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It's all about me!

 

I enlisted in the Coast Guard in July of 1966, exactly one month after graduating high school. I was very much in love with a special girl in Garden Grove, California. But rather than commit to marriage, I decided it was more gallant to slew dragons and volunteered to go to Viet Nam.

 

The Coast Guard seniors, sensing my madness, transferred me instead to a remote LORAN station in Simeri Crichi, Italy. Southern Italy possesses a remarkable people and landscape. I will always remember its beautiful citizens and the incredible countryside.

 

While stationed in Simeri Crichi, my parents and friends would send me tapes of the music that was current and popular stateside. So, my fellow Coast Guardsmen and I would bob our heads to the beat of the Beatles, the Doors, the Rolling Stones, and the Beach Boys while transmitting our LORAN signal to mariners and pilots.

 

College for me was brief and unfulfilling. Of course dropping out of college contributed to that unfulfilled feeling! But after all of the electronic training I received in the service, college courses, even those on track for electronic engineering, seemed juvenile.

 

So, I embarked on a technical adventure with the Associated Press. There I had a chance to learn computer programming and travel around the country, with stops in Los Angeles, San Francisco, New York, London, Montreal, and New Orleans.

 

I left AP to teach computer hardware and assembly language programming for Digital Equipment Corporation, based in Marlborough, Massachusetts. I lived in Merrimack, New Hampshire and commuted to work in a Subaru sedan. There are so many wonderful places to see in our United States. But New England is one my favorites.

 

Upon leaving New England, I had to go back to work! And I chose the Los Angeles Times. For 21 years, I worked in various technical and editorial positions, loving almost every minute of it. Like most people, I detested the internal politics. But the staff of The Times was simply the best. And I was given many opportunities to travel, attending most of the political conventions.

 

When Reagan presented an olive leaf to Mikhail Gorbachev, I had an opportunity to follow him along with my fellow journalists to Geneva, Switzerland and later to Moscow, Russia. The Times also found it necessary to send me on assignments to Budapest, London, Rome, Aarhus, Oslo, Frankfurt, and Bonn, as well as to most of the major cities in the United States.

 

I remember turning 55 while on a business trip to Leipzig, Germany. On the way home, I was filling out one of those declaration papers on the plane, and one of the questions referred to your age. If had a multiple choice beginning with under 18, then 18-25, 25-40, 40-55, 55 or older. And I thought Huh! I'm on the final 'check' of my life!

 

Funny, I don't feel old! But my grandchildren remind me that I must be!

 

So now in the twilight of my career, I still enjoy programming and continue to write production ready software for newspapers and wire services.

 

Our latest venture in which I partner with my daughter involves our website, http://www.ifonlytheywould.com. Here, we have some fun airing our pet peeves and interacting with our viewers.

 

The most precious minutes are those spent with my beautiful wife, Ann. And the best times are those spent with my family. My grandchildren bring me endless hours of pleasure and pride. I am so proud of each member of my family and certainly do not deserve the joy they've brought me. But I'll take it!

 

The bottom line is that I am a lucky man, blessed with a wonderful family and great friends.

 

So, you know what family, golf, and beer have in common? ME!