Intro to me

I'm a 33-year-old network engineer. How I got here is way more interesting that where I am by itself.

My life began as a struggle. I was born blue; the umbilical cord was wrapped around my head. My mother was on the common sedatives they gave at the time, and had some pretty funny exclamations when she saw me. I had a birthmark on my behind that looked like a heart (not so much anymore), so she said, "I have a carebear!" I've only recently shared this with people outside of my family, mainly because of how much the family that knew made fun of it. Eh, whatever...

I had a pretty basic childhood. I played sports, did ok in school, but then got into some trouble at 12 that had me change schools. At 13 I became the "man" to do things at my house. My dad had an accident that left him handicap. I tightened up and graduated high school at 16. However, at that age I didn't know what I wanted to "do", and after being with the football team at a community college for a year I left school with a "without failing" grade. I went to work and worked labor jobs until 20. I was working at a crane manufacturer and worked long hours often. I was able to save $10k in 10 months, but I was unaware how quickly that would go away.

In March of 2005, I broke my neck in a car wreck. The facts surrounding the incident are shady, but after beginning to go into that story, I don't think it's necessary here. If anyone wants to know I'll tell. So, I was in a medically induced coma for 3 weeks, during which my family was told that I was brain dead. I would need to be taught to read, write, walk and talk again. When they woke me up I ripped all the wires hooked up to me off and tried to leave. I had no idea what was going on. I had screws in my skull and bars in front of my face. They ended up sedating me and strapping me down. I was blessed, though. I healed faster than they thought I would and I was ready to go back to work in 4 months. The crane manufacturer held my job for me, which was nice, but I knew I needed to get out of manual labor if I didn't want to stay in pain my whole life.

I now have a Master's in Internet Security. I manage the network for multiple entities across the state and love what I do. I'm not sure what the focus of my posts will be here. Perhaps it will be random, as diversity is what I seem to be able to manage the best.