| Who am I? | |
Devoted husband and father of six wonderful children, I was born in January of 1957. As my father was in the Air Force, I spent my childhood in many different places, including Okinawa, Germany, and the Azores overseas, and Colorado, Louisiana, and New Mexico stateside. I have had the pleasure of visiting many of the 50 states as well as numerous countries abroad. My 9-12th grade years were spent at three different schools in widely separated geographic locations; I graduated in 1975 from Lajes High School in the Azores, a member of the National Honor Society, the International Thespian Society, and the chess club, of which I was president and founder.
From 1975 to 1977, I attended James H. Faulkner State Jr College in Bay Minette, Alabama, where I graduated with AS Degrees in Pre-engineering and Mathematics in 1977. While there I was active in Drama, Choir, and was selected to Phi Theta Kappa and Who's Who in American Jr Colleges. I also was a member of the Baldwin County Bicentinneal Chorus.
After graduation from Faulkner, I moved to Phoenix, Arizona where I attended Arizona State University on a three-year AFROTC scholarship, culminating in 1980, in a Bachelor's Degree in Engineering with emphisis in Computer Science, and a commission as a 2Lt in the United States Air Force.
I served 12 years on Active Duty in the Air Force. During this time I married, had several children, and picked up a Master's degree in Computer Science from the University of Texas at San Antonio in 1987. In December 1992, I left active duty during the force draw down, and returned to civilian life, remaining in the Air Force Reserve.
As a civilian, I have worked for several companies doing computer-related work on government contracts. I am currently employed in the Civil Service as a Computer Scientist.
In 2001 I was recalled to active duty as part of the Global War On Terror (GWOT), and served two years here in San Antonio at the 90th Information Operations Squadron. As a reservist, I worked for the National Air and Space Intelligence Center (my unit of assignment), the 90th Information Operations Squadron, and the Air Force Information Warfare Center. I retired in 2010 in the grade of Col.
During the course of my life I have had many interests and hobbies. An avid reader of science fiction and fantasy, I have a collection of over 1600 paperback and 450 hardback books in these genre. I also have hundreds of other books, ranging from politics and religion to history, science, and language arts. I have been a member of the Society for Creative Anachronism, where I met many interesting people (among which was my wife), and learned many interesting things including Mediaeval Dance, Song, Heraldry, armor making, and combat. During this time, I also belonged to a Mediaeval dance group and also a Mediaeval madrigal group. I have also held membership in the L5 Society and National Space Society, and, while my membership in these two groups has lapsed (L5 has actually merged with the NSS), I still remain true to the vision and goals they espouse. I have also been an active wargamer, camper, hiker, and model builder. Like many things, these too have fallen somewhat by the wayside as competition for the scarce resource of time pushes some things lower on the priority list. Keeping up with a family of six kids keeps me pretty busy (even though three of them are now married), but I still find time to keep up with my church callings, the yard work (occasionally), and of course, this web site. I also assist my wife with chores, honey-do's, homeschooling our children from time to time, and fully support her in her many activities. Every once in a while, I also get to sleep.