Michael

-----I grew up in Topanga Canyon and the place will always be home. I've been back for the Topanga Days celebration a few times and am still treated like "family." -----I actually liked school as a kid! My favorite activities in those days was with my Scout Troop - Troop 220! I was privileged enough to spend two summers during high school working at Camp Emerald Bay on Catalina Island.-----I served in the U.S. Navy during the Vietnam War days. Most of my time was spent at the Naval Security Group Activity at Kamiseya, Japan as a Cryptographic Technician. I also spend time on the U.S.S. Hancock (a WW2 era aircraft carrier). I also spent a bit of time NAVCOMSTA Wahiwa, Hawaii. I left the Navy as a CTR1 (E6 for non-Navy types who are familiar with military pay grades).-----I left the Navy to return to school at California State University, Northridge and earned a B.S. in Chemistry. I was accepted into the graduate school at the University of Illinois and earned M.S. and Ph.D. degrees in Analytical Chemistry.-----After a post-doctoral fellowship in Clinical Chemistry (U. of Texas) I worked in the Clinical Chemistry industry for a few years. I returned to what I learned to really love during graduate school and that was teaching. I spend most of my life teaching chemistry (as well as geology and astronomy) mostly in community colleges. I experience much more satisfaction teaching than in doing research.-----God is the center of my life and my church truly feels like home. My children are the most important people in my life even though divorce has made it impossible to be as much a part of each others lives as I would like.