A Personal Profile

I enjoy interior design, modern art, crystal glass, wild hair, Harleys, a variety of books, golf, audio/video equipment, dancing, live theater, concerts, gritty bars with a live blues band, working in the yard, personal growth and development, roller-coasters, white water rafting, and Halloween.  I revel in seeming contradictions.  I like a dash of outlandish in my soup of life.  My musical tastes vary, listening to classic rock, blues, and country the most, but I also appreciate jazz, new age, classical, and opera. A touch of rebellion with a streak of irreverence is a good thing.

I have a BS in Industrial Arts, emphasis in Automotive Technology, with a business minor.  Originally thinking I'd become a rancher, I worked my way through college on the college farm, with one summer in a Montana chainsaw shop.  After college I spent five years in residential and commercial remodeling and landscaping.  Then I took a year and a half of computer classes in 1982 to change my career to IT (computers), ending up in management by 1987. 

For 22 years I worked for a healthcare management company with the last title being Regional CIO (Chief Information Officer).  In plain English, I managed the computer and telecommunications departments for three hospitals in the Northwest.  It was a great job and I had a GREAT staff working with me, but, being a frontal right brain lead, it was beyond time to move on.  

Currently I dabble in a variety of things. Some property investment and development, some website development and graphics design, along with some video filming, editing, and production - beginning to end. I'm enjoying learning a lot and the variety it all brings me. Do I need to say I like being my own boss and not commuting to work?

We now reside in California, which is new for me but Sharlet spent most of her life in California.  We love it.   Other than a year in Wyoming in the late 70's (a story in itself!) and a few months in Memphis, I lived in the Northwest all my life with over thirty years in the Portland area.

If it has a gas engine, I probably like it. As a kid I even hooked up a washing machine motor to my parents ice cream maker (ok, that's electric, but go with me here).  It made the smoothest ice cream in the world for the first three batches - then the plastic nut on the top of the lid literally melted.  Alas, it just couldn't take the power.  The Home Improvement show had nothing on me as a kid!

Growing up, I had several horses and for many years they were a major part of my life.  I have snow skied since 1976.  Yes, I've tried some boarding.  No, I don't like it as much as skiing, but it is useful as a variation on the slopes.  Maybe someday I'll get proficient at it.  I've water skied since 1986.  I suck at golf but occasionally play it.  I'm frequently found puttering around the house/yard/garage, kicking back with a book or magazine, or spending time on the computer (I write a couple hundred pages a year).  I like to keep fit with cardio and weights in the gym.  

Over the years I've developed my own belief system, with which I'm very content.  I don't see hardly anything as "wrong" unless the person doing it doesn't believe he or she should be doing it or it is something that is harmful to another human being - psychologically, emotionally, physically, or spiritually.  The closest category that I've encountered to describe my religious belief systems is current-generation agnostic.

I've entered what I call the third phase of my life, Dave III.  Dave I was a little over the first 30 years of my life, with emphasis on religion, God, and obedience (ok, doormat would be closer to it ...).  Dave II lasted around 15 years and consisted of building my own belief system, an undercurrent of rebellion with flashes of a wilder side, exploring sports, self-discovery, and "colorful" relationships.  Dave III was "born" May 25, 2000 and Dave III is markedly different than Dave I or II and is a further unfolding of who I am.  The emerging characteristics of this phase are maturity, riches (of all kinds), an expansion in my view of life, much greater tolerance with other people, playing a much bigger game, letting my humor loose, and a quiet celebration of living (no, "quiet celebration" isn't a oxymoron!).  

One thing I have learned is that for me life will always be changing. Years ago I made a definitive choice to set my path on continual growth and development.  Where that has lead, and is leading, is incredible.  Unbelievable, actually.  We are our own biggest limiter in life.  However, the (really cool) flip side of that is we can choose to set those limits so high and wide that we can literally accomplish anything we set our heart to.  Awesome!  And humbling.

All areas of my life have been incredibly blessed.  Life just keeps getting better and better - especially since I got married, on 03/03/03 at 03:03 PM.  Sharlet is the most wonderful woman I've ever met.  Brilliant, mature, trim, sexy, kind, and a person who makes happen whatever she wants.  She is a model study in kindness and human acceptance (not the syrupy kind).  My day is definitely better when she is in it.  ...But wait, there's more!  Two of the best kids in the whole world - a three-for-one deal (notice a number theme here?).

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