My purpose for creating this page and especially this section, is because I believe it is extremely important to really get to know any person that you may consider entering into a working relationship with. (Most of my closest friends don't even know the information I'm about to share with you here.)
I grew up in a small town called Lake Orion, Michigan...about 20 minutes north of Detroit.
I had what most people would consider a normal upbringing in a working class family.
I was a typical boy...rambunctious, carefree, daredevil, invincible, etc.
Here are a couple of quick stories from my childhood...
Story #1:
When I was young, I thought it would be fun to parachute.
I'd climb up trees and jump down using a garbage bag as my parachute.
I'd climb higher and higher, thinking that if I could just climb a little higher, the garbage bag would slow my fall.
I never could quite climb high enough for the "parachute" to be effective. (Or, maybe the trees we had just weren't tall enough?) :-)
It wasn't for lack of trying though.
Story #2:
For my 12th birthday, I was given a used dirt bike.
It was a Yamaha YZ80.
It was LOUD...
It leaked oil...
But it was FAST!
I LOVED riding that thing!
Supercross was just starting to become a popular thing so I started seeing professional motocross riders, jumping and taking their hands off the handlebars in mid jump.
OH MY GOODNESS!!! That looks INSANE!!!
So you know what that meant!!
I would make a jump in my yard using the biggest tree stump as a base.
I went as fast as possible, hit my home-made jump and in mid air I quickly raised my hands in the air...
Unfortunately, the motorcycle I had wasn't built the same as the ones I saw racing on the tv.
The one major difference was their gas tank (in front of the seat) was made out of plastic...mine was made out of medal.
...and that's exactly where I landed.
Not only did I land squarely on that medal gas tank but my leg landed directly on the piping hot muffler!
OUCH!!!!
It wasn't all bad though...
I played baseball, basketball & football growing up and I loved them all.
Through my childhood, it became apparent that I was best at baseball.
I went on to play through college and had free agent workouts with 7 or 8 MLB teams...Houston Astros, Colorado Rockies, Cincinnati Reds, Atlanta Braves, Milwaukee Brewers and others.
In the end I was told by a scout with the Braves that I had a "major league arm" and that they would like to place me in a southern league but that I was older than what they were looking for.
I decided against it...a decision I regretted for years.
Oh... there was one other impactful thing that happened that year.
Looking back, it was actually one of the reasons why this program exists...