Ah, welcome to my
little forest retreat; come in, come in, make yourselves at home. Grab a
brew and take a tour of the place. What, you want to know about me? Well
sure, my name is Ben Shelton and I come from about 10 miles west of the
small town of Smithfield, Virginia. I'm 22 years old and I'm attempting
to major in Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering (double major) at Old Dominion University in Norfolk, VA. I just proposed to the woman of my dreams on 12/24/2004 :-D. Her name is Dana Marie and she's my Princess and Wilma Flinstone all bundled in to one. Our wedding date is set for 3/10/2007!
As for family, I've got brother, Chris (two years younger than
me) and Dad. We lost Mom to lung cancer 8 years ago on September 27, 1996
(when I was 14). It was a long road to recovery, but I think I've turned out alright thus far. However, If you haven't guessed, I don't much care for smokers as a result.
Anyways, what got me into that field you ask? Well, it's quite funny actually,
you see, I fried the motherboard on our old piece of crap Gateway Pentium
200mmx (winner of the Ultimate Shittiest PC Vendor award 5 years in a row)
trying to install a new hard drive (problem with the power switch) and
I had to build a new computer to replace the one I broke...or else get
my ass busted by Dad. Realizing how much fun it was I decided that I would
like to make a career out of it. So far I have built 2 computers...wanna
see the specs? Click
here.
Right now I'm
living in an awesome 3200 sq. ft. house a few blocks over from ODU. Just Click
here. to see what my schedules (school
and work) past, present, and future look like. Ok, I'm going to do something
out of the ordinary for me and organize the rest of my info for ya. Yeah, I'm a bored loser, so I post all my information on the web for other bored losers to read ;-).
Fun Stuff
Playing with my "toys" (computers, electronics and
firearms), primitive rendezvous (like the Civil War reenactments except
we try not to shoot at each other) baseball, volleyball, sittin' on the
porch and shooting stuff, playing with fireworks (hey, it's the only thing
fun to do in Smithfield), "taking long walks on the beach"...haha, j/k,
ever heard that one before? So far my gun collection is comprised of a Remington 592 BDL Speedmaster .22 rifle, a Browning Buckmark .22 handgun, and a Winchester Model 1300 12 gauge shotgun. Next on the list is a reproduction Sharps rifle. If you're unfamiliar with the gun, it was designed to take down a buffalo, and it'll put on heck of a hurting on anything you hit.
My Ride
Alright, as many of you may have heard, the Beast
has left my life :-(, and not by my choice. May good fortune follow
my babe wherever she goes. UPDATE - 12/14/2004 - She's dead :~(. In her place I've got a '93 Ford Taurus
with power everything. I wish it had the 3.8 liter under the hood,
but the 3.0L still growls, even with the 230,000 miles it has on it.
Of course, I had to make some changes to the stereo system. First
off, the stock speakers had to go. I probably sould've gotten a couple
bucks for them on Ebay, but I ripped them apart, partly out of frustration,
and partly out of engineering necessity. In the back I have Kenwood
3 way 6 x 9's. In the front I put in 6.5" Rockford Fosgate Fanatic
P component speakers, er, er ,er. I replaced the stock deck with
an Alpine CDA-7873. I've got two JL_Audio 12" W2's in the trunk.
Of course, they wouldn't be worth much without a powerplant running them, which is where the Rockford Fosgate 700S (175 watts RMS x 2 into 4 ohms) comes in. I'm not running the amp to its full potential right now because the JL's can only handle 125 watts RMS, 250 max. I'm planning on getting a couple Rockford Fosgate HE2 12" (2 ohm version). I can't wait to run 350 watts rms into those bad boys!!! As it stands right now, all I can say about the system is WHAT DID YOU SAY??? nbsp;
I'm still in the process of cleaning up the interior, seems somebody spilled
a 24 pack of cokes in the passenger floorboard, and there are some streaks
of paint on the door panels (thanks to Dad's ex-g/f's son). It's
pretty much the opposite of the Beast. The Beast had a pretty busted
outside, but the interior was real nice, the Taurus has got a nice outside,
but the interior's definately in need of some work...but at least girls
won't wretch when they see the Taurus pull up in their yard, haha.
Music
(in no particular order)
Most Favorite of All Time: LINKIN PARK
Rock- Linkin Park, 3 Doors Down, Evanesence, Blink
182, Hoobastank, P.O.D, Incubus
Soft- Enya, Tonic, Semisonic, Loreena McKinnet
Classic Rock- Bob Seger, Kansas, Journey,
The Who
Country - Lonestar, Rascal Flatts, Toby Keith,
Tim McGraw
R&B - Don't really keep up with the names,
but basically anything that makes the 12's in the trunk go bump, bump,
bump ;-), and doesn't sound like mixed crap.
Past
Work
Since September 2002, I've been working in
the Free Electron Laser (FEL) building at Jefferson Lab (Thomas Jefferson
National Accelerator Facility). I work in the Instrumentation &
Controls group. It's pretty laid back most of the time, but sometimes
the bosses get their panties in a twist, but the $11.50/hr makes up for
it I guress.
And, here's where I've spent most of my free time
for the last 4 years of my teenage life... Busch Gardens as an Area Host
in 1999, Area Host Lead Supervisor in Festa Italia in 2000, Area Host Lead
Supervisor in Heatherdowns in 2001, and an Area Host Unit Supervisor in
Area I in 2002. And no, I have no inkling of love for that park, in fact,
I don't think there's much in this life (with the exception of Rachel)
that I despise more than that corporate HELL. I have also worked on and
off in my Dad's bookstore, The Bookhaven since I was old enough to walk....yeah,
if you have a large list of needed books and want a discounted price, drop
me a line and we'll talk ;-)
School
-Graduated from Smithfield High School
on June 15, 2001 with a 3.953 GPA with a rank of 16th out of a class of
160.
- Currently in my sophmore year at ODU with a GPA of 3.04.
Future
Aspirations
Graduate from Old Dominion University with a BS in
Computer Engineering and Electrical Engineering (had to scratch the Master's for now, school is putting
a hurting on me), raise a football team of little Sheltons, keep all my close friends
for life, definately buy a 1996 ImpalaSS ...errr err err POWER....and
to find a well paying job in the computer industry. I really don't know
what I want to do when I graduate. I know I want to work with electronics
and/or computers and I would really like to own a company designing stuff
like that.
