Some background info

I thought I would give you some background about myself. I was born and raised in Salt Lake City, Utah. My profession has been in roofing and construction. For most of my adult life I have been a Project Manager with commercial roofing companies in Utah, Connecticut and Ohio. After over thirty years in the roofing industry, I am confident that I know just about everything there is to know about roofing, waterproofing, and the construction associated with those areas. My bread and butter was organizing and running large, often multi-million dollar, projects: schools, office buildings, government and municipal buildings, large condo and home projects, etc.

I have also worked as a roofing consultant for architects and businesses: inspecting buildings, developing maintenance schedules, working up budgets, and, of course, inspecting the work being done. I was always in a unique position, since I had actually worked on the roof for 10 years before coming into the office. So often architects and engineers believe they can do things that can't really be done! It is one thing to put something on paper, or in a drawing, it is another thing all together to actually have to build it! Because I had actually worked in the field, it took a matter of minuetes to be able to look at a drawing to see whether or not it would actually work in the field. I had many archiects that would call me to reveiw their drawings prior to putting them out for bid, just to make sure they had not missed anything. It was such a simple step, taking a few minutes, and yet it saved hours of time in the field, and thousands of dollars in real costs.

For a short time I was hired as the CEO of a large roofing company in Cleveland, Ohio. The company had just gone through bankruptcy, had been purchased by a multi-state roofing company, and had hired me to bring it back from the abyss. This was a tough challenge, with a bad ending. The company had been driven by sales (as most companies are), but had never developed a correct business model. When there was a slight recession, they quickly got into trouble--sales fell, cash flow crashed, and the company collapsed. I had to do what many businesses in the CNMI are having to do: I had to cut costs, develop new sales, and diversify the services we provided so that we could survive during tought times. After three years, I had cut the overhead in half, doubled the sales, developed several new product and service lines, and most importantly, the company had begun to make money again. The bad ending was that I was fired! The owner of the company had five children, and all but one was running their own company (all a part of this large multi-state conglomerate). I was replaced by one of the owner's children. Oh, well, such is life!

In 2000, while living in Utah, I developed back problems and had to have surgery. This put me on my back and in bed for several months. I decided to use this time to try something new--something I had always wanted to do: write a book. That was the start, and now I am a published author, currently working on my 7th book (I have six books currently in book stores). Moving to Tinian will give me the time to expand my writing into areas I have not tried before. I figure I have at least 4 or 5 books in my head right now, so there will be plenty to do! Each book took me at least a year to complete (including editing, etc.), so I have years of work ahead of me.

Which brings me to my beautiful wife Terri. With her working full-time at the clinic on Tinian (i.e., supporting a soon-to-be semi-retired author), Terri will provide me with the time and opportunity to write full time. I feel very blessed! I can only hope that what I have in my mind can translate to the printed page in a way that people will be willing to read my books.

Anyway, that is a little about me. I do have two college degrees: one in Psycology and one in Sociology, with a minor in English (I had planned on being a couselor in school, but found I earned much more money where I was--in roofing, and with a wife and five children, it seemed prudent to follow the money!). Terri and I have always been active in our community. I suppose this comes from our religious leanings--we have been blessed and so we always feel like we have the obligation to give back to the God who gave us life and the people and commutity that provide us with our lifestyle. Time will tell how that will work out on Tinian. Our first goal is just to try to fit in and not make a nusance of ourselves. Then, if time and circumstances will allow, we hope to be an asset to the community in which we live.

Thanks for all the kind words and comments from those who have visited our blog! Frankly, I was surprised anyone but friends and family would be interested. We look forward to getting to know all of you when we get to Tinian and CNMI!