My brother, Matt, was quite the opposite. As early as I can remember, he would completely dismantle lawn mower engines and rebuild them from the ground up so his fleet of mowers would be in top shape for his ever growing clientele. He knew the pros and cons of Briggs & Stratton versus Tecumseh engines and would advise those who asked for guidance. Matt was a natural born mechanic who quickly outgrew lawn mowers eventually refurbishing automobile engines and even heavy machinery.

My mother, Barbara, also happened to have an interest in hands-on activities. Her hobbies were unconventional though and took the form of Radio Shack experiment kits, precision built dollhouse furniture, and she even built some of our home furniture. My mother had her hands in so many activities that it is impossible to remember them all, but she was gifted and could involve herself in many things easily, inexhaustibly, and would quickly set herself apart as an authority in any of her pursuits. Also, she was (and still is) hands down the most prolific reader I have ever met!

Creativity was abundant in my family, yet it was never freewheeling always being somehow methodical in nature.

Guitar | Music as a creative outlet was an obvious choice for me. Drums were the instrument that I really wanted to learn since rhythm was creative and felt "symmetrical" and, of course, was the loudest instrument in a band. However, you might say that guitar chose me. My mother had a classical guitar that I briefly experimented with until I was given an electric Hondo II Les Paul copy and a Marlin amplifier with one knob. She was probably horrified that I was learning "Iron Man" (Black Sabbath) on her Goya classical and was happy that I finally had my own guitar even though it was an electric. I say that because of my recollection of her listening to classical music, most of it played by the Boston Pops conducted at the time by Arthur Feidler. When the classical music came on, I would bolt upstairs and listen to Kiss.

Guitar became my life throughout my teenage years. I put in more hours than I can possibly count. I drew frets on my school textbooks books so I could practice stretching my fingers during school and pushed myself hard during my practices so that I could "shred" the leads like Ozzy's guitarists did.

Undergraduate Studies | Technology appealed to me, so it seemed fitting to enroll in an associate degree program at Cincinnati State Technical and Community College because it was the quickest way to get a job to pay the bills and would not get in the way of things that I would rather do. However, I found that I enjoyed my college education much more than I would have guessed, so I enrolled at the University of Cincinnati where I majored in political science. I matured during this period and made up for growth that should have probably taken place during my late teenage years.

By this time, thinking about my livelihood took a serious turn and became much more than merely a job whose only purpose was to pay the bills. I was always amazed when I met some that knew their "calling" and marched without hesitation toward it. I decided the endgame would be a law degree, so I chose political science as my undergraduate major.

Bob Hope House | While attending the University of Cincinnati, I began working at the Bob Hope House as a child-care worker and eventually became a supervisor. It was here that I met John Scherm, the Executive Director, who frequently drew inspiration from Monsignor John Patrick Carroll-Abbing, a priest that created homes for boys and girls orphaned during World War II. In the same way, John dedicated his life to creating a "home away from home" for boys who could not live at home or had no home.

During that time, John became a cornerstone in my life; I could always look to him for guidance and have even depended on him during points in my life. This was a normal role for John, and he has been the strength for thousands of people with whom he has worked. John was a disciplinarian whose philosophy was to be as "hard as rock and soft as drifting fog." Those words - spoken by Carl Sandburg about Abraham Lincoln - were taken to heart by John, and they personified his approach toward the residents and staff of his facility which were his life's work.

You never know when you will meet someone who will change your life. John and I were the very best of friends. Sadly, John died May 15, 2011, and he is sorely missed.

Sigma Alpha Epsilon | SAE was as wild and crazy as any college student could hope for from a fraternity experience. Initially, I was of the mindset that I did not want to "buy friends" so rushing and pledging happened late in the game during my junior year. To this day I wish SAE would have been my first stop at the University of Cincinnati.

Fraternity life can offer a great deal of experiences because there are so many "readymade" opportunities for involvement. Early on I was elected as the Community Service Chairman for our chapter, Ohio Epsilon. I ran for this languishing office early after my initiation and was elected to turn it around. By the end of my term, we raised several thousand dollars and presented a typical oversized cardboard check showing off our contribution on the Easter Seals Telethon. That opened the door to some other chapter opportunities, and within two years, I held three offices: Community Service Chairman, Pledge Educator, and Vice President.

SAE was the first time I experienced a real sense of camaraderie because I never played team sports or worked with a group to accomplish something bigger than the individuals. Fraternity memories are vivid and plentiful.

United States Marine Corps | After graduation, I began a career in the financial services industry working for Prudential Preferred Financial Services and later joined Fidelity Investments. By now I decided that law school was the not direction that I wanted to go, but neither was financial services. That's when I decided on the Marine Corps.

My decision to join the military had its roots in my political science education. Political science examines philosophies and circumstances that underlie the behavior and development of governments throughout the world. Many governments exist with an intent to serve only themselves offering no chance for their citizens to rise beyond the class into which they were born or even become truly self reliant. My studies made me keenly aware of the significant opportunities I had simply because I was a United States citizen, and this is why I knew serving in the military was the right decision.

The physical demands of boot camp were why I chose the Marine Corps over the other branches. I had never challenged myself physically and wanted to face what I thought was the ultimate test. I once heard someone accurately describe boot camp as "the best time you would never want to have again." I can say without a shadow of a doubt that I learned much more about myself than whether I was up to the physical challenge while at Parris Island.

Shared experiences from boot camp and the fleet were at the very core of an intense camaraderie I miss very much.

Married | My new family began when I met Jelena at the 222nd Marine Corps Birthday Ball on November 7, 1997. We married a year and a half later in Kansas City.

Today Jelena and I have two boys, John and Phillip. Jelena is an amazing mother who has given our children a great start in life. At the same time, she attended the University of South Florida where she recently graduated magna cum laude. This is even more impressive because English is her second language.

We live in the Tampa Bay Area of Florida and enjoy the warm weather and numerous attractions that Florida has to offer.

Graduate Studies | Shoring up my political science education with a master of business administration was a high priority since I knew I would not pursue a law degree. Camp Pendleton, California was my duty station at the time and an overseas deployment to Okinawa, Japan was in my near future; I could start an MBA program but not complete it. My superiors approached me with an alternative duty station in Belton, Missouri just outside of Kansas City where I would be working for the the Defense Finance and Accounting Service (DFAS), the accounting arm of the Department of Defense (DoD). An opportunity to choose a duty station was so uncharacteristic of Marine Corps protocol that I am tempted to say it was unprecedented; I was the envy of many other Marines who were soon deploying abroad.

Once at my new duty station, I immediately enrolled at MidAmerica Nazarene University, a small institution located in Olathe, Kansas. By now, I had matured eons beyond my University of Cincinnati days and was resolute about completing this program with an education on which a serious career could be built. When I graduated, I was among the very top of my class - a significant personal milestone.

Information Technology | During my time in the Marine Corps, I worked with Department of Defense (DoD) accounting systems and knew them well. I completed my Marine Corps tour and was immediately hired as a functional analyst for a project which sought to consolidate the accounting management systems employed by the different military branches. My role was to analyze business processes to see where they were and how they could be improved so that system requirements could be defined.

Oracle was the chosen platform, and it became a personal endeavor to complement my functional role by learning the technology that would ultimately be the system.

I transitioned into Oracle E-Business Suite consulting after being approached by a consulting firm. Enthusiasm would not characterize my initial reaction to the offer because working with a "packaged" solution did not seem very creative and even sounded monotonous. Being assured that my initial perception was off the mark, I took what I thought at the time was a gamble and signed on as a consultant.

I realized quickly that implementing packaged systems offer an extensive knowledge base and a common ground for the consulting community while never being short on opportunities for creativity - a very nice mix!

Today, I still find myself amazed by computer technology growth especially when I look back on my early days programming BASIC on a Timex Sinclair 1000 and realizing how computers have grown from the simple and isolated workplace "hand tools" into enterprise-wide business process automation machines. Choosing this direction for my career turned out to be one of the most fulfilling decisions I have made and is why I continue this line of work today.