I picked up a camera and a wrench around the same time. As a twelve year old living in Taichung Taiwan there was not much to do. The Air Force Base where my dad was stationed had a Photo Dark Room open to family members. On the weekends Dad and I would take bike rides in the Taichung county side. My trusty camera was always with me. I would take the film to the Dark Room and develop the film and make prints. I was mentored by the Sargent running the Dark Room and learned how to develop Black & White film, Color film and color slides. My mentor would provide feedback on my prints and they got better over time. I continued to improve my photographic skills as a member of the High School newspaper and yearbook staff.
The Air Force Based started a youth work program which allows kids to work up to 20 hours a week. I was assigned to the base motor pool where I helped repair vehicles. I developed a love for learning how things worked, repairing broken things and figuring out ways to make them better. Perhaps that was the spark of my interest in engineering.
I attended Los Alamitos High School and took Scuba Diving as one of my Physical Education courses which sparked my love of the ocean and the life below the surface. Living near the Southern California beaches allowed me to scuba dive frequently. I later became a Scuba Diving Instructor.
My High School ran out of Auto Shop courses my junior year. They created a Senior Auto Shop program that allows us to work on cars of paying customers. Our instructor introduced us to the wonderful world of Drag Racing and when not working on customer’s cars we would get our race cars ready for the weekend racing.
I studied Photography my first year of college and Chemistry the second then joined the Navy during my third.
I served six years in the Navy, operating and maintaining a Nuclear Submarine’s propulsion plants.
I started work as a Systems Operator at one of Georgia Power’s Nuclear Plants shortly after honorable discharge from the Navy. After earning my degree in Nuclear Engineering Technology I was transferred to the Training Department to teach newly hired Engineers how the plant’s systems worked. I spent the next thirty years performing Job and Task Analysis, Designing and Developing training materials and conducting presentations.
I use Storyline 360 to develop Human Machine Interface Simulations to allow my students to practice operating plant equipment in the classroom.