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