Who am I?
Many of you know already know most of this information, but most of you don't.  It's w/ those people in mind that I've put this page together, so this may bore a few of you (may I recommend the humour page? :p).  Why *anyone* would read this is beyond me.  :D

Cliff's Notes:  Generally, I'm an optimistic, laid-back, cerebral man.  I've accomplished and seen a LOT of stuff in my short life, and I have no intentions of stopping now.  I tend to get what I want with seeming ease, where others struggle to get by.  I'm *very* good at figuring people out, and usually use that to my advantage.  I'm an amazingly fast learner and my mind is always working on something.  I'm very confident, but unassuming ... people find me easy to talk to, and I enjoy them confiding in me.

12.26.2002:  Early HS Years
12.27.2002:  Late HS Years

 

12.26.2002
Early High School Years.....
I'm guessing that if you're here, you're probably wondering a bit about my history.  Well, since I don't much want to sit and write a ton of information at the moment, I'll do this chronologically, starting w/ some of my earliest (pertinent) details.  I usually favor top-posting stories since users will want to quickly find new information at the top, but that doesn't really work well w/ a chronological story.  :)

Anywho...to summarize, I was born to an Army family and always knew I'd go military.  In high school, I was in the Junior Reserve Officer's Training Course (JROTC) and eventually became my unit's Battalion Commander (and commander of a few other JROTC-related units) in my Junior year of high school.  In JROTC, we took the military's ASVAB test -- it turns out that our results were provided to the local recruiting station, and I'm sure they violated a few disclosure laws.  Of course, it's quite possible I didn't read all of the fine print, so it's probably all on the up & up.  The first time I took the test, I scored somewhere in the 98th or 99th percentile, making me somewhat desirable to the local recruiting team. At age 13, I was fending them off like a teenaged girl in the back seat of a Chevy.

It was during this first year of high school, I was fortunate enough to have already been exposed to computers by my older brothers.  It was because of this experience that I decided to take Computer Math.  The course was taught on Apple ]['s, and we learned the BASIC programming language.  I found myself absolutely in love w/ programming, and knew that this is what I wanted to do.  I, of course, got an "A".  The beautiful young girl I had a great time laughing and joking around w/ in that class would later become my wife.  :`)

That year, after the JROTC Annual Formal Inspection (AFI), I was presented with the Superior Cadet Medal.  I didn't think *that* much of it, but it was a pretty big deal (looked great on my college applications).  I also played football, wrestled and was introduced to another of the loves of my life:   lacrosse.  :D  

During my sophomore year, I began to really get into New Wave, punk and a budding new musical genre:  rap.  Academically, I excelled.  In JROTC, I continued my pursuit for perfection, and sports played a big role in my life.  Fashion & music began to root themselves in my brain.  I began to dress stranger and stranger, and my collection of vinyl records was getting really huge.  :D

12.27.2002
Late High School Years....
By the time I reached my Junior year, I was established as a well-rounded person in my school, and had a few interesting pieces to my story.  

I started driving in the fall, and by this time, I was well into the new wave/punk scene.  I was hitting clubs in both DC and Baltimore five or six nights a week, had the full-on new wave haircut (shaved sides, big hair on top......blue-black w/ blonde in there somewhere).  I was still playing sports, I was the VP of MADD, the Sports Editor for our school yearbook, and .... well, lots of other things, I suppose.  Most importantly, this was the year I was chosen as the school's JROTC Battalion Commander.  I don't much feel like going into the details of just how big a deal this was, but it was.  I knew that my application to the US Military Academies were due by the end of my fall semester, so I only had one more chance at padding my GPA, and being able to add Battalion Commander to the application was a GREAT asset.

Once I got my application in, I knew that the rest of high school was going to be my only chance to really live it up (within the confines of still being a high school student) before I headed off to college.  Since my school's JROTC program was only a three-year program, I was pretty much done wearing a uniform for the remainder of my HS days.  That year, I was accepted into the University of Maryland's Minority Introduction to Engineering (MITE) program, which meant that over the summer following my junior year, I'd be attending college for a semester.  :D  Having taken the ASVAB again, I had yet another round of recruiters to fend off, and telling them that I was already in college was the quickest way of getting them off my back.  :D  It worked quite well.

I don't remember a whole lot of my senior year, as I was *completely* focused on enjoying myself.  Acceptance letters were coming in from colleges now, and I knew that I was *at least* going to be going to SOME college (big relief).  I remember dating a few different girls, playing still MORE lacrosse, and the excitement of getting ready to head to Ocean City for "Senior Week", but the year was pretty much uneventful (by design).  By the time I finished, I was really sad to be leaving.  :D