First of all, I am my kid's dad. My wife and I adopted them from China when they were just under one year old. Our first trip to China was in 1998 and our second trip was in 2000. They are both wonderful and talented girls. I am so very proud of them.
Secondly, I am my wife's husband. She is a beautiful Filipina lady. I met her when I was in the Philippines while serving in the US Navy. After I left, we continued to write to each other for four years before I brought her here and married her. That was over 20 years ago.
I served four years in the Navy just after graduating from high school. I served on what was a brand new Spruance class destroyer, the USS Ingersoll DD990. My job was to maintain and operate the ASROC Anti-Submarine ROCket launcher. But now my ship has been used as a target and sunk off the coast of Hawaii, and the launcher is obsolete. If I didn't know any better, I'd think I was getting old.
When I got out of the service, I got a job at a small telecommunications company, and enrolled in the local city college. I started out in assembly, but now I'm running the drafting department, doing everything from pcb & mechanical design, drafting, document control & configuration management. Sometimes I even get to make prototypes in the machine shop (power tools are fun).
I continued to attend city college got an AS degree in electronics technology, and continued to take courses for about 12 years (I love to learn new things).
I have been practicing Shin Shin Toitsu Aikido twice a week since 2004. I really enjoy this defensive style of martial arts, as it focuses on calmness and avoiding conflict even as you are sending your opponent to the mat. It also focuses on Ki development and the coordination of mind and body, which is something that can be used in daily life. Also, sitting seiza and rolling on the mat is a great way to try to combat and minimize the effects of the aging process.
