Comments:
2005 – 2009 Ph. D. Mechanical Engineering with a co-discipline (sort of like a Ph. D. minor) in Mathematics. It looks like I will have our classmate, Prof. Ron Barrett as an outside reader on my dissertation committee. I have made him promise he won't “get all Ron” about his responsibilities. There are those of us who think “being all Ron” can be a very good thing. Admittedly, it's an acquired taste. If you remember Ron from high school, you know what I mean.
**Admin Note: Thanks Tim, you're all heart ;-)**
2000 – 2004 M.S. Physics. For my thesis research, I worked under Prof. Keith Ashman, who was then a world renowned figure in galaxy formation. He has since traded in his academic career for a more lucrative career as a professional poker player. That's not a joke.
1996 – 2000 B.S. Mathematics. Yes, I have the degree in B.S., which I use frequently.
All of these above degrees at UMKC.
I have had several jobs as a teacher and as a researcher since 2000 (none of which paid that well). I'm planning on starting my own consulting business after getting the doctorate in engineering, and maybe making some real money for the first time in my life.
1993 – 1996 A little of “this.” (Really, there is not much here to talk about.)
1990 – 1993 A little of “that.” (OK, actually I got a degree in liberal arts from JCCC in here.)
Spring of 1988 – Fall of 1989. OK, this is a hard one to cover. Basically, I spent a little more than a year and a half walking around, acting kind of weird (even by Loretto standards), after stepping through a black hole and emerging into an alternative reality. If I ran into any of you during that time: I'm sorry.
In all seriousness, I was really pretty sick during this period, and probably almost died. In the story of what really happened to the guy who they made the movie “A Beautiful Mind” out of, note that in real life he didn't go completely goofy until a few years after he had completed his Ph. D. studies. Leave it to me to get things backwards. (Matthew 5:8).
Important note: I'm not tripping, I really do have all of the above mentioned degrees. What can I say -- it's been twenty years since then, and I have had plenty of time to recover.
1986 – 1988 At least some of this time I was gainfully employed as a “grunt level” computer programmer, working mostly with CRUD (create, read, update, delete). I spent most of the rest of this time looking for work, and becoming convinced I was going to need more school.
1984 – 1985 Went to and graduated from a good, but not very highly esteemed computer programming school. Oddly enough, I still use what I learned there, and probably learned more in ten months than a lot of people with B.A.'s from big name schools learn in four years. Strange world.
June 1983 – May 1984 This is another tough one. I may go into the “too much information” category. Apologies. The only reason I decided to spend some time on this is because I have had a lot of people over the years ask “what happened?” and “where did you go?” I will include some information here that should even help people who have known me for all the years since then. I can't cover it in too much detail because I would end up sounding bitter, and I'm not. Not anymore.
It was during this time I had my biggest encounter with the troubled teen industry. The place I was at was kind of an Anti-Loretto, kind of like what Loretto would be in the Bizarro world. Not fun. If you would like to know more about what the troubled teen industry is like, there is a good “Talk of the Nation” archive on the NPR website from October 11, 2007. (Or search for “teenager” and “toughlove” at the NPR site for “Talk of the Nation.”) The first 12 minutes of the 30 minute and 20 second piece is slow, but becomes more relevant after the break.
I was at this residential placement mostly for adolescent adjustment difficulty, although there was also major depression, and some other things.
I do feel that this experience may have done more harm than good. It may have actually exacerbated whatever tendency I had towards going completely off the deep end for a year and a half when I was 21. At the same time, it was an important formative experience that I look back on kind of like a gift, kind of like a war veteran might look back on his/her experience – it made me who I am but I wouldn't wish it on anyone.
(Note: Took, and annihilated the GED, April 1984.)
1979 – 1983 A lot of treasured memories from Loretto. You were all always in my thoughts, even when I wasn't physically present. This would have been 7th grade through 10th(ish). (Or, more accurately, include 1983-1984 and call it 7th through 11th(ish).)
Yes! Freedom! Frightening, horrible freedom! More!
1976 – 1979 More of this, and that, from Elementary School.
1972 – 1976 John Diemer Elementary School, kindergarten through 3rd grade. Of all the schools I went to before college, this is the only one besides Loretto that made the vitae in my thesis and my dissertation. Many nice people, and some of the happiest years of my early life (not including Loretto, which was later).
