Where Are You From (And Where Have You Been) (1 Viewer)

[John Dirk]

Not trying to get too personal but I'll start...

I was born in Muskegon Michigan in March of 1966. Even today it seems "Muskegon" is so obscure that spell checkers aren't yet aware. I lived there until I was 15 years old and then moved to San Jose California where my older brother had just enrolled in San Jose State University. After I graduated High School [Abraham Lincoln - Dana Ave] I joined the US Navy as a Fire Control Tech [weapons systems, not actual fire...] and later became a Hospital Corpsman and even later a Biomed Tech. From that point I moved around a lot, living in Orlando Florida and Okinawa Japan. I've also lived in Denver and Aurora Colorado [where I have a sister] for several years. I moved to ATL in 2001 after many years with Pacific Bell Internet in the San Francisco Bay. ATL is my current home. Today I build and support computer networks.

What about you? The more we know about each other the more we can relate and assist on all levels.

 

[jcroy]

Born and grew up briefly in WestBerlin in the Federal Republic of Germany (ie. West Germany) when the Wall was up. By the time I was school age, my parents sent me to live with relatives all over the world such as Tel-Aviv, Israel, ... Never really had a "home town" I could truly call "home".

 

[Sam Posten]

Pronounced Nay Veh Sink not Nah vah sink! =) And Aberdeen.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

I was born and raised in southeastern Michigan, and still live there. I grew up in Garden City, Michigan, whose claim to fame was the world's first K-Mart department store. My parents were from the town of Plymouth, Michigan where they met in high school (although my mother is originally from western Pennsylvania). My wife and I moved to Plymouth 23 years ago and love the small town atmosphere -- as long as we live in Michigan, I couldn't imagine being anywhere else. Before that, we lived in Garden City -- we actually purchased the home I grew up in from my parents, since they were retiring to northern Michigan around the same time we were getting married (that was 29 years ago). I always said we did that because I didn't want to have to move my stuff -- I was living in an apartment and had left a lot of things in the old house.

We also have owned a condo in North Myrtle Beach, South Carolina for about 20 years and are spending more time there since I retired. It takes us about 14 hours to make the drive, which we do a couple of times a year in the early spring and late autumn. If we decide to use that as our winter getaway, we fly instead of drive since I do not want to drive through the mountains of West Virginia, Virginia and North Carolina in the middle of winter. Since the winter weather in South Carolina can be unpredictable, though, we sometimes find someplace else to get some relief from the Michigan winter (this year it was the Florida Keys).

I retired about 1.5 years ago after a career in information technology -- the last 27 years working for a large multi-hospital healthcare system and before that at a major university.

 

[John Dirk]

I retired about 1.5 years ago after a career in information technology -- the last 27 years working for a large multi-hospital healthcare system and before that at a major university.

Interesting! I also work in Healthcare IT. I am hoping to retire within the next few years. Ah those Michigan winters!

 

[John Dirk]

Pronounced Nay Veh Sink not Nah vah sink! =) And Aberdeen.

Interesting video. Nice song.

 

[John Dirk]

Born and grew up briefly in WestBerlin in the Federal Republic of Germany (ie. West Germany) when the Wall was up. By the time I was school age, my parents sent me to live with relatives all over the world such as Tel-Aviv, Israel, ... Never really had a "home town" I could truly call "home".

Yea, it was like that for me during my military years too. No real home as I was transferred every 6 months or so.

If I had to live anywhere other than the US I could see living in Berlin. Pretty awesome.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Interesting! I also work in Healthcare IT. I am hoping to retire within the next few years. Ah those Michigan winters!

I was in charge of the networking teams (both data and voice) and am a network engineer/architect, so was in the same area of IT as you. No longer being on call 7x24x365 is the best thing about retirement -- I don't miss the pager going off at 3am on the weekends at all. And once you are retired, the Michigan winters are not nearly as bad -- if there's a bad snow storm, we just don't go out until the roads are cleared. Plus, we have the time to get away to someplace warm whenever we wish.

Our original plan was to relocate to the Carolinas when I retired. However, my parents are in their mid 80's and live about 3 hours north of us in rural northern Michigan, so it's a lot more convenient to travel to them from our current location when they need assistance.

 

[John Dirk]

No longer being on call 7x24x365 is the best thing about retirement -- I don't miss the pager going off at 3am on the weekends at all.

Yep. It's wearing on me and I'm ready for it to stop. Congrats to you. Can't wait to get there!

 

[Clinton McClure]

You guys are making me jealous with all of this talk about retirement. I still have 23 years of the daily grind before I can cash in my chips.

 

[TravisR]

You guys are making me jealous with all of this talk about retirement. I still have 23 years of the daily grind before I can cash in my chips.

If it makes you feel any better, I've probably got about 123 more years given my finances.

 

[BobO'Link]

When mom was pregnant with me we lived in Sandusky, OH (you know... home of Cedar Point, roller coaster capitol of the world - when I grew up and discovered this I was sad as I love coasters, but hate cold weather, so... maybe it's a wash) but during his early weeks at his job at the TV station dad was told "Bring a change of clothes to work. In the winter we sometimes get stuck here for a week or so due to snow/ice." He went home and told mom "We're moving somewhere warm." So off we went to southern MO, where I was born in May 1955. A couple of years later a business opportunity opened up in Marked Tree, AR, (the only town in the world with that name) so we moved. It's a fairly small town but was a great, almost idyllic, place to grow up. I lived in Paris (Texas that is) after graduating college and settled back in NE Arkansas, close to home, to raise a family. I've been to many states in the Eastern US, as far north as Niagara Falls, Canada, and swam in the Atlantic ocean (I had an uncle in West Palm Beach, FL but never managed to get down there for a launch ) but no further west than Amarillo, TX (where my son now lives).

My first career was in television where I was a Director - both newscasts and commercial production. While doing that, the newsroom began automating and I managed their network and video production systems, building a communications link to transfer data from the newsroom to the control room for graphics production. I also programmed the character generator to use certain text data from the news system as on-screen graphics "on the fly" (lower 1/3 supers and other full screen, text based information, rendered as needed based on the story being aired). By the time I left that career I managed the Control Room and trained all the new directors as well as many of the other control room personnel, as well as doing IT for the building. I truly miss directing, but not the other and certainly not the hours. Live TV is lots of fun - but it's also quite rough, hours wise, on families.

That all lead to a second career in IT, where I am now. I work for the largest school in the region as Lead Tech. We have ~850 faculty/staff and ~8000 students on a Windows AD domain which supports Windows 7/10, Macbooks (mostly laptops - the HS is 1-1 with ~1400 student users and the other campuses are rapidly following), iPads, and Chromebooks. I manage AD, manage the server farm, write programs to pull data from the state student information system for various education sites/applications used, manage the virtual farm (both servers and applications), do end user support, do legacy application support (getting old, out-of-date software to run on new systems - schools love to use stuff way past its prime), install/remove hardware/software, eat dark chocolate (the darker the better - prefer 99% but 92% and 85% are good), and drink coffee (strong and black). Before giving up and moving to AD several years back we were a Novell Netware/Zenworks shop (man I miss that NOS but more and more stuff wouldn't run on Netware). I work all year - no summers off like teachers - but once I go home at 4pm I don't have to worry about getting a call as I'm officially off the clock. No nights or weekends unless we have to move a critical server - that's rare.

And I sing on the side. Normally Tenor 1 but Tenor 2 on occasion. I was a voice major the first two years of college and was being groomed for opera - or teaching. I finally realized that I couldn't see myself doing either so changed my major to communications. I still sing regularly in the choir at church and occasionally in various local choral groups. This past school year I helped my choir director friend at the HS by singing in a quartet for her production of My Fair Lady. She couldn't get enough of her HS boys to participate so asked several friends to fill in the gaps. It was quite fun.

I hope to retire in ~6 years. Just as soon as the mortgage is paid off.

 

[Sam Posten]

You guys are making me jealous with all of this talk about retirement. I still have 23 years of the daily grind before I can cash in my chips.

I'm 47 and obese, retirement is not guaranteed. Life is short, eat dessert first!

 

[Clinton McClure]

I'm 47 and obese, retirement is not guaranteed. Life is short, eat dessert first!

I realize there are no certainties in life and I might very well not make it to retirement with my family history of cancer (dad), heart disease (dad and brother), and Parkinson’s (grandmother and uncle on my dad’s side). So far, negative on two of those fronts (although I have ticks and twitches associated with Tourette’s) and walking after work every day and taking atorvastatin to control my cholesterol so the third doesn’t creep up on me. I also eat dessert first!

 

[John Dirk]

When mom was pregnant with me we lived in Sandusky, OH (you know... home of Cedar Point, roller coaster capitol of the world - when I grew up and discovered this I was sad as I love coasters, but hate cold weather, so... maybe it's a wash) but during his early weeks at his job at the TV station dad was told "Bring a change of clothes to work. In the winter we sometimes get stuck here for a week or so due to snow/ice." He went home and told mom "We're moving somewhere warm." So off we went to southern MO, where I was born in May 1955. A couple of years later a business opportunity opened up in Marked Tree, AR, (the only town in the world with that name) so we moved. It's a fairly small town but was a great, almost idyllic, place to grow up. I lived in Paris (Texas that is) after graduating college and settled back in NE Arkansas, close to home, to raise a family. I've been to many states in the Eastern US, as far north as Niagara Falls, Canada, and swam in the Atlantic ocean (I had an uncle in West Palm Beach, FL but never managed to get down there for a launch ) but no further west than Amarillo, TX (where my son now lives).

My first career was in television where I was a Director - both newscasts and commercial production. While doing that, the newsroom began automating and I managed their network and video production systems, building a communications link to transfer data from the newsroom to the control room for graphics production. I also programmed the character generator to use certain text data from the news system as on-screen graphics "on the fly" (lower 1/3 supers and other full screen, text based information, rendered as needed based on the story being aired). By the time I left that career I managed the Control Room and trained all the new directors as well as many of the other control room personnel, as well as doing IT for the building. I truly miss directing, but not the other and certainly not the hours. Live TV is lots of fun - but it's also quite rough, hours wise, on families.

That all lead to a second career in IT, where I am now. I work for the largest school in the region as Lead Tech. We have ~850 faculty/staff and ~8000 students on a Windows AD domain which supports Windows 7/10, Macbooks (mostly laptops - the HS is 1-1 with ~1400 student users and the other campuses are rapidly following), iPads, and Chromebooks. I manage AD, manage the server farm, write programs to pull data from the state student information system for various education sites/applications used, manage the virtual farm (both servers and applications), do end user support, do legacy application support (getting old, out-of-date software to run on new systems - schools love to use stuff way past its prime), install/remove hardware/software, eat dark chocolate (the darker the better - prefer 99% but 92% and 85% are good), and drink coffee (strong and black). Before giving up and moving to AD several years back we were a Novell Netware/Zenworks shop (man I miss that NOS but more and more stuff wouldn't run on Netware). I work all year - no summers off like teachers - but once I go home at 4pm I don't have to worry about getting a call as I'm officially off the clock. No nights or weekends unless we have to move a critical server - that's rare.

And I sing on the side. Normally Tenor 1 but Tenor 2 on occasion. I was a voice major the first two years of college and was being groomed for opera - or teaching. I finally realized that I couldn't see myself doing either so changed my major to communications. I still sing regularly in the choir at church and occasionally in various local choral groups. This past school year I helped my choir director friend at the HS by singing in a quartet for her production of My Fair Lady. She couldn't get enough of her HS boys to participate so asked several friends to fill in the gaps. It was quite fun.

I hope to retire in ~6 years. Just as soon as the mortgage is paid off.

Amazing and interesting story, Bob!!!! Thanks so much for sharing.

 

[John Dirk]

I'm 47 and obese, retirement is not guaranteed. Life is short, eat dessert first!

@Sam Posten - Couldn't agree more. Get it while the gettin is good. I went on a strict diet years ago, nothing but beer. It hasn't really been paying off but it is fun.

Seriously though, retirement [or tomorrow] isn't guaranteed for any of us.

 

[Mike2001]

I was born in 1963 in Southern California. I grew up in Palos Verdes and now live about 10 minutes away from my childhood home (my Mom still lives there). I went to school at UCLA and did my senior year in Sweden at Lund University - my one and only experience with living in winter weather. I am a Systems Engineer working at Raytheon (originally Hughes Aircraft Company). I’ll have 34 years in next month and will be eligible to retire in November this year. I have two young kids (a second and a third grader) and am looking forward to spending quality time with them after I retire. Also to watching a lot more movies.

 

[Suzanne.S]

This was a very cool idea, John. I see the names and read the posts so it's nice to know more.

I was born in 1965 in St. Louis, MO. I grew up in Arnold, just a wee bit south of St. Louis. My family has been in this area since the 1850s. I can't imagine living anywhere else. I have only visited two places where I thought, "I could live here." That was New Orleans and Toronto.

I went to St. Louis U for a year and a half. I ran out of money and switched to St. Louis Community College. I took classes there for over 20 years. I still do not have a degree. lol There I had the most remarkable film instructor, Dr. Diane Carson. Had I known out of High School that I could have majored in Film, things may have been different. (Or maybe not since the roots here are so deep.)

My dad is a musician. He plays banjo. In the 60s Dixieland Jazz had a resurgence and there were clubs like Your Father's Mustache and The Banjo Palace that catered to that era and style. One of the mainstays was projecting silent movies on the wall by the bandstand. They also had slides for sing-a-longs, but I remember seeing W.C. Fields, Charlie Chaplin and Laurel & Hardy when we went to The Banjo Palace to see the band. (My great-uncle owned the place, which is why you could take a pre-schooler to a nightclub.) That was my introduction to movies.

I've been a movie fan since I was very small. The Wizard of Oz was my favorite movie. Then when I was 8, my parents took me to see That's Entertainment!. I was blown away. From that point on, movies were my passion. My parents were great about letting me stay up late on the weekends to watch old movies. I snagged the TV book from the newspaper each Sunday and made lists of the ones I wanted to see.

Back in the late 70s, my dream was to be able to own all my favorite movies and shows so I could watch them any time. This was before VCRs. My dream came true and I am an avid collector of movies. One of my first jobs was working at a video store, Movies to Go. We were bought out by Blockbuster and I moved on to other jobs.

Most of my working career has been in the Hospitality industry. I was a Night Auditor and now I work in Tech Support for a mid-size hotel chain. I was also a dealer in a casino for 7 years and worked at Gateway Riverboat Cruises on the Mississippi River by the Arch.

I currently live in Cahokia, IL, just across the river from St. Louis. I have a marvelous boyfriend, Randy who is an IT tech for an investment firm and a volunteer firefighter. We met working on the boats and have been together for 29 years. We are very happy because he is very tolerant of my movie obsession and all my other quirks.

 

[Bryan^H]

Not trying to get too personal but I'll start...

I was born in Muskegon Michigan in March of 1966. Even today it seems "Muskegon" is so obscure that spell checkers aren't yet aware. I lived there until I was 15 years old and then moved to San Jose California where my older brother had just enrolled in San Jose State University. After I graduated High School [Abraham Lincoln - Dana Ave] I joined the US Navy as a Fire Control Tech [weapons systems, not actual fire...] and later became a Hospital Corpsman and even later a Biomed Tech. From that point I moved around a lot, living in Orlando Florida and Okinawa Japan. I've also lived in Denver and Aurora Colorado [where I have a sister] for several years. I moved to ATL in 2001 after many years with Pacific Bell Internet in the San Francisco Bay. ATL is my current home. Today I build and support computer networks.

What about you? The more we know about each other the more we can relate and assist on all levels.

Small world, I have lived in Muskegon my whole life John. I like it here, but want to move out west after retirement(20 years from now). If my health and finances are good that is my plan.

 

[Scott Merryfield]

Small world, I have lived in Muskegon my whole life John. I like it here, but want to move out west after retirement(20 years from now). If my health and finances are good that is my plan.

John and Bryan,

I have lived in Michigan my entire life, and visited most of the state. However, I've only passed through Muskegon whenever we used to travel to Ludington (there's a wonderful state park there). The southwestern part of the state is probably the area I am least familiar with -- my wife and I have visited Grand Rapids a few times, and I went to Kalamazoo a couple of times on business many years ago working for Wayne State University. Now, northern Michigan I know very well, as well as the Upper Peninsula (will be going through there again later this summer). The west side of the state is a beautiful place, although that lake-affect snow can be nasty in the winter. We don't get that often here in southeastern Michigan.