About Me
last updated 12/26/06
Early Years
My life began back in 1973 in the small town of Winfield, IL, where I
lived for more than twenty years. Even though I was born and pretty much
raised in Winfield, I spent the first four years of my life the
neighboring town of Wheaton. My parents and I moved to Winfield when I
was four, as they were expecting another child which happened to become
my brother, Sean. I lived with my parents until the age of 24, and at
that point in time I then moved into my very own apartment in downtown
Glen Ellyn, IL.
Where I Live Now
I currently live in a single-family home in the town of Aurora, IL,
which happens to be approximately twenty to thirty minutes southwest of
Winfield. I met my soon-to-be wife, Carrie, while living in my Glen
Ellyn apartment, and it was time to move into a bigger establishment. In
1999 we moved into a brand new semi-custom built townhouse in Aurora. We
lived there for approximately four years, and although that townhouse
was great it was necessary for us to find a larger place to live in. It
was decided that we would purchase a single-family home, and instead of
moving closer to where my wife works (about an hour north of where we
were living at the time) we moved only one mile south. I've been living
there ever since.
My Education
I earned my BA in Journalism at Northern Illinois University (NIU) in
DeKalb, Illinois, in May of 1996. I originally majored in Physical
Therapy for the first three years of my college career, and found out
that the department was accepting about 24 students out of more than 500
applicants. These individuals had perfect grade point averages and
several hundred hours of volunteer work in various types of medical
facilities. When I applied to the program on the very first day of my
college career, I was told all that was needed to get into the
department would be a minimum of 2.8 out of 4.0 GPA and a minimum of 50
hours of volunteer work in a medical facility. I had surpassed both
those requirements with a 3.0 GPA and well more than 50 hours volunteer
work, but it wasn't enough to get me into the program. I felt like I was
totally screwed on this by not being properly updated about the changes
in the school's requirements, and because I was so mad and disappointed
I had decided to go into something completely different... journalism.
That's when I started studying in the TV/Journalism field, and after
the change in my Major was declared I found out this would be a much
better fit for me. I'm an excellent writer, I have a creative and
imaginative mind, and I get along well with others. However, trying to
find a job in this field after graduating from college was brutally
painful, and unfortunately I did not land a job in this field. Every
media company requires that you have hours and hours of experience, most
from college internships, but how do you get experience if no one is
willing to hire you? If you don't have any internship experience, how do
you get your start in this career? Certainly someone has to be the first
to hire you. After graduating from college I only had one year of
experience, and to most companies it's simply not enough experience.
Since my search for a TV related position never took shape, I decided
to pursue something else I was good at... working with computers.
My Career
I am currently working at a law firm in downtown Chicago as a
Security Administrator, protecting the firm from various threats and
vulnerabilities. I'm also working as the Forum Admin & Webmaster of
Sandtroopers.com
(a Star Wars collecting community) and
MEPD.net (a Star Wars
costuming site for people who dress up as sandtroopers).
Meniere's Disease
This is a condition I have been diagnosed since 2000, and you can read
more about it by clicking here.
Hobbies
- Star Wars collecting
- digital photography
- playing Xbox 360
- traveling
- weather/meteorology
- surfing the Net
- web design & computer consulting
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