For the most part, I grew up in San Jose, California and
Kekaha, Kauai (Ua mau ke ea o ka aina i ka pono!)
with
some overseas stints in
Wuppertal , Germany
, in
The Marshall Islands
and Brazil .
I went to school at University of California Berkeley , and after graduating (majoring in beer-ology) went to work for Pacific Gas and Electric Co. in San Francisco. But then executives came up with the clever idea of "Hey, let's get rid of all our generation so we can be at the mercy of wholesalers and go bankrupt". (yes, their plan worked brilliantly!) I figured it was time to leave. Then I worked at McKesson Corp , which is one of the world's largest drug dealers. Since then I've worked at various places, currently at SBC/AT&T, one of the world's largest telecoms.
In theory, I'm a Network Engineer and help plan and operate network router backbones. Well, at least that's what our bosses believe. Actually, when they think that we're trying to figure out things like getting Voice-over-IP working, Changing QoS settings in the MPLS cloud, configuring BVIs on Cisco Catalyst 8540 switch routers, or redesigning our WAN links, we're probably just surfing the internet looking for cool web pages...
Is there any greater purpose of life? I love travelling and soccer, so I decided to combine the two and develop the Abseits Guide to Germany, a soccer touring guide. Not exactly Baedeker or Fieldings, but what do you expect for the price? I used to be a decent player; here is a recent photo of me in action. Pretty neat, eh?
My favorite club is of course the legendary Wuppertaler SV. All other clubs pale in comparison. Among other clubs I like, at least when they're not facing Wuppertal, are Schalke 04 in Germany. My favorite English club is the mighty Leyton Orient, and of course Celta de Vigo in Spain. On this side of the pond, Atlas of Guadalajara.
Of course, my favorite US club was the local San Jose Earthquakes. After a long spell of doing nothing but suck, the Quakes finally got new management and put it all together in 2001, winning the MLS title! Of course, they started life as the San Jose Clash, and they were total crap, usually the worse team in the league. In fact, they sucked so much that management decided to change the name to the Earthquakes in 1999, in a blatant lame-ass attempt to pull the wool over the fans eyes. Finally, they got the picture and fired themselves, and the club was on track. We won two titles and then the owners stabbed the fans in the back and moved the club to Houston...
As far as the minor sports (i.e. everything except soccer) are concerned, like most Bay Area residents, I cheer for the usual suspects: 49ers, Giants, A's, Sharks, and Cal Bears . It's useful to watch these guys occasionally when you have nothing else to do and some extra beer in the frig...
Below are some mugshots of Mi Familia...
