I was born in a small town suburb of Chicago - Cicero. Al Capone ran the city of Chicago from his residence in Cicero for many years.
My father owned a gas station at the corner of Laramie and 31st Streets in
Cicero, IL. That's where mopst of our family time was spent. We
worked together as a family for many years. I was doing tune ups when I
was in kindergarten.
I went to grade school at Columbus Elementary School until 6th grade in
Cicero. For 7th and 8th grade I went to Midwest Military Academy - now
defunct - in Wheaton, IL. I went to Marmion Academy
for high school and graduated in 1986. Back then it was called Marmion Military Academy. After
graduating, I went to The Citadel -
graduating in 1990 - then joined the Army. After ten fun-filled years in
the Army, I decided to get out before the fun was all gone. I don't have
anything bad to say about the Army; I enjoyed my time immensely. My first
duty station was in Germany. I was able to stay over there for four years, and
during that time I saw most of Europe. All of it that was worth seeing,
anyway. My last duty station was Fort Stewart, Georgia.
Over the years, the Army has sent me to many places - Germany, Italy, Kuwait, and all over the good ol' US of A.
I developed some really close
friends on my years in the Army - not the least of which was John
Grimes. We were in three different units together for the four
years we spent in Germany. I showed up a little early, and walked
in on him as he was writing my welcome letter. I never got it, but
I didn't need it. I was fortunate enough to have an excellent
instructor for the beginner's welcome program and language
classes. We terrorized Germany - and most of the rest of Europe
for 4 years. We went paragliding - where you run off of a mountain
with a parachute for a week - and bungee jumped from the highest bungee
jump place in the world at the time (180 Meters). Once - when we
were cut off at the Hofbrauhaus in Munich - John used his Swiss Army
Knife to get us more beer.
While I was there - and this
really DOES rate a paragraph unto itself - I cut the longest fart any of
the witnesses had ever heard of. We spent a few hours driving
Sharlene Bailey - newly arrived in Germany - to her husband.
During that drive, I didn't eat much, but I drank prodigious quantities
of Diet Coke - still my drink of choice. Later that night, as we
were sleeping on Dan's floor, I warned John that I had a huge fart
brewing. When it started, john began fumbling with his watch in
order to time it. I am sure that 20 seconds passed before he began
the stopwatch. The fart dragged on and on. Final time
measured with the watch: a little over one minute. Add the
fumbling time he spent trying to get the stopwatch running, and you get
about one minute and twenty seconds. And I have three witnesses.
I got out of the Army in September of
2000. I went about 6 glorious months rebelling against society in my own
way - mostly by not getting a job and traveling the country. I took two
major trips during my 6 months of unemployment by choice.
The first was a
road trip of 5,000 miles that started with my Citadel 10 year class reunion and took me west across the bottom of the country as far as Tucson, AZ
until I turned around and headed back to Chicago.
The second trip was in inspiration
seeking venture that I
needed after the election debacle of 2000. I went to Philadelphia to see
Independence Hall and the liberty bell to get back in touch with the history of
American ideals. Nothing - with the exception of walking through the
Dachau concentration camp - has ever given me such a feeling of wonder and
awe. Of course, the concentration camp was at the opposite end of the
spectrum; I was overjoyed nearly to tears on several occasions while walking
around in Philadelphia. Along the way - not really using a direct route - I
stopped in at the 8th Air Force Museum in Savannah, GA and the new D-Day Museum
in New Orleans, LA.
I returned to Chicago and I found a great
company - Consolidated Electrical
Distribution. The only surprise is that it seems to be exactly what I was
looking for.
