Yo-Hi,
Class of 1964
Student Spotlight
 |
 |
|
**(click on any image for a larger size, use back button to return here)* I left Japan in the summer of '64 and headed to San Diego where I became a student at San Diego State University. In '65, I was very fortunate to land a summer job lifeguarding at the beach in Del Mar. This job would follow me off and on for the next twenty years. In February of '69 I graduated with a degree in electrical engineering. I worked on Minuteman III missle systems for a big company, North American Rockwell in Anaheim. It lasted for about 18 months - I decided I didn't really enjoy the big corporate world or being an engineer. So, I quit the job, bought a backpack and went overland through Mexico, Central and South America, all the way to the very tip, Usuhia, in Patagonia. A high point of the trip was when I connected with another American named Phil and together, we hiked two days through the Amazon jungle, had some natives build us a raft and we floated about 100 miles down a tributary to the town of Atalaya, Peru. This was 1971. It was a wonderful experience and I was bitten by the travel bug big time and have been travelling off and on ever since. After South America, I went almost directly to Europe and toured the continent during the summer of '72 with some friends in a VW bus. Returned home, went back to school (and lifeguarding) and retrained as a science teacher. In '74 I married a sweet lady named Evie (we would split up in '79). We put everything in storage, sub-rented our house and lit off on a 13 month trip around the world - six months in Europe, seven in Asia. Again, travelling on the cheap. My parents still lived in Japan (Hayama) and my father offered to fly us home if we could make it there. I believe we had about $200 to our names when we arrived (1976). In 1977 I landed a job teaching science at a junior high in Oceanside, Ca. It was a great, fun job. After six years, they pulled me out of the classroom on a special one year assignment to go around the county and teach elementary teachers how to teach science (1984). At the end of the year, I had all these wonderful science workshops so I decided to drop out of teaching and start a science video company (1985). The first product was a teacher training video program called "See What Science Is All About". It was a hit and we continued to make science videos for the next 15 years. As a side note, I would occasionally run into Janet DeSmet (Robinson) at the educator's conventions. I think it was those old Mr. Wizard science programs on TV in the 50's that got me interested in science. Well, I had the honor of meeting the guy at one of the science teachers conventions - way cool! Then the internet came along and, as the sale of videos was dwindling, we switched almost exclusively to selling microscopes. On the web, my company, MicroscopeWorld.com looked like a huge corporation but in reality, it was just four of us working out of a building in my backyard. During this time (1992) I met another very wonderful lady named Barb Bolton. If you were at Glenwood Springs in '94, you met her. We have been together ever since and got married in 2005. Microscope World grew quickly and also in 2005, I had the company appraised. The numbers looked good so I sold it and became officially retired at midnight on April 15, 2005. Barb retired from her job (in publishing) in September. Perhaps the biggest physical accomplishment in my life was thru hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. It is a five month journey from Mexico to Canada, some 2600 miles. Barb and I started out together on April 17, 2011. She injured out at Mammoth (mile 906) on June 25th and I went on, arriving at the Canadian border on Sept. 27th. Barb and I continue to enjoy life: Snow skiing, surfing, hiking, swimming, cycling, camping, and, of course, we continue to travel as much as we can. As hobbies, I brew beer and make fun short travel movies of our trips (and...web pages for my yo-hi classmates :~). We live in Encinitas, CA, in the same house Evie and I purchased back in 1977. We have a fun personal website at surfingtandem.com, check it out if you like.
|
|---|
