I was born at the Columbia Hospital for Women in Washington DC. People always give me funny looks when I tell them that. "How could you have been born there when you're a man?" people ask. Well the simple answer is that my mother was a woman and that's where she chose to give birth. I was very sickly when I was born, due to the rh factor. But, I was lucky enough to avoid a total blood transfusion.
I grew up in Hyattsville, Maryland and went to Our Lady of Sorrows School in Takoma Park. Such a pitiful name. I then went to DeMatha Catholic High School. I have mixed feelings about the place. I got a good education but I hated it there, I never fit in. It wasn't a rich kids school by any measure. I'd say about one-third where wealthy, one-third were middle class, and one-third was from a working class background.
After graduating in 1984 I attended St. Mary's College of Maryland. I have sort of the same mixed feelings about St. Mary's as well. Going there was the best decision I could have made at the time, and I learned so much there, but after I graduated finding work was nearly impossible. I really bought into the Liberal Arts ideal and believed that as a B.A. I was the worlds next Leonardo DaVinci. Its too bad I could never convince that to employers.
In the picture above I'm posing in front of my old Saturn. I used to have a '93 Saturn SL2, but it got wrecked in an accident in July 2001. My insurance company decided to "total" it. I now have a '99 Saturn SW2, a station wagon. That picture was taken at Shenandoah National Park in October 2000. I went out there to look at the fall foliage. Hopefully this fall I can find that spot, and take another picture just like the one above, with my new car.
Things are going much better now. I started a new job on August 1st 2001. Its going pretty well. I don't know who's doing the new newsletters for St. Mary's College, but they are doing a good job. They have photos, articles, and stories that bring back lots of good memories. Almost makes me want to donate money.