One memory that sticks out is when I was three or four years old I fed our dog sweet potatoes under the kitchen table. As a result, the dog scarfed them down and then proceeded to throw them up all over the carpet in the living room. I was caught and had to sit and finish dinner until my plate was clear. To this day I still don’t like sweet potatoes.
What is the greatest accomplishment of your life?
One of the things I am most proud of is receiving my doctoratal degree in Educational Leadership. Building off my Masters thesis, I was able to take a closer look at the partnership between school and afterschool programs. As a result, the community in which I did my research adopted some of the recommendations from the study.
Who is your hero?
I have been blessed with many mentors throughout my life. Some of these include my Grandmother Betty, my High School Vice Principal Don Bates, my former boss Carol James, Dr. Terry Peterson. These people helped me either straighten up, explore my creativity, and understand the worst someone can say is no when you offer an idea and to be unafraid to shake a hand and take a card.
What are you most thankful for?
I am most thankful for being a Dad. My two kids are amazing people that have taught me so much over the years. Things I never thought I could do, like making a 13 layer Jello cake for a birthday party, or having a pancake breakfast from a backpack on the river while fishing. I am most thankful for having a loving family no matter where we are.
What skill would you most like to learn?
I would like to learn how to paint better. After many years of watching Bob Ross, combined with my college job of residential and industrial painting, I’ve always had an affinity for taking to canvas. Once I get started, there are usually too many colors, overlapping shapes, and not the mountain scene in my head that I wanted to paint. Practice makes perfect.
What is one thing that instantly makes your day better?
I would have to say that no matter where I am, camping, getting ready for work, at a conference, or on vacation, that first sip of morning coffee gives me a calm and a chance to mentally relax.
What’s your biggest pet peeve?
My biggest pet peeve is unfriendly people, or those who think they are better than someone else because of status, money, or perceived importance. My grandmother always told me that everyone puts their pants on the same way, one leg at a time. I have kept that in the back of my head when I am meeting people, to shake a hand and take a card no matter who you are talking to.
What are your hobbies, what do you like to do for fun?
I enjoy hiking. I’ve done a good stretch of the Metacomet trail in Central Connecticut. When I first moved here in 1997 I thought the hills were mountains and hiked as many blue trails as I could find. I am a year-round hiker, using ice-spikes when needed in the mid-winter months. I also like going places with my wife that we’ve never been to and either getting an Airbnb for the weekend, or just going on a day trip for a hike.
Where is the farthest you have ever gone to see a concert?
Since 1996 I’ve gone to see the band Phish, an improvisational jam-band from Vermont. The first time I went to see them, my roommate at the time had extra tickets. He knew I liked camping and listening to music, somehow he convinced me to drive 654 miles to upstate New York to Plattsburg Air Force Base (decommissioned). It was hot, we forgot most of our food at the cabin in the Catskills, but the people were friendly, the music was great and I was sold. Since then I’ve driven to so many places, big cities, fields in the middle of nowhere, small venues and large arenas. For the Millenium, I drove 1,346 miles to the south to Big Cypress Seminole Indian Reservation in Florida where they held a three-day festival. This was the place I met my wife, talking over a PB & J sandwich, and ironically flying 2,934 miles to the Hollywood Bowl with our son to see them during a trip west for the BOOST conference and a college tour. Their music and community have been an integral part of my life for the past 30 years. My wife and I are going to see them on August 1st at Fenway Park this summer.
What’s your go-to karaoke song?
I am no singer and typically hum along in church. I do however play the Djembe, getting my first one 26 years ago after Big Cypress. The drum has followed me many places and has scars from rocky fire pits, mud from a field in Coventry, VT from 2004, and a worn skin that could tell stories of all the hands that have played it through the years. My drum had gotten dusty as the kids grew up and life got busy. Now that they are both young-adults I got a new drum last year, a smaller “festival djembe” that is more portable for the next 26 years.
What’s your favorite season of the year?
My favorite season is spring, one because my birthday is in May, and two because the world wakes up. Buds on trees turn to leaves, gardens bloom, the air gets warmer and late-spring nights are the perfect temperature to sit outside and watch the sun go down later each day. It is also the herald to summer, and vacations and family time.
If you could live anywhere in the world, where would it be?
I have always said San Diego because of the constant temperature year round, but there are still so many places to visit. When I first moved to CT from NJ in 1997 I loved the rolling hills, forested trails, and lakes and ponds. I think having a solid home base (near a few airports) gives us the opportunity to explore a little more and find the perfect retirement place in 20 years or so. I know it has to be warm, but not hot, not humid, not freezing cold, not cloudy all the time, not rainy, and not buggy. Open to suggestions.
What’s your most-used emoji over text?
It varies between the sunglass smile, the party smile, the shocked smile, and the thumbs up. It really depends on who and what they are texting about. Some get random emojis that take a few minutes to choose the right one. For the most part those four are my go-to emojis.
Would you rather time-travel to the future or the past?
That’s a hard question, I would love to see what some of the archeological sites looked like in the past when they were active. What did the wonders of the world look like when they were built? At the same time, I am curious about where we are headed. Do we make contact with another planet, do the ice caps melt or do we find a solution, do people and AI live in harmony or is it like the Terminator. Maybe I should just stay in 2026.
What’s the most spontaneous thing you’ve ever done?
The most spontaneous thing I’ve ever done is volunteer to lead the Raritan Valley Community College Karate Club. I had taken karate at the YMCA when I was younger, but did not have the skills to teach anything about it. There was someone I met in class that had a black belt and he and I were talking about how cool it would be if there was a club offered. I was mostly an introvert and was not someone who liked to be out front. The next thing I knew I was at a leadership conference in White Haven, PA and part of the student newspaper, radio station, and co-leading this club that had a budget but hadn’t been run in years. It was a life changing experience.
What superpower would you want to have?
I would like to have the superpower of multi-tasking, having the ability to just think of a task that needs to be done and a part of your brain goes and completes it while another part can focus on something else. I’m not too sure how it would work driving or focusing in a meeting, so there would have to be a way to reign it in…probably some prequel type movie that would be an origin story of how I learned to be a multitasking master.
