The Beginning

I was born in Haverhill, Massachusetts to Marcia Walker and David Tidd. I was raised on a large junkyard/farm in Georgetown, an upper-middle-class, all-white suburb north of Boston. Not many people grow up on junkyard/farm hybrids, so let me break it down; our property was a 10-acre patch, most of which was covered by old cars, tires, a large garage and barn, and other various car pieces. My father's family had owned the junkyard (and a gas/service station downtown) since the 40's or 50's, and my father inherited and moved into the house before I was born.

The farm part was another story; the backyard became a small fenced-in half acre, where our pet goats, pig, chickens, ducks, rabbits and other animals were kept. Some pens were entirely house/sheds that were bought; most of them were designed by my father, usually with a truck cap roof, and walls made from a potpurri of woods and car windows. My mother kept a nice vegetable garden in the backyard, and grew some various fruits in the front yard; I grew up loving fruit, and gained a taste for rhubarb.

I grew up with my half-sister Kelly, who was six years older, from my Mom's previous marriage. I had two half-brothers, Rick and Pete, from my dad's earlier marriage; they were around the yard at various stages of my childhood, but were 15+ years older than me. My mother went back to work, first part time, then full time after I was born. My father became the saty-at-home parent; partially because of his aversion to day-care, and partially to begin retiring from work in his early 40's. One of my earliest memories involves his throwing pots and pans around in a drunken rage while I was three.

I began to read at a very young age, and was soon reading children's books on my own. I would absolutely absorb anything my father said, learning models and makes of cars; when we drove anywhere, I would play the identify-that-car game, where I would have to name the make and model (and possibly the year) of every vehicle on the road. It was something to learn, which I loved, and I was also preparing for a life working on cars. Most of my free time in childhood was spent in front of the television, or playing with toys - usually with games I would make up myself. I made a fake baseball diamond and played baseball with my Topps baseball card teams, or played with Ninja turtles or GI Joes or legos. Sometimes i would make army men and tanks out of paper, and go to war on the livingroom floor. My father had a collection of metallic markers - silver and gold were my favorites - so I would create gold and silver armies and have them fight.

Early School

I began school in Kindergarten, allowing my mother to go back to working full-time. School was okay, but I found everything kind of easy and boring. The only things I remember about early class is meeting some friends, like Ben Fazio-Carter and such, and somehow having some test that we took end up seperating everyone. A lot of the kids I knew got held back (I believe it was a new phase called 'transitional' or something), so I ended up in the next grade up with kids I didn't really know.

In first grade I began pursuing girls more - my neighbor Alison, first, then a girl from down the street named Christie. I remember sitting on the bus on day, giving her a silly plastic ring I had bought her. My sister was at the end of middle-school, on the same bus, and did not approve of my actions; she threatened to tell our parents on me if I kept it up. 'Go ahead', I said, and kissed Christie on the cheek. My sister was furious.

I kept up my girl hunting in 2nd grade, going after a girl name Kylie, in my grade, who was smart and nerdy. I would go over her house, up to her huge 2nd-floor room, and just stand aghast at all the toys - most of them horses or dolls of some kind. I would ask what she wanted to play with...but she wasn't really up for playing with toys. She was a sweet, cute girl, but had this curious way of pausing to take a breath between syllables. I was about to give up on girls - if they couldn't come up with anything cool to play, even with all those toys, what good were they?

I was a pretty big baseball fan growing up - I would watch baseball (and Star Trek: The Next Generation) with my parents at night. My dad took me in to one game at Fenway when I was 8 or so; the Tigers beat the Red Sox something like 8-3 or 11-3 (either I was 8, and the score was 11, or I was 11 and the score was 8). My dad complained about the traffic and the crowd the entire time, swearing and getting mad. We never went to Fenway again.

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My father would routinely rant about politicians - "Politicians are assholes" he would say.

Little League

I played little league for two seasons, I think. Our tiny town had 6 teams, and I was on the Royals (blah!). We had some great older kids my first year, but by my second year they had moved on. My first year I was in the outfield, a little third base - not too strong of an arm, not a great hitter either. By the time I was 13 or 14 and wanted to join Babe Ruth league, a friend and I went to the tryouts; we watched for a while, and were so afraid at being outclassed that we didn't even try out. I didn't play again until softball league at work last year (and I injured myself out of that).

So here's some memories:

1) I was playing first during a game, and at the end of the inning some jerk in the outfield threw a ball in as hard as he could. It rolled and hit the ball of my ankle, as hard as I've ever been hit by anything. The next day it had ballooned into a large, purple-yellow mass of a bruise. I never really got it checked out, but that thing got real purple and hard in the middle, right on my bone. It stayed with me for about 6 months, finally shrinking away that winter.

2) I was never that great of a hitter, but had a pretty good eye, and would walk regularly. When I saw my first curveball - wow. This kid threw one that looked like it was going to hit me in the back - so I moved toward the plate, like a goof, and got hit in the buttcheek. The ump ruled that it was my fault - I moved right into it. He threw it a second time, and I moved again, getting hit in the thigh. So on the third pitch, I see it coming for my shoulder again - and swing as hard as I can, as if it were right down the middle. Lined a double off of that sucker. Screw you, little-league curveballer.

3) Defensive highlight for me was in my second year, when I was moved to second base due to my agility. I performed an unassisted triple play in little league. i almost forget the exact details - I believe it was a hit and run, runners on first and second, and the hitter lined it into the gap up the middle (to my right). I dove and caught it, and shocked everyone (including myself). The momentum brought me to second, where I hit the bag, and the guy on first was still running towards me, head down, so I tagged him. Stupid, little-league baserunning, but man that was a highlight.

4) I has always wanted to pitch - I had decent aim, and thought I could outwit hitters. But my throwing motion was three-quarters, almost toward sidearm, and the coach didn't like my motion - he said it had 'a hitch' in it that he thought would cause me injury. So I pitched BP a few times, but never a game - until I was brought in in a blowout. I was so pumped - I threw three strikes, struck the batter out...and then was replaced. He was really scared I was going to injure myself. Haven't really pitched since.

And, the worst ever:

5) During practice one time, I was in left field, next to some parents and families, and I caught a deep fly. The coach said 'throw it home, Mike!' So I tried to show off my arm, and wound up with all my might to toss home - and sure enough, the pure expulsion of effort caused me to pass gas, I'm talking explosively loud. I had to stand there and hang my head in shame, as I heard people laughing - even the coach hear it from the first base line. He was giggling, trying to stifle his laughter with his clipboard.

Years later, my mom would still pick on me when we were outside - 'Throw it home, Mike!' and my whole family would just explode in laughter.

Middle School

Middle school was really the beginning of my social development. Grades 3-6 I started to have a little humor come out, while attending Penn Brook school. I also got some good friends, and began being a real nerd - playing D+D and board game equivalents. I got a Nintendo (my mom called it a NoFriendo), and even a Super Nintendo. Fun consisted of playing wall-ball, HeroQuest, PTO, and other Nintendo games with friends. Nothing like Double Dragon or Battletoads with mom! I was still acing everything, probably #2 or #3 student in my grade. Math was still my strength; one of my strongest memories is of 'Around the World', a math game where the teacher would pair up students, as them to multiply a figure in their heads, and whoever got it first stayed in; the other person sat down. The game routinely ended with me and one other student, and I remember winning a few times. I wasn't the nerdiest kid - others could maintain more knowledge - but I was slightly faster, getting slightly wittier.

Fun consisted of going over friends houses, playing board games, watching wrestling, even pretending to do stupid wrestling moves ourselves. I dabbled in comic books for a short while, mainly X-Men and some Marvel comics, later the more interesting and darker Image comics. I read a lot of fantasy novels - Lord of the Rings, Terry Brooks, David Eddings, and a liberal amount of Stephen King, who was one of my mother's favorites. My mother suggested I grow my hair out, so eventually my hair got a long tail in the back, something like a mullet. Not cool.

I was routinely singled out by teachers, who commented or complimented me on writings and work I had done; I was sent to a testing center a few times, not only for PSATs, but also some special testing for Johns Hopkins, some gifted child or special achievement stuff. I used to fantasize that I had hidden psychic or telekenetic powers, and that I would be brought into a lab where they would do experiments and unleash the gift; but alas, I was just a pale boy.

High School

Music was coming around - I liked Pearl Jam and the grunge thing happening, very much Soundgarden and Alice in Chains. I started to get into real heavy stuff for a while - Anthrax, Pantera, Suicidal Tendencies, Megadeath, Iron Maiden - and bought a bunch of tapes to show how into it I was. But I didn't really listen to it - and when I did, I wasn't excited. I had grown up on Billy Joel, Neil Young, and the Muppets christmas tape; my short time as a goth kid, wearing all black, being pale, and listening to heavy dark music, was just a front.

My hair grew into a ponytail, as I saw older 'cool' kids have them - not mainstream, jock cool-kids, types, but artsy, gutiar-playing guys, like my sister's friend Gus (Keith Crosson) and the younger Belleville brother (Steve). Some friends of mine grew their hair out, friends like Shane Sanford and Matt Weiser dying theirs bright colors. I kept mine natural, except for one ill-fated attempt at dying it purple using Kool-aid. I was anti-social, in taht I experienced social anxiety around people, crowds - even walking in the halls at school. I tried to keep my ehad down, keep quiet...but occasionally, around friends and in honors classes, my wit and jackass nature came through.

Around 8th and 9th grade, some of my friends started going in a different direction; being a bored white suburb, there were drugs available, and drinking. Some guys started to get into that, but I wasn't interested. Despite having some great friendships, I sort of broke off from several of my middle-school friends as they chose other paths. I kept playing D+D, reading, and got into lighter music - Gin Blossoms, Dave Matthews, Duncan Sheik. I secretly listened to the Jurassic Park soundtrack and some Vivaldi, and also the Eagles Unplugged album. Later I was transfixed by the Fleetwood Mac reunion, The Dance, on VH1. When the local band was looking for a replacement bassplayer, my friend Joe thought I would be perfect, even though I had never played anything. I picked up a bass at 16 and quickly learned how to play, joining them for concerts at small local venues, being driven around by older friends.

It was 9th grade that I discovered girls. Since 3rd grade those feelings of attraction had laid dormant, and it was probably the sudden springing up of breasts on the girls around me that clued me back in to the whole thing. But girls in Georgetown were boring - I had been around the same 30 girls my whole life. A few new girls transferred in from Lawrence, apparently attempting to utilize our better school system; I managed to get to know them and talk to them, and somehow my dark-yet-sweet, quiet-yet-intelligent demeanor intrigued them, and differentiated my from the high school masses. But these girls were from a bigger school, a bigger city; and I was no good at flirting, interacting, hell even looking straight at girls I found attractive. So I developed some rather intense feelings, while chatting with them on the phone over the months, yet stayed awkwardly distanced in person. I pretty much set myself up for some hgh-school heartbreak.

It was 10th grade that I stepped down from playing D+D (although I would continue playing Vampires for another year or so). I was around the table with my friends, creating another storyline at the last minute, as they enjoyed their characters progression through the fantasy land I had created...and it was really great, to see how much impact my writing and imagination had. But I had moved on to boxers from briefs, and I needed to move on from dice and games to touching girls. I apologized and we ran our last great quest, which was beautiful. Then, I stopped playing, and closed out my game. I had played D+D in some form since probably 3rd grade, and it had opened up my creativity and imagination like nothing else could.

In 11th grade I reevaluated what I wanted in a relationship, in a girlfriend. I ditched the idea of dating social, cheerleader-type girls, and went for girls more like me - quiet, sweet, intelligent, emotional. That works out decently well, at first - I ended up with a sweet, quiet Indian girl, but her parents were rather religious and over-protective. I wasn't allowed to see her, they didn't approve of me, and they treated her horribly. I began to garner a knowledge of religion (before then an alien construct), and a deep dislike of the divisions and poor parenting it caused. But when my girl's mother sat outside crying one day after seeing the two of us embrace, it was time to stop the pain; I broke it off and went into my final high school summer.

I finally got a job at 17, over the summer.  My uncle was blind and diabetic, and he lived in and old folks’ home in my town - "Wrinkle Village", my mom called it.  He got me the job as helper/lawnmower, for $7.50 an hour – for the time, that wasn’t bad.  I worked all summer, saving up for my first car (1989 Ford Probe), and, at the time, thinking of all the Vampire books I could buy with each hour's labor.  My dad was nice enough to drive me to/from work.

At the time I had long hair and played bass, so the three normal working guys there ribbed me, for being a hippy kid.  One of them, a total dub named Deke, called me 'ganja-boy' often.  Funny, too, because I never smoked the stuff.  I learned how to use a lawnmower (I never mowed my parents lawn, or really did any chores - total selfish kid), learned a little about the oil and stuff - but to this day, reading the oil gauge on a mower makes no sense to me.  It always looks like this:

 

-  oil mark here

 

 

 

 

 

 

-  "full"

 

 

- "empty"

 

and I'm always confused by that.  Is the oil always being pressured halfway up the dipstick?  Or am I the dipstick?

I thought the time outside would give me a tan, but it really only tanned my forearms; I took to telling people I had a skin condition, that some virus had wiped out most of the melatonin from my skin.  For my 15 and 30 minute breaks, which I treasured, I would eat Pringles and string cheese, and play on their piano in the rec room.  The place was deserted - the old folks stayed in their houses.  After 3 months, my summer was over, and I had money. 

That whole summer, I hung out with friends, played music and games, and goofed around.  I had an AP English reading list that I completely ignored - we were supposed to send in reports, OVER THE SUMMER, on these god-awful books - [I]Hundred Years of Solitude[/I] bad.  My final rebellion was saying FU to them.  My English teacher sawed off his thumb over the summer, so I was banking on him being out or replaced.  Unfortunately, there he was, thumbless, waiting for my reports on the first day. 

I dropped AP English soon after.  And in college, my English testing placed me out of any requirement anyway.  That, and the 800 on that SAT section.  Screw you, high school!!  hahahaha. 

By the end of the summer I could afford to buy a 1989 Ford Probe, my first car, with some financial help from my grandmother. Finally, after scoring no luck with any other ladies, I sent a letter to my sweetheart from Junior year, and we realized we missed each other. We decided to reunite, and try to brave the religious and other troubles - despite the fact that she was headed to college, and I was only a senior.

Senior year was a breeze - I dropped the hard classes (like AP English), and coasted through, mainly intent to enjoy the kind of high school status. I was finally blossoming socially, not scared of people anymore, and developing into the person I wanted to be - finalizing my development, letting my creativity run wild with writing and music, going out with buddies and enjoying all that high school had to offer - all that I had been missing. I worked after school, getting a job with Joe at the corner drugstore - a fantastic, 50's style soda fountain. I became somewhat lazy, letting my brain relax for the first time in years. Eventually I realized I had almost missed signups for the SATs; I breezed in to the testing one day, after getting about 4 hours sleep, and ripped through the test. I was more intent o the cute girl across from me, and chatting with her, than on the exam; when I finished I was guessing on some questions, and expected that I had done pretty poorly. When I got the grades a few weeks later, I had gotten 720 out of 800 on the Math portion, and had scored perfect on the English portion. I was too lazy and impressed with myself to schedule a second exam; I applied to a few schools, most of which I chose randomly: Harvard, Emerson, Northern Essex, and UMass Amherst. I hadn't thought about where I wanted to go to college, but only knew I would be going. I toured Emerson and got an excellent package offer; but the college was spread throughout the city, and seemed unfriendly, urban, city. Amherst was a college town, a heaven of fields and architecture, a city of collegiate youth. I had made up my mind on where I would spend the next 4 years.

College

UMass Amherst was a different world; a fantastic education, a city of friends, a musical community, and an opportunity to find who I was, and define who and what I wanted to be. The classes I took were but a tiny fraction of the actual education I received, learning more about my life and my personality in those brief two years than I had in an entire 18 previous ones. To anyone considering staying at home and commuting to college, or forcing their children to stay at home and attend a local school within commuting range: don't. If you want them to grow up, mature, and come to terms with who and what they are going to be, this is the time. Sure, they will make mistakes, experiment, do stupid things - but this is when you want them doing it. Otherwise, having never been on their own, the child will not develop as fast, not be as sure of themselves and their decisions, and will make poor choices later - throughout their early 20s, even late 20s. Being on your own forces you to choose the first friends, the right path - and you learn from every bad decision. I understand the desire to keep them from making those choices, but all you do is prolong the maturation period, and put off the inevitable stupidity of youth.

Anyway - UMass was fantastic. I began as an idealistic English major; I was offered a spot in the Talent Advancement Program, or TAP, for talented English majors; but the program was offered only on a high floor of a tower in SouthWest, meaning I would have to live with the same 30 other students all the time, and in the stench and silliness of the urban high rise, to boot. That didn't seem like fun, so I opted for the Engineering section of Amherst, or NorthEast, where the brick architecture screamed New England. Some fellow high schoolers attended UMAss, but I very rarely saw or interacted with them amongst the 25,000 or so students. My first semester I concentrated on my studies, signing up for classes late (again, lazy) but pulling a 3.92 GPA. I tested out of all basic requirements - English, Math, and second language (French), obtaining all the good parts of the AP classes except college credit.

I began to worry, however, about job placement and finances after college; an English degree had always been my goal, but that was simply because I showed slightly more of a knack for that than any other subjects, and because of my want to express myself. But English majors weren't making tons of money; many weren't even getting jobs. Some wanted to be teachers, journalists, editors - but most ended up in an office, entry-level positions. n top of that, English wasn't really a big challenge to me - I took an entry class in English Lit, analyzing some more difficult works like Keats' poetry and short stories. I exerted minimal effort, getting a B-. Meanwhile, computers were the rage - I had one class in entry-level web design, and found a knack for that as well. ComSci was a better-paying major, with some graduates making $65k or so, instead of the $35k I was looking at post-graduation. I decided to switch majors.

I took a work study job doing website design for the School of Education, designing some websites for the professors, the department, and the conferences they had. I also took an assistant TA'ing job with the web design course, holding office hours and helping students with projects and concepts. I began to play guitar more than bass, listening to the normal college bands - Dave Matthews, Guster, Phish, Pink Floyd, etc. I would write songs and jam with anyone and everyone - the local Jesus guy, Jared, to the natural musician down the hall, Pablo. I would jam with the Pearl Jam fan lead guitarist, the stoner dudes - I learned a ton about music and how to play with others, the give and take, and natural organic music. That was much different than the power-chord, distortion-laced formula my high school band had use; eventually, I found the need to quit that band, and started writing music on my own. Soon I started a 5-piece back home, which we called Empty Orchard.

Some classes, like the GenEds, I would skip for weeks at a time; Nutrition, for example, I did better in when I studied alone, coming to class only to ace a quiz or test. I found the walk to and from class, and the 45 to 75 minutes sitting there, was a waste, when I could learn the material faster and more efficiently on my own. I also had problems learning from our Physics professor, who decided to try out a new method of teaching physics; by avoiding equations altogether and just teaching the concepts. This was great, until it came to the tests, which all involved equations. I wrote to him and his fellow professor, saying that this approach was not working, for me at least, and if they were going to completely redesign the way physics would be taught, then maybe they should re-do the exercises and testing accordingly; or better yet, do this in a focus group or controlled setting, rather than choosing to do this during a class I was mortgaging my future to take. The professor responded, saying: Mr. Tidd, you have a bad attitude. I blew that text up, and pasted it to my ceiling, so that I would awake to that every morning: Mr. Tidd, you have a bad attitude. Over 65% of the class ended up with a failing grade, forcing a major bell curve.

My second year at Amherst didn't go so well; the girlfriend and I had a stressful relationship, with her not being emotionally well or stable with me away, despite my mother picking me up and bringing me home every two weeks or so. A lot of the college group was into drinking or drugs, and I wasn't; when my code projects inevitably failed to compile, I would turn to video games to get my mind off of things. I became a video game junky, playing StarCraft and Counter-Strike online, incessantly. I ignored women on campus - I was good friends with a few, but kept romance out of it, even when girls were inebriated or otherwise made themselves available. I was stupidly loyal, idealistic. A romantic at heart.

At the end of my second year, I had stopped going to some classes altogether - Calculus 2, Physics 2 - I was playing video games or detached entirely. I ran up a bill on my credit card, even though I was already horribly in debt due to school loans, and just didn't care. My girlfriend was entertaining thoughts of leaving or cheating, or both; the stress of the relationship and dealing with someone years behind me in maturity was tearing me apart. I looked at the girls I was become friendly with at UMass - mature, capable, energetic, worldly. Girls that could drive themselves around. Girls that could handle living on their own, making their own decisions. Girls that knew something great when they had it. I longed to date a grown up girl...but left college and moved back home, resigned to the fact that I would be with my girl forever, stuck somewhere in between husband and father.

Back in northeast Massachusetts, I quickly enrolled in community college, to try to get my mental well being back, and to rebuild my confidence, hopefully picking up some cheap college credits on the way. I tried to figure out what to do - I planned to keep trying the Computer Science angle, learning to code or do IT stuff or something similar. My backup plan was to use my healthcare and pharmacy experience, so I studied that in my spare time. I picked up as much work as I could back at the pharmacy, living upstairs from my parents in Georgetown, and playing music with the band. We played shows, from fall of 2001 to spring of 2003, in various areas around New England, from Maine down to New Jersey. Eventually I moved from community college back to UMass Lowell into their ComSci program. Lowell was a dirty town, with poor parking for students and an unfriendly feel; I tried to blend in and learn the C++ language, but found myself excelling in Discrete Mathematics, and barely treading water in programming. My life was afloat, but between Lowell, living at home, the needy girlfriend, and working my high school job, it was less than ideal.

Corporate World

In early 2003 I applied for a corporate pharmacy job; I had recently got my Pharmacy Tech certification, and was looking for more stable employment with full benefits, rather than the hourly, no-benefit job I was working. However, my long hair scared the nervous, white hiring manager off; it was July before I was called back for a second interview and offered a position. I accepted gladly, soon moving into the 9 to 5 cubical world, to have a schedule that matched my girlfriend more closely. A 40-hour a week job was stable and secure, and gave me a foothold in the corporate world, which I could use to impress, move up, maybe become a manager or move into IT. I was looking at a backup plan while I figured out what to do about college and my degree.

The corporate environment was odd, with the politics, the lazy, older employees, and the fear and resistance to change. In stark contrast to my days waiting on customers and doing actual, physical work for hours upon hours, cubicle employees works at computers, slowly, lazily, taking calls, making calls, taking breaks, venting about how they didn't like this or that. There was a lot of blabbing; I pretty much kept to myself, learning the craft, being quiet and productive, and shining when I could.

I had a hiccup when my girlfriend and I broke up, about a month into my employment; she really hit me hard, emotionally devastating me with as much as she could - dating a new guy, making a slew of bad decisions, ignoring my feelings, any respect for me or our relationship - heck, any respect for herself. I tried to hang on, to prove my love somehow; I argued with her via emails from my desk at work, tried to convince her (and myself) that staying together was the better choice. I was found out at work, and taken aside about my over-use of email; I had trouble focusing at work, and became detached, depressed.

As my ex continued to call me, give me status updates about her new relationship(s), and put my heart through the grinder, I entered a very deep hole. I was working in a cube farm, deep in debt from college, watching old, divorced, predatory, scummy guys pick up my young love, sitting impotent as her decisions cracked the foundations of my thoughts about compassion, friendship, care, respect - and as if that wasn't enough, my Red Sox lost an unbelievably bitter series against the Yankees, missing the world series. I ate little or nothing, shrinking to the skinniest I had ever been. My spirit and my will bent, as far as they ever had before. But they did not break. Not quite. I calmed myself, collected myself. I envisioned some woman, some future companion that I was destined to be with, holding me, comforting me, healing my spirit. She had black, curly hair, and sweet, dark eyes - but I could see no more.

Dreaming of this vision, I put my daily life on auto-pilot; I learned about money, became adept at handling finances. I took the opportunity to work a second job, to maximize my income, and pay off my debts. Within a short time I had made amazing progress, paying off all my outstanding school loans. Soon I had paid off all credit cards - and as I got promotions and raises, I began to accumulate wealth. I stayed away from women, giving my heart time to heal, which I thought was a mature decision - and wow, did it pay off. By the time I was ready to date again, instead of jumping at the wrong women - the easy marks, bad choices that didn't fit with me in any real sense - I took my time, went on a lot of first dates, eventually finding a great girl from California. She was in the Boston area for school, and I began seeing her regularly, and even visited her in San Francisco for a while, taking my first flight, and first real vacation. It was the first time off I had taken, after working every day for a year straight; it was also a year to the day after my breakup. I was headed in a new, healthier direction.

I continued working in Byfield for another year, making contacts, eventually supervising a team of 7 employees - scheduling, training, and getting to learn all the intricacies of managing older employees. I learned the new Oracle software system they had in place, becoming a resident expert, training others and helping to troubleshoot the systemic problems users encountered. Eventually I was being looked at for an IT position at the home office in Florida; soon I was offered the job, a flat $45,000 per year, but with travel expenses, training, and all kinds of benefits. I had won, getting further than I would have been after graduation, but at 24. I took the job, and began flying down to Florida, mingling with high-priced Oracle consultants and other staff. Eventually I began to distinguish myself further as a motivated, capable employee, teaching whole classes and taking on new responsibilities - QA, troubleshooting, helping out development.

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Floriduh

I still remember the first time I stepped off a plane in Orlando, in August of 2005. The humidity was unbelievable - it was like a jungle. I immediately sweated unbearably, even at 10pm. I quickly fell in with the Oracle consultants that made up my team, as well as the employees of the Lake Mary branch of Priority HealthCare. The corporate feel down here was much different - there were few dress shirts, and not ties; guys wore polos or loose shirts. They had casual jeans days on Friday. The average employee was

After a series of mergers I was forced to relocate to Florida, so I bought my first property with the help of some great friends in the area. I bought a 2 bedroom condo to allow for a roommate, for exra income, security, and companionship. I engrossed myself in Florida life and work, striving to pay off my asset as quickly as possible, and rise through the ranks to development or management. Eventually I was given titles of Systems Analyst, Business analyst, and finally Lead Business Analyst, beforing transferring to the new Orlando home office. There I had to learn an older, more archaic technology, but again managed to learn my craft and distinguish myself. I met Ligia, a fantastic Colombian woman who I slowly courted; we kept our relationship discrete and private, so that no one in the office knew.

Charlotte

After Ligi moved to Charlotte, I thought the relationship was over - it was a great year, a beautiful time in my life, and despite my growing connection and adoration for her, her moving on was best for her finances and career. But as the weeks turned into months, I realized life in Orlando was empty somehow. I loved the bachelor guy life, tennis and goofing around with the friends I had made, playing pranks and getting promoted at work. But, much like my last year at UMass Amherst, I began to have that feeling that my time there was coming to an end...that I was meant to move on.

I visited Charlotte a few times, trying to see if that city was a fit for me - music, culture, education, jobs. I began to be pleasantly surprised - there was a AAA baseball stadium right by the house we had decided to purchase...a fantastic uptown district, with libraries and museums and corporate headquarters...and lots of little cafes, live music, and good concerts. I began to apply for jobs in the Charlotte area, using my connections with LASH and other healthcare firms - there were no bites, but some contract offers and nibbles. I bided my time and waited for something to really smack me in the face, tell me it was the right move.

In September I got the job offer I had been waiting for - it was healthcare, not pharmacy, but rather technical. Pay was great, small company...it seemed like a perfect fit, and they were anxious for me to start. They would offer some relocation and good benefits. I took a final visit to Charlotte, and caught a John Cowan bluegrass show at a local theater. Yep, this city was calling my name. Despite the preconceptions I had of living in the real South, and North Carolina in general (red state, confederate flag, NASCAR, Wal-Mart, churches, and banjo), I took the chance and moved up. I couldn't have taken a better chance.

Since moving to Charlotte, I've enjoyed life more than ever, attending cultural events, concerts, vacationing up and down the Carolinas, and seeing what the world has to see. I've got a great job, a great house, and a wonderful relationship. I have a band and a few buddies to play tennis with - really, friends is my biggest weakness; it took almost a year and a half to get some great friends in Orlando, but I've spent nearly that long in Charlotte without the same results - mainly because I differ so extremely from most folks here, even in the music scene. I feel California calling, a little - maybe after my CD is released, or when it is time to start my own company. :)

Mike + Ligi Timeline

Summer '05
- I start flying down to Lake Mary, first meet Ligi + everyone in person
Spring '06 - I move to Winter Park in Feb.
- Canoe trip with Ligi
- trip to Ft Lauderdale to see King Tut exhibit, met Alex, Sonja
- Ligi cooks me dinner
summer '06
- Downtown Disney, Pirates of the Caribbean
- First Kiss
- Red Sox games in Tampa, Dali Museum, Holocaust museum, awesome upscale breakfast place
- Disney, mini-golf with Alex
Fall/Winter '06
- Cruise to Nassau/Half Moon Cay, horseback riding, towel animals
- Camping trip to northwest Florida - Grayton Beach - Christmas visit to NY, NH
Feb/March/April '07 - Hearst job offer/interview, exploring Charlotte, house purchase, drive up, family/Scott met us
Summer '07 - job offers, CuraScript promotion. Anniversary present - huge TV for Ligi! Knights game.
August '07 - job offer from MedData, interview, concert at Neighborhood Theater - John Cowan
Sept '07 - planned the move, visited NH again, last round of Sox games, goodbye from CS
Oct '07 - started new job, moving in, dogs, painful. Red Sox won the World Series!!
nov '07 - Ligi's Bday, dinner at Buca. Renaissance Fair. Michelle visited w/Randy. turkey day! NICE Edwin McCain @ Neighborhood Theatre
dec '07 - Ligi's friend Mikey visited, breakfast + airport dropoff, Xmas in charlotte, hernandezeseses visited. Body worlds exhibit.
Winter '08
- Wisdom teeth out, Crab took care of me
Spring '08
- Wilmington, NC - wedding, dancing, battleship
- Carnival Cruise to Mexico, Mayan ruins
- started vegetable Garden
- Hernandez family visited, trip to Biltmore estate
- Galileo lost, hunt
Summer '08
- June 4-game AAA redsox series - Clay Buchholz signature!
- SouthPark concert on July 3rd, fireworks
- July 4th Knights game, fireworks
- Anniversary dinner @ upstream, Glen Phillips/Antje Duvekot show @ evening muse - got kelly birthday signed CD
- Gaelic Storm, last minute tix!
- Dark Knight in Imax uptown
- John Mayer concert
- labor day trip to Charleston SC, Yorktown, SC Aquarium, huge bridge - lost pictures, grrr
- guy's trip to Orlando, Tampa Bay, Miami - batting cages, Dave + Busters, adult entertainer incident
- work trip to Boston, seeing Fenway, luxury hotel, catching buses to meet Crab at Logan, bus to Dover NH
- the Fair w/family, Byfield reunion, old friends reunion downtown, Cheesecake factory lunch
Winter '08
- Tanya's wedding
- Kelly + Kias visited, Biltmore trip again - angry waitress, Pompeii exhibit, fish taco, NoDa browsing, David Sedaris reading
- Traces show
- Renaissance Fair, work group
- Duncan Sheik show, meeting, signatures, new CD
- Rain: Beatles tribute
- Thanksgiving in NYC, drive around manhattan, colombian food, 70th birthday celebration (tears), late night of Uno
- Boys of the Lough celtic xmas concert, signatures
- Dan Tyminski Band concert
- Christmas eve @ Evelyns, 12 days of CrabMas, big turkey!
- Mountain Brook cabin in western NC, Biltmore visit again, chocolate factories, audiobook time
- Charlotte First Night 2009

2009

- Barber of Seville Opera – 1/29/09

- Belly Dance show @ McGlohon – 3/9/09

- Mariachi Band @ McGlohon – 3/22/09

- First in-studio session in years in south Charlotte
- Beethoven @ Belk Theatre, 4/4/09
- Turandot Opera, 4/16/09

- Charlotte Knights AAA opener
- guys trip to Tampa, Miami again – Phillies, Sox games
- trip to Colombia - Cartagena, Cali – 5/22 – 6/1

- The Fray, Jack’s Mannequin, first show at new Ampitheater

- Idiots and Angels premier – 6/18/09, Mcglohon

- Independence Day in Asheville, surrounding areas – Biltmore

- Flew up for Al’s wedding 8/8/09

- Charlotte Knights/PawSox AAA series

- Edwin McCain at the Fillmore – 8/29/2009

- Labor day in Charleston South Carolina!  Trip, met with Kevin/Andrew – 9/5/09

- Adam’s wedding, 9/13/09 – Attacking Salem!  Dinner with Kias. 

- Trip north for family/NH Fair season, reunions, 10/1/09 – annual boston day, Sushi, pool, ping pong + the rain

- Brian Adams solo acoustic – 10/25/09

- Mike’s first time on-stage in years – open mic 11/3/09

- Renaissance Fair – 11/15/09

- second open mic with IRA, 11/17/09

- John McCutcheon folk performance, 11/22/09
- Disney World trip in November with the Hernandezes, Garrett

 

2010

-Jan 8th Vivaldis Four Seasons
-Jan 24th La Boheme opera
-Feb 4th Spring Awakening
-Feb 21s Led Zep cover act
-Feb 26th Trey Anastasio with BCP
-March 14 Carmen opera
-March 20th Celtic Crossroads last-min front row
-BCP show at Elwoods
-Apr/May trip to Myrtle Beach
-John Leguizamo one-man show
-crab family visit, carlos/flori
-July trip to Europe - NYC cruise, Paris, Ireland, proposal
-John Mayer/Train show
-DMB live show
-wedding site hunting in Asheville
-wedding site hunting in Blowing Rock
-Estrogen-Fest 2010, girls in town
-trip to San Fran/Hawaii