Bonneville America Forums Forums Off Topic Discussion Forums Lounge Who are you, Why do you live where you live?

Hey all!

I'd figured I'd throw my hat into the ring with this one.

My name is Louis, son of Louis (capt_lou). I was born in '82 in Delaware. Since my father was military, we didn't stay there too long.

We then moved to Ohio and that was were my first memories kind of started. Ohio is where most of my life kind of happened. Elementary, Jr. High, and 2 years of High School. I spent most of my time taking after my father.... challenge authority intelligently. My teachers either loved me or hated me. I was in track and cross country for sports and then I discovered music. I was in band playing clarinet and then discovered guitar and have been playing it ever since. I also learned how to "hack". Many all nighters full of Jolt and modems were wasted. I started the High School's first Computer Club. Computers were my livelihood. Not so much in a geeky way too much. I did all the bad stuff. LoL The stuff you see in movies I guess (e.g. Wargames, Hackers, etc.)

The summer of my 2nd year of High School, we moved again to FL. That was tough for a teen. Two years away from graduating with your life long friends and you move. So, I had to learn how to engage with the other "clicks". That's when I thought it would be great to re-invent myself into the bad kid. Bad idea. Florida is an easy place to find the bad stuff. Also, the school was literally 2 years or so behind northern education. So, I started skipping classes and what not. It was all pretty crazy then.

Fast forward a year of bad stuff...

With being such a good bad kid, I decided in order to be a true I.T. guy I either had to spend 4 years in school or get a job. Well, the only company that would take me w/o true experience was the U.S. Army. My parents loved the fact I was joining. It was a true boot in the arse for me.

I spent the next 7 years in the Army. They truly kicked me into shape (mentally & physically). I fast-tracked through the ranks. I became one of the enterprise admins the 1st Infantry Division had ever had. The Army was truly a great experience for me and I would never change it. I then got put on orders for recruiting and decided that I couldn't do that. I just wanted to do my job so I got out.

I consider Florida home so I decided to try and get back to it. A friend/old boss hooked me up with a job in Tampa and now here I am! Back in Florida where it all started 10 years ago for me.

I'm now junior to the Director of Information Technology for the largest pool supply chain in the Southwest managing over 300 servers, large storage fabric, and network to boot. I'm pretty happy with the way life has gone so far.

As for bike riding, my father said he was going to start and did. He used to ride when he was younger but decided to do it for real now. Anyways, once he got his license and made riding his Triumph Speedy sound like so much fun I decided I should give it a go. Now here I am, riding my beautiful '03 America and so glad I decided to Triumph.

So seeing as how I'm pretty junior in the bike riding world, if there are any techy/I.T. things I can do to help out with the site to contribute, please don't hesitate to ask!