I was born and raised in Alabama and lived there most of my life. I come from a small town in North Central Alabama named Cullman (click here for a map) which is an agricultural center and bedroom community for cities like Birmingham, Decatur, and Huntsville. It is also known as "The City of Churches" with over 300 Christian churches in a 25 radial mile region., thus being deep in the heart of the Bible Belt. Growing up as a kid, I played sports and had an inherent curiosity towards space travel albeit rockets, missiles, or spacecraft. In 1990, I graduated from Cullman, (AL) H.S. where I played baseball, was on the state champion math team, was on the scholar's bowl, and was first chair all state on the tuba. I went to Vanderbilt for a year and then transferred to Mississippi State University the following year after financial problems hit. I was in the band at MSU and traveled all over the country with the football and basketball teams and then my fanatical following of the Diamond Dawgs. I graduated from MSU in 1996 with a degree in Mechanical Engineering and headed to South Alabama to work on airplanes for a while.
After a series of struggles and a desire to grow spiritually, the Lord lead me to one of the most unlikely places to go, Michigan (Lansing to be exact). I never wanted to live in the north, and thought it would be a fate worse than death. Fortunately, God is good and proved me wrong. I worked as a Project Engineer for Pratt & Whitney AutoAir Inc. (aka AutoAir Composites) for 5 years building and repairing anything from jet engine components for larger (i.e. jet) Pratt & Whitney airplane engines, wingtips of C-17 Cargo planes, Blackhawk helicopter components, to medical devices for people with balance disorders.
During late 2002,my father became ill and I wanted to move closer to my family. After spending some time searching, I found employment in Iuka, MS building rocket components for the Delta IV rocket progam. This fulfilled two desires: being closer to home and being able to work on spacecraft (which was the original reason I became an engineer).
If you are even more curious, click here to see a sample of the planes my handy work ended up on. Also, I am planning to attend MBA school in the next few years.
In Spring 2001, I met my wife, Stacey. We were introduced by my close friend and her sister, Melissa, and we have been together from that day forward. We were married on June 14th, 2003 in her hometown of Nacogdoches, TX. We honeymooned in the Candaian Maritimes (PEI, Nova Scotia, New Brunswick) and in Maine.
Anything else, feel free to mail me.
My favorite saying is: "If you believe in yourself an have dedication and pride, and never quit - you'll be a winner. The price of victory is high, but so are the rewards." - Paul "Bear" Bryant
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