My Story

My Hometown

I grew up in the beautiful desert of Tri-Cities, Washington. (No, the picture above isn't the Tri-Cities, haha!) For those unfamiliar with Washington, the east side of the state, especially the south east portion where the Tri-Cities is located, is very different from the northwestern side. There is very little precipitation (something like 8 inches a year) in the Tri-Cities, something so common to the Seattle-area. Instead we compensated for the lack of rain in sheer wind speed. I now live in Boise, ID not too far southeast of the Tri-cities. The climate here in Boise is nearly the same as that of the Tri-Cities; very little rain, more snow, and a ton a sun, I love it!

Early Beginnings

Most of my childhood was spent in the same house until I was about 13. For the majority of my younger years I was home-schooled by my parents, primarily my mom. I enjoyed homeschooling and even turned down the chance to go to public school on several occasions. I think homeschooling was very beneficial in getting me to where I am today. I attribute my self-driven attitude and ability to easily teach myself to the habits I formed while homeschooling. Sure, I may have missed out on some of the social aspects of public school like interacting with classmates and different teachers, but my parents did an excellent job making sure I was involved in numerous extracurricular social activities throughout my life.

Positive Influences

Attending church regularly was probably the most influential of those social activities in my life. I had interactions will many adults and kids throughout my years at church. I still have many good friends from growing up in my Baptist church and often go back for a visit. I praise and thank God for the chance I had to grow up with loving parents and a wonderful church family. I know I wouldn't be who I am today without that upbringing. My parents have had a huge impact in my life and I am still very close with them.   

Hardwood Experiences

The other big social outlet for me while growing up was basketball. I started playing basketball in 6th grade on an AAU team and loved it. I played all the way through High School and was lucky enough to get to go to the State Tournament three of the four years I played. I have so many great memories of basketball and the experiences I had with my teammates on and off the court. Of course there are things I wish I would have done a little different: been a little more aggressive, practiced more, and been more competitive. But we can't turn time back and I try not to regret my mistakes; instead, I try learn from them and continue living my life. I thought about going out for the team in college but decided I'd rather just focus on my studies and my future. Instead, I played intramurals and pickup ball pretty regularly. Now that I'm out of college I continue to play as much as I can. Just a couple months ago we finished up our Boise City League season and tonight we had our first game in my company's intramural 3-on-3 league. So, I try to stay brushed up on my skills (or lack thereof).    

Hitting The Books

But I got a little ahead of myself. We left off with homeschooling. So, homeschooling ended when I was a Junior in high school and started Running Start, a program in Washington that lets you take college courses at a local community college to earn high school AND college credits; oh, and the government foots the bill, it's a pretty sweet deal. Since I never attended public high school, I just attended community college full-time at CBC (Columbia Basin College). Ideally, with running start you can graduate from high school with a 2-year AA degree. I decided that was too easy, so I spent an additional two years at CBC to try and cram a 2-year AA degree into 4 years. I know you're probably thinking "That must have been rough!", but it's easier than it sounds. It wasn't the most efficient use of my time but I really enjoyed my time at CBC and I was able to get the majority of my lower-level degree requirements out of the way at a much lower cost than it would have been if I went to the university earlier in my college career.

Go Cougs!!

After my 4-year stint at CBC I headed off to Wazzu (Washington State Univeristy) in beautifully tiny Pullman, WA. I'm not going to detail my time at WSU because this is already getting long and there is far too much to tell about the amazing time I had during my two years in Pullman. I made many great memories and even better friends and I'm sure you will hear some of those stories/friends come up in future posts. In May of 2011 I finally completed my 6-year journey to a college degree and received a B.S. in Computer Engineering; making this month my 1-year anniversary of being a real-life adult.

Across The Pond

Once graduated, my parents and I took a 2-week trip to England as kind of a "yay graduation / we've always wanted to go" gift to our family. That trip was by far the best vacation I have been on and really kindled the great desire I now have to travel. One of the places I have always wanted to go is Switzerland. I'm not sure why, maybe it was the Swiss army knives or the expensive watch commercials, but even as a child it drew my interest. Two other places I hope to visit are Italy and Israel. I think it would be fantastic to get a better image of some of the many locations spoken of in the Bible and see the rich history of those locales.

New Life

After returning from the vacation I moved to Boise, ID and started work at Micron Technology. I didn't know a soul when I got here and I won't deny that the first few months were awfully tough. Thankfully, God provided a great church and good friends fairly quickly. I'm pretty settled now and have almost been here a year. I really love the Boise area and don't see myself leaving anytime soon.

My Interests/Passions

Most of my passions and interests will become apparent through the topics I write about in my posts but I thought I'd jot down a few anyways. Computers have been a large part of my life ever since I was about 13 years old. I also have an obsession with sports cars and love my baby (on the right). I'm pretty fanatical about nutrition and staying fit. And as of late, I have been enjoying good non-fiction books with topics ranging from business, leadership, and personal finance to relationships and autobiographies and any other topics that I find interesting.

You also may have gathered throughout my story that I am a Christian. I believe Jesus died for me and has Saved me with his blood. And I am looking forward to the day when He will come back and take me to Heaven for eternity! God has richly blessed me and I thank Him daily for all that He has done and is continuing to do for me. My utmost goal in life is following His will for my life and serving Him.

This is probably far more than you ever wanted to know about me. But if you stick around long enough there's a chance you might glean something useful from my experiences; and if not, maybe some good entertainment! :)