Ok, so the title isn't all that original… then again, there isn't much on this site (aside from these words, and my pics) that is original.

My story, however, is original… original in its blandness, I should say. I feel like I'm the only person left on this planet who lives a normal life! I still have both my parents who love me very much; they've been married to each other for 27 years; I've got a brother who's 4.5 years younger than I am; and we grew up in a rural town on the outskirts of Boston. I was a member of a local Boy Scout troop, and went all the way to achieving my Eagle Scout award. I'm intelligent, cute, fun, happy, sweet, charming, and somewhat innocent… What the hell is wrong with me?? J

Most of the other pages were built and edited in Notepad. Here I had to play with the new Office 97 Web Publisher, so I figured I might as well do one page with a Wizard. Might as well be the long drawn-out one. J

Well, since this is the long story, I might as well get started. I was born on December 18^th, 1972 in Chelsea Naval Hospital in Chelsea, Massachusetts. The only thing relevant about this place is that the Hospital burnt down 2 years later. I still don't know if this was some type of cosmic joke or not. I grew up in a fairly poor neighborhood in Lynn and Malden. My parents scrambled to make ends meet, and this instilled a great sense of work ethics into me that I cherish to this day. I also have to say that we were very lucky. When I was 5 years old, my parents bought my Great Grandmother's house in Saugus. My father had a dickens of a time fixing it up. I'll see about acquiring some of those photographs, and scan them in so you can see the house I remember growing up in. They still live there today with my brother. My parents are the only ones that stayed on the North Shore. My Uncle Bob moved up to Plum Island - a beautiful area of Massachusetts with the best beaches and the worst undertow… but hey, the Atlantic Ocean is too cold to go swimming in anyway… even in the Summertime. My Auntie Chris moved up to Canada with Uncle Eric. If I recall, they live on the edge of Nova Scotia, right before you get to PEI. My Grandparents live up in Seabrook, New Hampshire - right near the Nuclear Power Plant. A word of advice: If you're within 20 miles of an imminent Nuclear Power Plant explosion, get as close to the sucker as humanly possible. There's no way you're going to escape the effects and it would only prolong the agony. Sorry, it's tired and I'm late and these anecdotes are flowing freely. J

Now hitting the other side of the family. My Auntie Joyce and Uncle Ron and my 2 cousins (Bonnie and Denise) live in Orlando, Fla. We go and visit them every once in a while, and this past summer, my aunt and uncle came up to visit me here in Seattle! I was so happy J When my Grampa Howie passed away from various heart problems, my Nana moved down to stay with them in Orlando. She's still working away as a telephone operator for a very busy company. I'm so proud of her! When my other Uncle Bob (my father's only brother) passed away from a heart attack, my Auntie Roberta and my cousins (Crystal and Joey) moved around and settled in Mid to Northern New Hamshire.

Everyone else has scattered themselves up and down the eastern seaboard. Well, all except me! J 2.5 years ago, I moved out to the West Coast with my good friend Michael. You can sometimes catch him on IRC as CHRYSLER. He can tell you how much of an asshole I really am <> We settled in Portland for a little while before I continued up to Seattle which is my current abode.I really do love the Emerald City, and hope I never have to leave it.

• Employment: I was doing telephone technical support for Stream Intl; the contract ended, and I chose to go to Oregon to support Windows 95 out there.
• Travel: I had been as far north as Nova Scotia, as far south as Orlando, as far east as the Atlantic Ocean, and as far west as the Appalachain mountains. It was time for me to venture out and expand my horizons. It turns out that Oregon was the better choice.
• Expansion: let's face it. If you want to learn something technical, the Pacific Northwest is the place to be. Huge companies like Microsoft, Intel, Boeing, HP, Tektronics, and many others dot the area like a teenager with a bad case of acne.
• Love: Well, I thought it was at the time. Mike and I had been going out for a year, and we thought that we were going to spend the rest of our lives together. Little did we know... When we finally started living together, we hated it. We couldn't stand each other. Well, we make better friends anyway, and I do still love him. -sigh-
• Companionship: a number of friends moved out to Oregon from the Boston area, and I wanted to still hang around with them. The bums have since moved back... oh well, I'm happy out here, so I'm going to stay :)
• The Weather: it's a little known fact that the Pacific Northwest has better weather than Boston. Well, it's little-known to most Northeasterners... I was tired of the cold-biting winds of January, and the hot, muggy days of August. I wanted something that was a little more stable all year round... ok so it rains more often than not in Portland, but hey, I can handle the rain ;)

Well, since then I've moved to a different company for more money, moved on to many other boyfriends, moved up to Seattle, and made many other friends up here.

Who knows where I'll be in the future? Right now I'm learning JAVA, so I hope to throw a couple applets up here on my site. Eventually I"ll have my own Java Game, but that's a long time away... we'll see :)

I'm also going to continue on my certifications. I've had my MCSE for over 2 years, so I need to keep updating it... I think Proxy's the next test, then Exchange, and probably IIS. Of course, by that time, I'll also need to take the Win98 exam and the NT 5.0 exams to stay current ;)

Ok, once again, I hit the end of my thoughts for the day... I need to sleep to regenerate some of my head ;) Let's timestamp this puppy and call it a night...

Today is Sunday March 15, 1998 @ 12:40am PST

Pleasant dreams, and I'll see you all later!

-Rob