Biography

I was born in Spokane, Washington (USA), but spent most of my childhood in Western Washington. From the fifth grade until graduation of high school, I was in Ocean Shores, WA. For quite a variety of reasons that could be a whole page (or book) themselves, I joined the United States Air Force as part of the Delayed Enlistment Program while I was still in high school. The month after I graduated, I was in basic training at Lackland AFB, TX.

Basic training is not the kind of experience that is easily explained. It's largely a "you had to have been there" experience, but I can definitely say that it had a significant impact on me and most of life's challenges have seemed rather small in comparison. I learned a great deal about myself throughout the experience.

As part of my training to become a Satellite Communications (SatCom) Journeyman, I attended two tech schools, covering electronic principles and satellite communication. Nearly a year passed from the first day of basic training to the first day that I actually started working as a SatCom airman because the training was so extensive.

Two months later, I went to the Middle East.

My time there was certainly eye-opening and definitely had a large impact on me. Upon returning, I started looking into more and more training opportunities and ways to better myself. First, they took the form of additional tech school courses, then I progressed to taking CLEP and DANTES tests. When I had successfully completed several CLEP/DANTES tests, I started taking college courses at the University of South Carolina (Sumter campus) during the evenings. I stayed exceedingly busy with my military obligations and pursuit of education, but I completed my Associates of Applied Science (AAS) in Electronic Systems Technology in 2004 and immediately started working toward my bachelor's degree.

Though many military opportunities presented themselves as I started looking at the end of my enlistment, I decided to complete my service and move to Washington to attend Western Washington University and pursue a BA/Ed. degree in English/Secondary Education and earn secondary teaching certification.

While at Western, I worked as a Web Developer for University Residences and had a variety of experiences working with secondary students both for college courses and as a volunteer. I also had the chance to experiment with many of my interests such as art, technology, and writing. I completed my teaching internship at the end of January, 2009, and officially received my BA/Ed. degree and certification in March.

Unfortunately, timing wasn't great as many schools were laying off teachers and few were hiring. I fell back on my love of web development and began working for a company in downtown Seattle called Treemo. I did all the API integration for the Treemo to/from CBS/CNET on the server-side of things, and I also worked as the primary Android developer. The job title of "Senior Developer: Android and Systems Integration" barely covers the tip of what I did, but I learned a great deal and had difficulty making the decision to move on.