Anyway, we moved six times after my birth. From Alabama to Kansas (where Megan was born) to Germany (where Henry was born) to New York back to Alabama to Virginia and, finally, to Minnesota (where we got Spike). For all of you who are know Minnesota and are wondering, "why did you all move back to Minnesota, being that there are no major Army installations there?" That's a good question. To answer it bluntly, my father, may his soul rest in peace, died in a helicopter crash in November of 1990. He was even, posthumously, on CNN.

We moved here to Minnesota when I was 13... the summer before 9th grade, the summer of 1991, the summer I bought my first real six-string. That year, the Minnesota Twins won the World Series for the second time in five years, the Soviet Union broke up, and I entered Maple Grove Junior High, home of the Mustangs.

I attended high school at Osseo Senior High School, home of the Orioles. I was on the debate team. I made a bunch of really great friends. Click here.

I entered college in the fall of 1995. I lived in Middlebrook Hall, located on the illustrious West Bank of the University's Twin Cities Campus. Other notable Middlebrook Hall alumni include: my cousin Amy, my current roommate Mike Kampma'ah, the University of Minnesota's equivalent of Tomax & Xamot: Jen Chapman & Joy Jadrich, former student body president Jammer Madia, beauty queen Jessica Abrahamson, raquetball champion Pat Crompton, and all-around-good-guy Mitchell P. Ogden. I lived in the all-time greatest wing in dorm history. The 10's wing of the 5th floor. There, I met a group of perpendicular friends.