Like many young people, I struggled to find my friend group in high school. When a close friend recommended that I try out theatre, I knew I had found a home. I tried my hand at acting but quickly discovered I was most comfortable controlling the spotlight rather than being in front of the crowd. The technical theatre focuses more on set design and prop development, transporting the audience to a make-believe world and immersing them in the actors' story. Working behind the scenes and preparing others to succeed has often come in handy while working in the information technologies industry. I look back fondly on this this time. 

After high school, I was adrift, searching for my place in the world. I took a year off and pursued several passions, including a brief gig with the US Forest Service. After returning to Wilmington, I started working in various kitchens, ranging from gourmet Italian cuisine to three-course live dinner theatre. At some point, I decided that this was something I wanted to pursue as a career and began to attend culinary school at the local community college. This mainly focused on traditional French cooking techniques but was a fantastic introduction to commercial/production cooking. After a while, I realized that while I love to cook, the high-stress environment of commercial kitchens was not for me. I still love to cook for friends and family and still utilize many of the techniques I learned. 

Around 2016, I moved to Raleigh, NC, to pursue a career in the IT industry. I had been working for a few small mom-and-pop computer repair companies but saw the research triangle as fertile ground for new opportunities in the industry. Around the time I moved, I decided to strike out on my own and start my own company: Eminent Computer Repair or EC Repair. This was a hard path, as the Triangle already has several well-established companies vying for the same customer base. In time, I found my own niche, but it would be hard-pressed to claim that the business thrived. I primarily focused on home-bound and elderly customers by providing In-Home computer repair services. This was great, and I developed excellent relationships with a small group of repeat customers, but I could never build up the volume to completely support myself the venture. 

Within the first year of moving to Raleigh and starting my own business, it became clear that I would need to supplement my income with a steady 9-5 job while trying to build the company. Almost by chance, I wound up working for the Overhead Door Company of Raleigh. This hadn't been a field I was interested in previously, but I found a lot of satisfaction in learning a new trade. I worked my way up through the company, and in less than two years, I had been assigned my own truck and helper and was running all of my own job sites.  I met a lot of great, hard-working guys and learned a lot of excellent skills. 

After living in Raleigh for a couple of years, I was ready to change things up again and was researching how to move out to the West Coast. Moving costs were astronomical, so while looking for alternatives, a friend recommended that I look into a cheap used school bus to act as a moving truck. While researching this, I stumbled across the Skoolie community and fell in love with the idea of converting and living in an old, used school bus. I found one that met all my requirements about an hour outside of DC, so I made a road trip to pick it up. It was a long and slow process, doing all of the work myself,  working on the weekends and in the evenings, but after two and a half years, I moved into "The Bus" full-time. In what can only be described as horrible timing in hindsight, this just so happened to be the spring of 2020. So, all of my plans were thrown out the window, and just as I was facing the reality of having nowhere to go and being faced with having to leave the triangle area, I found a wonderful lady who needed a hand running her small farm. For several years following, I work-traded a place to stay, for helping out around the farm, doing various handyman-type jobs. 

Around the same time I moved into the Bus, I was laid off from Overhead Door Company following the Covid shutdowns and healthcare emergencies. This gave me time to focus on finishing up loose ends on the Bus. Around the beginning of 2021, I received an offer to work for UNC Healthcare, working to open up the newly constructed Eastowne Medical Center. This was the first time I had ever worked in the Healthcare IT industry, but I soon fell in love. Up until this point, I had only ever worked in the corporate IT world and had never seen it as much more than punching a clock. Healthcare IT was different. I felt like what I was working towards had a purpose and was making a difference in the community. I never want to take away any of the actual credit from the brave doctors and nurses who were working on the front lines of Covid-19, but I felt as though by supporting their work, I was helping to heal my neck of the woods. In 2023, I was hired as a full-time senior member of the team working out of the main hospital in Chapel Hill, NC. I love what I do and love working to support our wonderful doctors and nurses.  

Part of the reason I built my Skoolie home was my desire to travel and see as much of the world as possible. We are not guaranteed one day more on this earth, and I want to make as much of it matter as possible. I see many older people regretting not getting to see more of the world while they were younger and more capable. I hope to convert my current healthcare IT job into a remote position and work from the road. My first stops would include many of the beautiful East Coast national parks and forests, but after that, I am still waiting to write the next chapter in my life. When and if I ever get to 90 years old, I want to look back and have no regrets and many great memories.