Born in Steel City, Northwest Indiana – raised in Kentucky, Southern Indiana, and Florida.
M.A.N are my Initials.
- 10 years old – Break left hand playing football exposing bones
- 11 years old – Chess Team Tri-North Middle School
- 12 years old – Built first computer, a 486DX2 with a 14.4 KBps Modem. Learned BASIC programming language
- 13 years old – First Cooking Class – Baked Alaska and Tarte Flambe. Learn to Play Trumpet, began learning Spanish, spending the summer in Juarez, Mexico. First taste of wine (Gewurztraminer)
- 14 years old Build Tesla Coil in garage, hand rolling a capacitor and winding primary coil. Begin riding bicycle to high school, 10 miles a day.
- 15 years old Complete A.P Biology (9th Grade) – make it to Science Olympiad State Finals with project in Kinetic Energy and Avionics. Nikon N8008, first camera – learn darkroom techniques and exhibit photography work. Start losing hair. Begin self teaching Bass Guitar
- 16 years old Place 3rd Place Conference Weightlifting Competition (315 lb Bench Press, 275lb Clean and Jerk). Earn One Year lab credit for Biotechnology work (Learn gel electrophoresis, Polymerase Chain Reaction, work with drosophila melanogaster..). Begin First Line Cook Position
- 17 years old Varsity Weightlifting Team. Finish 16th in State. National Merit Scholarship Finalist. First Swedish Death Metal Concert (Meshuggah) Break right hand in Motorcycle accident.
- 18 years old Early Admission to UCF on Full Academic Scholarship, Computer Engineering Program. Sophomore in credits by first fall semester.
- 19 years old – Captain U-19 Rugby Squad (Notable Opponents Jamaica and South Africa). Enlist in United States Armed Forces (Operation Desert Shield). Basic Training, Ft. Leonard Wood, Missouri. Air Defense School El Paso, Tx. Graduate 3rd in Class as Platoon Leader. Perfect P/T score at 300 and Expert Qualification with M16A2. Full dislocation of right shoulder.
- 20 years old – First Bartending Position. Re – break left hand playing Rugby in Florida Cup Championship. Two Military Activations.
- 21 years old – Attend Florida State University. International Finance Major, Minor Economics. End Military Service.
- 22 years old ING Financial.
- 23 years old Merrill Lynch Pierce Fenner & Smith incorporated. Financial Advisor with 4 securities licenses, insurance license. Junior Vest. Member – The Tampa Club (Board member: Cigar Aficionado Club)
- 24 years old Housing Bubble Bursts. Among worst economic climates in history.
- 25 – Sell all possessions and take a road trip to nowhere. Arrive in Los Angeles 9 weeks later, begin sleeping and living on a rented couch in Hollywood.
- 26 – Work in Restaurants Tavern, AOC. Travel to NYC, Toronto, London, San Francisco
- 27- More Restaurants and Pop-ups – Meet Chef Ludo Lefebvre via Twitter -Ludo Bites 7, Momed, AXE
- 28 – More Restaurants and Pop-ups – Ludobites 8, Supper Liberation Front, Melisse, Lucques Catering. Found redclay. Study wine at CIA in Napa Valley. Travel to Mexico City. Become brand ambassador for Chopin Vodka. Travel to Warsaw, Poland. 1st Polar Bear dive in Coney Island in January (14 degrees celsius).
- 29 – More Restaurants and Pop-ups – FarmShop, LudoBites 9,10, Momed, Sirena, Travel to Abruzzo and Lazio, Italy. Supper Liberation Front, The Amalur Project, NightShade, Melisse, Sommelier – Terroni, Deadlift 505 lbs.
- 30 – Restaurants & Wine – Wine Director Fifty Seven. Bartender, Osteria Mozza. Sommelier – Terroni. Import Specialist, PortoVino Italian Wines. 17 years of powerlifting.
- 31 – more to come
I started blogging when chat rooms first became popular and other kids, nerdier than I were hosting their own web servers and sites. I’ve done it off and on for a while, but always seem to come back to it.
The farthest back that I have is a blog on Xanga that I did which I began a few months before I left for Basic Training (Army). Eventually I moved on to Blogger, and now, WordPress.
M.A.N About Town 