado, Wyoming, Montana, Nebraska and California.
Each state I have had lived in at least two different homes (except for Nebraska) and my upper limit of addresses
is somewhere around is six houses (California). I went to three different schools when I was in the 6th grade and
at one point had moved more times than I was years old. No, I am not an Army brat, my dad just always seemed to
need or find a new job that required him to relocate. Recently I have reached a milestone in that I have stayed
in the same general area for over ten years and have lived in the house I own longer than any other home in my
life.
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I have the entire hair metal collection. Okay so this is embarrassing to admit now, but in high school I
became an aficionado of pop metal bands. In junior high I remember being dead-set against that "metal"
music, but after hearing "Welcome to the Jungle" and "Pour Some Sugar On Me" I was hooked and
started buying all the CDs I could find in the genre. Sure, I had all to go-tos like Def Leppard, Motley Crue,
Poison, Slaughter, Warrant and the like, but how many of you have ever heard of Sleeze Beez, Sons of Angles,
Dirty Tricks or Roxy Blue? Now granted, living in the suburbs of Los Angeles in the late 80's and early 90's
where hair spray and guitar solos reigned supreme probably had something to do with it.
So here is my chance to tag some others that we all would like to know more about:
If you haven't heard it yet, the latest podcast features Rocky Lhotka where he discusses emerging technologies.