About Me

I was born in Washington, DC and spent most of my youth in Southern Maryland or the Eastern Shore of Virginia, what is now known as part of the DELMARVA Peninsula, because it combines Delaware, portions of Maryland, and portions of Virginia. At age 18, I went to Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee where I barely graduated (poor grades) and promptly entered the U.S. Navy on a ROTC contract basis to go to the Navy's Diving and Salvage School in Washington, DC. Upon completion of the school and several other schools,like the Naval Service Warfare School in Coronado California, I was assigned to the salvage ship USS Grapple (ARS 7)[Auxiliary Rescue Salvage], homeported in Pearl Harbor, Hawaii. I did two tours of duty on salvage ships,USS Grapple followed by USS Deliver (ARS 23)[performing various diving jobs as well as salvage jobs] before joining the Explosive Ordnance Disposal (EOD) school for conversion to this new program which was combining with the diving and salvage and ordnance management fields.I did two more shipboard tours with EOD, traveling to the Mediterranean before accepting a EOD shore tour in the Philippines.After a total of 10 years of military time,failed to promote to the grade of Lieutenant Commander (LCDR),I was discharged, married my sweetheart, and settled into a personnel security job with the US Navy in Bayonne, New Jersey.In this position I made numerous contributions to the efficiency of the operation by using computers and barcoding documents and such.I was ultimately hired by the Naval Ocean Systems Center (NOSC) to head their security organization. Here I also made huge efficiencies using computers and automation in general. The third of a million dollars savings for the first year of our new gate automation system was an example of that kind of efficiency.But my luck ran out in 2000 when I caught a strep infection which went undetected for two weeks and in the process eating up my heart mitral valve before being discovered in a full body scan at a local hospital This condition required a new mitral valve, which was rapidly put in at an affiliated hospital. I had lots of trouble in the hospital, to include throwing up everything from my intestines back through my mouth, as well as having a intestinal problem which required a colostomy bag, as well as intestinal and internal organ infection(peritonitis) which required scrubbing/sterilization with mild bleach. After lots of therapy,I slowly returned to work, lasting for eight years but I had trouble complete every task they gave me and also had trouble with periodic urinary and bowel incontinence. My former employer finally said that was no job suitable for my then-current medical condition and so I was subsequently forced to retire on disability. I am now officially medically retired from federal civil service. I love contributing/volunteering at my church every Friday morning(assembling the weekly bulletins), playing with computers, sending jokes back-and-forth between friends. Thanks to the transportation provided by my church members, I go to four of the California state-funded Acquired Brain Injury(ABI) classes being hosted at Mesa college, here in San Diego.I still have some trouble with incontinence which I had control with undergarments. I try to help around the house as much as possible but I am severely limited in my walking on slopes and other inclines. Therefore my wife has restricted me from walking outside and into the garage or outside to the barbecue gas grill.