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Rockford Illinois, an armpit of a town, but none the less the place where I grew up so I can't help but love it.In late December of 1973 I first opened my eyes and commented "damn, this isn't the place I requested." so I spent the first 18 years of my life growing up a Midwestern boy doing all of the life experiences that all good Midwesterners do. These things include going to the Brookfield zoo in Chicago, watching farm league sports teams try really hard, and smoking dope in cornfields. One summer my grandparents sent me to a summer camp in Colorado, and when I returned to the Midwest I vowed that I would one day live in the mountains. Upon graduating from high school I worked my balls off that summer saving up and in the fall moved out to FT.COLLINS to attend CSU's horticulture department. While in school I figured out that the world is much bigger than the vast corn fields of the Midwest. The rest of the world doesn't much function like the Midwest. I learned that the Midwest is not bad by any means but rather just different. Such as there are different music styles other than classic rock and hippy jam bands outside of the Midwest. So while I was working for my degree in horticulture with a focus in greenhouses, fruit and vegetable production I worked in the hort laboratory for 2 years and determined that desk jobs were not for me. so I applied for a greenhouse care taker position for the campus greenhouses. they accepted me and I lived above the greenhouses for my last two years of school. quite an experience!!!! I made lots of really good friends in college most I still keep in touch with. The most important contact I made in college was my future wife. I fell for her hard, the type of thing that I would get all confused and nervous talking to her. I got the stiff arm for 2 years which in retrospect worked to my advantage, but she finally came around. Luckily it was close to the end of college and we both were into snowboarding so once we were finished with the school thing we were off to Montana!!!!! I had never been to Montana before so it was a sort of blind leap of faith. we did have a friend up there, Cyndi’s favorite roommate, so I was willing to try it. We arrived on Jan 3rd 1997 and it began to dump on the 5th. It didn't stop dumping till summer and we were hooked. I had really never felt anything like that before so much powder, companionship, and freedom. We were hooked, big time. so we worked in restaurants making enough to get by, drinkin lots and making lots of friends. Christ, it was unreal!!! Somewhere in the middle of all of that we had an opportunity to move to Hawaii. we didn't know what we were doing but a friend's dad's friend had a condo next to the beach in kehei maui and so we all moved there and split the price of the condo. in the course of that month the other "roommates" decided not to stay but cyn and I did. we found a house to rent, jobs, and a really good time. we will never forget the 6 months that we were locals in hawaii. I found a job at DeKalb genetics doing corn breeding. It seemed like everything you did over there was a learning experience. For instance, it was the most racist place that I ever lived. It was the culture that everyone was stereotyped by their skin color. White, black, Polynesian, Asian, Pilipino. People think they know what racism is but they don't know shit until they are immersed in a culture like that. I learned a lot from that experience both good and bad. The other thing is that place is a hard shell to crack over there, it is extremely hard to make friends. At least for a guy. I think that this is what contributed to us moving back to Montana. we have been back several times to the islands, each time better than the last and each time promising to return for longer. So far we have kept that promise. Upon moving back I grew tired of the restaurant scene and landed a job with Big Sky's lift maintenance department. This was one of the best job's I have ever had!!!! It was full of excitement, adventure, stuff to learn and hard asses to deal with. I grew so much as a person at this job I can say that it was a pivotal point in my life. I learned how "the real world" and "real jobs" work. I also learned most of what I know about mechanics there. Thanks Steve you are the shit!!!! Steve gave me my big break and helped me out when I needed it.Must go back to work more to come!!!!