About Me

My photo of entering Canada at the Pacific Crest Trail border crossing.

My mom was sixteen when I was born in Idaho. Two years later she had my sister. She divorced young and raised us mostly as a single mother working waitress and fast food jobs. Mom had a love/hate relationship with the welfare system at times as we grew up. It ultimately offered opportunity for her to gain bookkeeping skills providing a stepping off point for her banking career.

I grew up moving between Wyoming, North Dakota and settled in Colorado in my teen years. Summers were often spent in Kansas with dad.

I signed up for the Marine Corps in the winter of 1991 just as the Gulf War began. I went to boot camp the following year at 18 years old graduating as a Private.

I was fortunate to be become a combat photographer for the Marine Corps. Over time I would learn print operations and video production as the industry transitioned from traditional film and video tape to digital media.

I documented operations and exercises all over the world. I spent a year’s worth of time living on Navy ships and five years of my career living in Japan. I applied and was selected to become a Marine Corps Combat Camera Warrant Officer. My duties shifted as I became less of a hands-on photographer and more of an administrative department head overseeing personnel, operations, and budgetary matters. I applied and was selected for the rank of Captain and retired as a Marine Corps Major.

2013 I retired and settled in NE Portland. I rented a room in a shared house while completing my credits for a B.S. in Marketing. I attended online courses as well as in-person classes at Portland Community College using my GI Bill benefits. Using vocational rehabilitation benefits, I interned at Silver Eagle Manufacturing assisting with quality control inspections and transitioned their ISO documentation processes from paper to digital format.

I have several entrepreneurial endeavors including long term room rentals in my home, privately branded Ecoglitter, biodegradable glitter, and part ownership of Colorado based NOCO Waterjet Corp. with an old high school friend.

I have continued exploring and engaging the world while retired with extended trips to parts of Asia, hurricane relief support in Puerto Rico and backpacking 1,600 miles of the Pacific Crest Trail.