Who am I?

I keep to myself, never really like social situations much having suffered from anxiety most of my life.

I went to high school in Dwight and Bradley Illinois, graduating in 1990.
Loved history, chemistry and physics, hated english and all math after trigonometry.
I was on the football team my freshman and sophomore year; played halfback, wide receiver and strong safety.
My junior and senior years I played on the golf team and was voted MVP.
In the winter I was on the varsity wrestling team, I usually wrestled from 119 to 126 pound weight groups.
In the spring I was on the varsity track team, I did the long jump, some hurdles my first 2 years but excelled in long distance mostly in the 800, 1600 and 3200 meter runs. My best time in the mile was 4:54 which I did my sophmore year.

I was very active in our church youth groups when I was in grade school and high school. I was also on that math club, spanish club and national honor society.

I enlisted in the Air Force in 1990, originally to work in the crypto field. I didn't get the security clearance I needed to go to school so I elected to work on F-16 fighter jets instead. I started off working in a Phase Dock at Moody Air Force Base, Georgia. That is where I learned to do heavy maintenance which put me ahead of my peers since I was signed off on more maintenance tasks.

I volunteered and was deployed to Saudi Arabia in 1991, was living in Kobar Towers and working at the nearby airfield. I was there for 120 days, I volunteered to stay longer but HQ didn't want anyone deployed longer than 180 days back then. I got to kiss a camel...enough about that.

In 1992 I went to Misawa, Japan and worked on the flight line servicing jets. All I can say is it was long hours, lots of snow in the winter and good food. I love Japanese food, especially the Ramen shops and Yakisoba. Hard to find either that is close to authentic outside of Japan. I got to change a wing on my jet, was pretty big thing back then because normally forward deployed units don't do that type of work. I also spent a couple months in Alaska....all I can say is the mosquitoes are huge!!!

In 1995 I left Japan and was diverted twice and ended up in New Mexico at Holloman Air Force Base....out in the middle of nowhere in the desert. I was working heavy maintenance and crash recovery on the F-117 Stealth Fighters. I also got to work on airshows on the east coast in 1997 and was on the team that recovered the jet that crashed in Baltimore that year.

In 1998 I was promoted to NCO status and I received orders to Kunsan Air Base, Korea. I worked in the Command Post as part of the Maintenance Operations Center (MOC). Not much to say here, boring work but got to deal with the higher ups a lot of the time.

In 2000 I went to Spangdahlem Air Base, Germany where I worked the flight line for a bit and then was promoted to running the Phase Section doing heavy maintenance and inspections on the F-16's. I was named NCO of the Quarter for the Operations Group in 2001. I loved my time in Germany and wished I could have stayed but the personnel office messed up my orders keeping me there.

In 2002 I went to Phoenix, Arizona where I worked on F-16s for the Taiwan Air Force. Our pilots were training theirs and would not fly planes maintained by their mechanics, mainly because they did not have a professional NCO core. I was named Person of the Year for the 21st Fighter Squadron in 2003.

In 2003 I met my wife, we were married in 2004 and I adopted her youngest daughter who has multiple health issues. We have been a family ever since. In 2005 I attended the NCO Academy in Texas and then cross-trained in Operations Intelligence. I graduated with honors in 2006 and completed my career in North Carolina where I retired in 2010.

In 2010 I began my civilian career working in the chemicals field making bio-diesel for 8 months and then later making titanium powder. I helped commission both chemical plants and was promoted to board operator and then production supervision which I did for 5 years. I ran the first ever commercial production of titanium powder using the Armstrong Process.
I left in the fall of 2015 and have been enjoying retirement ever since.

I am currently traveling Europe, probably ending up in Greece since that is my wife's favorite. I have dallied in credit card processing companies but haven't gotten very far to start. A friend pointed me to crypto-currencies and I am researching everything now.

For my hobbies I love to go on drives thru the countryside looking for new areas to explore. I love anything on the water such as boating or fishing. I love to bowl, play ping-pong, golf and tennis. I am a Chicago area sports enthusiast, go Cubs, Bulls, Bears. I am also an avid online gamer (MMORPG).

I started back in the early 90's and did beta testing for many games in the late 90's and early 2000's. To name a few I played many MUDS when I was stationed in Japan and Korea. I played Asherons call starting in 1998, Dark Age of Camelot came after that. I beta tested World of Warcraft in 2004 and have been playing actively ever since, well maybe I had a couple breaks that lasted 6 months at a time in 2006, 2010 and 2016 but I'm back on it again. I have been a guild leader and officer in several high population raiding guilds.

I have also played Lords of the Rings Online and Star Wars Galaxies as well as Star Wars the Old Republic. I beta tested all 3 games and have a lifetime sub to LOTRO though I don't play much other than for nostalgia.

I am looking forward to building a new gaming system, I have been working from a laptop for the past couple years and I'm really looking forward to having a larger screen and a decent sound system.

Thank you for reading.