So you want to know about me, huh? Well, if you are looking for the official version, you can find my resume here. Otherwise, read on...
I was born in Bethesda, MD on November 19th, 1981. My mother tells me that I was an early morning baby. That may be. I guess I wanted to capitalize on my first day in the world and make it a full one. Anyhow, I don’t remember much from back then; Vague images of symphony concerts on the Whitehouse lawn, walking (errr... being carried) down tree lined streets. Who knows, they may be just photographs that I remember seeing. Either way, 6 months later, in the spring of 1982 we moved up to Amherst, MA. I spent the next 17 years of my life in Amherst and the area around it.
My dad, at the time, (well, he's still my dad... what I meant was at the time he was...) was a builder and proceeded to build a series of houses that we planned on moving into but ended up selling. Finally in 1986 we moved to Bay Rd, where I spent the rest of my childhood. I attended Kindergarten at the Hartsbook School, a private school in the area, and proceeded to go on through 8th grade there. A feature of the school is that you keep the same primary teacher from 1st through 8th grade. The one I had really enjoyed outdoor stuff (canoeing, camping, rock climbing and such) and she instilled a love for this in all of us. Because of this we spent a fair number of days each school year out in the field doing these things. Good times. The primary focus (along with a pretty well rounded education) involved canoeing, both flat water and white water. This is a pursuit that I still try to do when I can.
After “graduating” from 8th grade I was thrown into the cauldron known as public high school. I attended Amherst Regional Junior High School for one year (9th grade) and then moved up to the High School. It was something of a shock going from a class size of 20 to a class of 400 and a constantly changing schedule. I adapted and by mid 9th grade I’d made a group of friends that I would stay with through the end of high school and beyond. The curriculum was fairly well rounded but did allow some room for “specialization”. I focused in on several things. Firstly I developed an interest in computer science (sort of where this website originated from) and took several classes of CompSci. Additionally I took an interest in Audio/Video communications and did several classes of audio and video design, implementation and the like. I also worked on the technical side of the theater productions (sets, lights, sound) and started playing Ultimate Frisbee. Also, I kept doing “outdoors” stuff and joined the outing club, although that was mostly because all my friends ran it. I managed to keep pretty busy through high school and midway through my junior year I was looking into a degree in Computer Science after graduation.
Somewhere along the line I dropped the CompSci and decided that Aerospace engineering would be a good thing to do. I have no idea where my interest in flying came from. My dad had done a coop program when he went through planning school at UC and I liked the idea of working in the field on alternate semesters. Using these two criteria (Aero/coop) and limiting myself to east of the Mississippi River I was able to narrow my college search down to three schools. Of the three, West Virginia University eventually became the right choice. The summer between my junior and senior years in high school I went to Australia for three weeks and Fiji for a week. It was an eye opening experience and I learned a lot about the world and myself from it, but more importantly it gave me a large boost of confidence for going into the college environment.
I came back from Australia and went through a fairly typical senior year (lots of good times, lots of stress and it’s over before you know it). After graduating I spent the summer working at the main office at the Hartsbrook School. I had sort of come full circle. I headed off to college in August and made a fairly successful adjustment to college life. I lived in a dorm my freshman year and had a bunch of good floor mates. I found the engineering material to be incredibly challenging but interesting. I also started working for Arts and Entertainment as an usher/ticket taker. A&E produces almost all the music, theater and performance shows on campus as well as traveling acts. They also produce some other university events.
I came home that summer and worked at a local park managing the peddle boat operations. It was really the last “relaxed” summer I ever had. My sophomore year started off well enough as I was promoted to a supervisor at work and the engineering started to pick up. However, by mid semester I wasn’t interested in the engineering and because I lost interest, the math and science, which before had been manageable became incredibly complex. I gritted it out for the rest of the school year but over the summer I decided to switch my major to business management. I decided (and again I don’t know were this was coming from) that I would rather fly planes then build them. My plan was to complete my business degree and then get my pilots licenses and make a career out of that.
I came back into my junior year refocused and ready to get started. Unfortunately at that point a new manager was hired in at A&E and we didn’t exactly see eye to eye. I kept working at A&E for the next two years but it was a highly stressful situation as almost everything I did was second guessed or criticized. On the plus side I started dating a realy great girl that fall whom I continued to date through graduation. It ended around there and although we still talk.... Anyhow, I digress. Right… So my junior year (the first where I was really in the School of Business went by pretty quickly. Work was fun but I had problems with dealing with my supervisor. Additionally I had problems adjusting to the slightly slower pace of business from engineering. I also started playing Ultimate Frisbee as well as disc golf pretty regularly that year in addition to getting involved with WVUs outdoor rec center.
That summer I met (through a friend of someone I played Ultimate Frisbee with, while whitewater canoeing) the manager of the IT department at the local hospital. I mentioned I was trying to find a job for the summer in Morgantown so I could stick around and take some summer classes allowing me to graduate the following spring. He said that they had a summer internship program and with the knowledge I had and past experience it probably would be a good fit for me. 4 months and three interviews later I finally started at Ruby Memorial Hospital. The job lasted through December of that year and enjoyed it quite a bit. It was my first experience working in a large corporation with 2000+ employees and that was an eye opener. I worked with some great people and learned a lot from it. Also during that summer my stomach started giving me problems. I became very sensitive to most foods and began to lose weight. After several painful weeks I finally went to a doctor (working at a hospital does have it’s benefits) and was scheduled for a colonoscopy on October 31st. Yippie! No, not really. Anyhow, I wasn’t really looking forward to it, but in came and went and they found nothing. My stomach did get better and I began to do some body work to stretch out my chronically tight back and legs which may have been contributing factors to the problem.
In the mean time I had started my senior year. It went pretty well over all. The first half was marked by working close to 40 hours a week while doing 16 credit hours. Busy? Sure. But I was a “tough” senior ready for “real” world by then. Around November I started looking into flight schools to go to once I finished up college in May. I settled on ATP as being one that looked good and while down in Jacksonville for the Gator Bowl (yes, we got your asses kicked) I stopped by the main office and did a tour. By then I pretty much sold on ATP but wasn’t sure if I would wait to do my private pilot license down there after graduation or start as soon as I got back to Morgantown. I decided to start right away and started flight lessons at the Fairmont Airport (4G7) shortly after I got back. In a word: Really Cool! Ok, so that was two words. Either way, I decided I really liked flying and although it was pretty hard at first (xwind landings? You’ve got to be kidding me) I managed to keep at it, and three days before I graduated in May I got my private pilots license.
I graduated college after 4 years and two different majors on May 17th 2004. It was sort of anti climatic, but either way I was glad to be done and moving on. I hung around Morgantown for another week and straightened up some loose ends and then headed down to Stuart, Florida (via Athens, GA, but that’s another story) to start flight training. ATP’s program was fast paced but with the help of a good instructor and an awesome flight partner I made it through and 7 checkrides later I was a commercial multi and single pilot with all my flight instructor ratings thrown in for good measure. I applied to work with ATP and was accepted as flight instructor. I started working in Jacksonville on September 14th and spent 2 months answering phones before being placed in Phoenix, Arizona. The pace of work was pretty hectic with a whole bunch of 14 hour 7 day a week weeks (if that makes any sense) but the flight time built quickly.
Right now I am sitting in 24F (an exit row baby!) on a Northwest Airlines flight heading back to Phoenix after spending a few days at home in Mass. i have just over 600 hours right now and have just started to send out resumes to some small airlines. hopefully I will hear something in the near future. Or, maybe not. Either way, I am incredibly happy with how things have worked out so far.
RANDOM PIC
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