Joel

this was all written a year ago. back in spring of 2005. the information was posted for some fellow graduates of my high school. as it was the year of my 20th reunion. that is why what was written was written as it was.more recent infor can be found at my blog.www.gwadzilla.blogspot.comread on. it tells something just the same.it has been 20 years... 20 long and wonderful years... there were moments, trying moments, but such is the path of life....this is the path that my life has taken since graduating from B-CC in 1985.....attended St. Mary's College of Maryland, played Division III Soccer and drank excessively, not bragging about the drinking... it was a pretty much a text book college experience, except without the text books, sort of just drank my way through college, a bit of a Ferris Bueller meets Animal House, good times, but perhaps not time well spent, those four and a half years sort of set the standard for the next fifteen and a half years.....growing up in Bethesda and attending an open minded high school bred me to believe that I had options, not being sure what those options were I did my best to let them present themselves.....after graduation from college I took the requisite Europe trip... went with Rob Hardesty (B-CC 1986) and our bicycles, we traveled through Holland, Belgium, and France with a combination of train and bike, returned to DC not sure what I needed to do, but knew that I was 21 and had to figure stuff out fast as 21 is really old, so I continued to work the same job I held during summers in college and when I took a semester off from college, bicycle messenger, as the other BUSH planned his attack on Iraq I planned a last hoo-rah, went to Georgia and traveled the south for two months with two friends... we spent 5 weeks planing trees and living out of our tents, watched as little news as possible, got our information of the marquees of each and every gas station, upon my return I decided that my time would be well spent to earn a few bucks and ride my motorcycle cross country.....that trip was awesome.... if I would do it again... I would do it slightly different, I would meander a little more slowly, this trip showed me beautiful pieces of grand country, once on the coast of Washington state I looked at the waters of the Pacific ocean then looked over my shoulder and thought... that was easy.... why did I not do that sooner? (answer? I do not know... next question... why have I not done this since?)traveled down the coast and settled into the San Francisco Bay area for about 4 months, worked construction and rode my mountainbike in the hills of Marin, left the mountains of Marin for the mountains of Colorado.... again oddly rushing through things in a very EAST COAST FASHION!spent just short of two years in Colorado where I snowboarded and worked a variety of jobs... never holding a job that would prevent me from getting out on the hill when there was fresh snow, left Colorado with dreams of moving overseas, had very little money.... a tad bit in debt, but nothing serious....moved back to DC to try and earn some money again as a messenger so I could move to Asia, there was thought of another cross country motorcycle tour and departure from San Francisco, an accident on my bike broke my clavicle, money saved soon became money spent, big trips dreams became little trip realities, multiple trips to the west for more snowboarding, multiple jobs.... nothing with career ambition.... more messenger work.... bike shop employee.... mover....still had thoughts of moving over seas, met the women that is now my wife, any and all plans then included my then girlfriend now wife, we traveled locally we traveled overseas, we acquired the first two anchors.... dogs; Roscoe and Brutus, many of our trips were local via car including our dogs on our adventures (Vermont... the Outer Banks... local day trips to hike and camp), on a trip to Peru I proposed to Lisa at Macchu Picchu, she said yes, we got married , things became more and more conventional, as I tried to figure out how I fit into this adult world I started to pursue a career; Graphic Design, for a few years I tried to establish myself as a Designer, then POP... the bubble burst... certain parts of the business economy started to suffer... advertising was one of the first areas cut, like a rat on a sinking ship I plotted an escape, a job presented itself in a similar yet unrelated field which brings me to the present day as the Computer Guy at CBS News, somewhere between proposing to my wife and today , there was a wedding, the purchase of one property, the sale of that property and the purchase of another, both in Mount Pleasant Washington, DC, and somewhere in there the birth of our two sons Dean will be four this June and Grant turned one on this past Valentines Day.... fatherhood is all that people say it is... all the good and all the bad happily.... the good heavily outweighs the bad....in addition to being a father of two I enjoy riding and racing my mountainbike with no Olympic ambition just love of the sport, just love being on the bike as well as loving the feeling of competiton....that is me as I typed it today.... ask me on another day and I might tell things a little different, but the story would end up pretty much the sameso.... in a coffeeless morning rant... that is "who I am" and "where I am" in a nutshell must get back to work I also rant daily on my blog at..... . . . www.gwadzilla.blogspot.com