About Me
Charting My Course
I have been a Pirate (East Carolina University), a Viking (John T. Hoggard High School), and a Buccaneer (Lake Forest Junior High School). Born in The Motor City and having lived a few years in Eastern Kentucky, my childhood was spent almost entirely on the North Carolina coast in the Cape Fear region south of Wilmington. I have also lived in the Triad and Triangle regions of North Carolina as an adult. I even lived in the California desert east of San Diego along the Mexico-United States border for a year. Now, in what would have come as a complete surprise to the boy that loved living beside the ocean, I find myself living on the prairie in Northern Illinois. “What a Long Strange Trip It's Been”!
What I Do and What I Have Done
Currently, I am working as a Driver Associate (i.e. professional truck driver). I work on a dedicated account and my duties have taken me to Illinois, Indiana, Iowa, Missouri, and Wisconsin. I briefly worked in retail (sporting goods) upon arriving in Northern Illinois. Before that I was working as a fitness/sport performance professional with experience in a physical therapy clinic, personal training studios, and a sport performance training center. I spent almost nine years working in the clinical trials industry as a records management professional. Before earning my undergraduate degree, I spent two years working for the public schools in a behavioral-emotional handicapped (BEH) setting. I have also worked a number of other jobs including bartender, construction worker, dishwasher, landscaper, and security officer.
I earned my Bachelor of Arts in Exercise and Sport Science from East Carolina University in 2001. Go, Pirates! I earned my Master of Science in Exercise Science and Health Promotion (Performance Enhancement and Injury Prevention) from California University of Pennsylvania in 2007. Go Vulcans! I earned my Commercial Driver’s License Class A in 2018 via the CDL Truck Driving Program offered by 160 Driving Academy and Sauk Valley Community College.
I enjoy reading, watching movies and television, playing and watching sports, and fitness training. Back in my days on the coast, I enjoyed bodyboarding, bodysurfing, and swimming. I have done a tandem skydive from 10,500 feet over Oceanside, California, played baseball at a handful of North Carolina’s historic minor league ballparks, and played in a league championship game (we lost) at the PNC Arena (home of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes).