biography n : an account of the series of events making up a person's life
Welcome to the narcissistic portion of the website...that where I tell you about me. This won't be as interesting as A&E Biography, Lifestyles of the Rich & Famous (nor as loud a narrator), or even a guest spot on Where Are They Now?. A celebrity I'm not.
On July 18 I will start a new position at a company called Datapak Services. They are an order fulfillment company headquartered in New Hudson, MI. I was rather happy working at MSX International, where I started on December 22, 2004. I wasn't even looking for employment, but on one of my furlough days (thanks, IBM!) I decided to take them up on their offer of an interview, just to see what's out there and why they specifically sought ME out, based on my resume on Monster.com. It turns out that with switches in Reno, NV and Phoenix, AZ, as well as in New Hudson, that I could not turn this opportunity down. It'll be working on the latest-greatest Avays PBXs. Do I feel bad about leaving MSX? I will miss the people, but as far as IBM goes, I don't give a shit. They MADE me take 10 days off in the month of June ("furlough" days - read that "days not paid"). So as a result I missed two FULL weeks of pay in the month of June because of IBM's bottom line. Ask me, now, why I decided to go and not care about what happens after me?
I was born in Pontiac, Michigan and attended Pontiac (K-4), Oxford (5-6), and Holly (7-12) schools, where I graduated 16th of my class in 1980. No matter how I try, I can't make school exciting to write about, so on to the next phase. I DID meet the girl who would, 14 years after I graduated, become my now/current/present wife.
 | After graduation I spent a year-and-a-half giving the college world a go
at the University of Michigan-Flint. Not being one to like - OK, I
actually HATE - the classroom environment, I gave that up (because I was
stupid) to take a promotion at the Taco Bell I was working at. Well,
that and I needed a job because I made that all-too-common mistake of
getting engaged and married at a young age. |
| 1982 - Got Married. |
| Worked at Taco Bell. |
| 1984 - Bought my first computer. A Commodore 64, which I still have to this day and is, the last time I turned it on, fully operational...and rather depressing. My ex-wife HATED that thing because she was intimidated by it. Now sure as shit she's got a computer at home. See what happens when you face your fears? |
| 1985 (or so) - My First Internet Romance. Kind of. I met, online, a girl who was 14 at the time but we became very close friends. We could talk about absolutely anything and we became very close friends while spending very, very little time together. Her name is Tamara and I treasure her friendship and the conversations we have to this day. |
| 1987 - Join the U.S. Army. I was undecided about this until I
sat in Sgt. Ott's "magical chair". Being only 25 at the
time, I decided I'd watch a few Army movies to see if I was really
interested in joining or just buying Sgt. Ott's line of bullshit. So I
sat down over a weekend and watched "Stripes" about 8 times
and thought "This is not so bad.", "I can do this.", and
"Geez, what's so hard about THAT?". Three years later I
wasn't singing the same song. My first child, Alex, was born when I was in Basic Training at Ft. Jackson, South Carolina. Spent a few months in Germany. |
| The 90's are where Jim's life really took off....and that's not necessarily all good news. |
| 1990 Get out of the Army. Go home to try to make things work but ex-wife is still hung up on boyfriend she took on while I was in Army. I come home one day from National Guard to find my stuff in the garage. |
| Return to work at Taco Bell (yeas, I'm a glutton and Tony took me right back no-questions-asked). |
| Meet the girl (Jennifer) who would the next year give me my daughter, Meagan. |
| 1991 October 21 - Divorce Final. October 29 - Daughter Meagan born. Best to not ask. Meet Luella. |
| 1992 Leave Jennifer for Luella (stupid, stupid, stupid, stupid) Leave Taco Bell and start working at Wal*Mart. Start a series of fun, recreational relationships that ends in 1994. Meet Lance, one of my two best-good friends to this day and DJ partner and form, after a time, The Jim & Lance Show. Get dumped by the selfish, worthless, piece of shit that is Luella two frikkin' days before Christmas. Ass. |
| 1993 Foolishly move to Florida with Christine, the red-headed beast from hell. Leave Wal*Mart after down there for a while for a *gulp* 3rd shift job waiting tables at Denny's. |
| 1994 Leave the red-headed beast from hell at the side of the expressway and head back to Michigan. Very long story I'm justly proud of. Make that lucky phone call that got me back in touch with Laurie, the aforementioned girl from High School. 6 weeks after we go out we get married. It's still good. Start working at T.G.I.Friday's waiting tables in Auburn Hills, MI. |
| 1995 Leave Friday's for Office Manager job at F-F-F-Fortune Personnel Consultants new office in Huntington Woods, MI for Jodi in May. Discover Planet 96.3 (formerly WHYT and then WPLT) radio station in Detroit. Even though it's been re-imaged, (It's now WDVD), I still listen to the same frequency and Allyson is the best-of-all DJs. Later that year (December) leave F-F-F-Fortune Personnel Consultants for Service Technician's position at CreataCard. |
| 1996 Visit the Rock & Roll Hall of Fame in Cleveland. |
| 1997 Leave CreataCard for job as cable installer with Sequoia Connect. Shortly thereafter I move to the newly-formed Telephony Group. LOVED it, but it was destroyed by The Ass Dave Meno. Attend Grammy's in New York, a guest of my good friend John who won the trip on the radio. Step-Father Gerry dies on December 9th of a stroke. |
| 1998 Grandmother dies on March 17 of cancer I'm told. |
| 1999 Mother dies very suddenly on June 2, 2 weeks before her 55th birthday. Spend 2 weeks in Pasadena, CA for Definity training. While there visit Universal Studios and Paramount Studios -- that's where they film all things Star Trek. Feb 28 - Sinus Surgery |
| 2000 Company trip to Las Vegas in January - LOVE that place! Catch back up with Kevin, one of my best-good friends from High School. He's the other best-good friend I have. Spend an awesome week in Washington, D.C. with Wife and Kevin. Leave Sequoia for job at North American Telecom. Bastards. Laid me off after 2 months and 2 days. |
| 2001 Start employment at Expanets, in January. President of Class Reunion Committee for 21-year class reunion held in July. Spend some time, albeit briefly, with a local band called Neon Dreams. I wish it could have been longer. Bowl not only my first 200 game, but 4 (238, 203, 203, 205). |
| 2002 Stan, my sister's boyfriend / soul-mate dies suddenly at age 39. Have two surgeries within 6 weeks of each other: one shoulder (February 28) and one sinus (April 15 - my second sinus surgery in 3 years) Go to Las Vegas with bowling league. First live webcast of The Jim & Lance Show. |
| 2003 I don't think anything important happened all year. WAIT - Yes there was. My excellent friend Kevin moved away again - dammit. |
| 2004 Expanets gets purchased and shut down by Avaya - Jim's out of a job. Las Vega$ - The last week of May with Laurie, Fred, and Shirley. Rick was on an Away Mission. See Penn & Teller at the Rio. Get to meet them for a photo-op after the show. Kevin gets married... Go to see Fourplay in concert with Kevin at the Detroit Opera House - 6th row! See Barry Manilow in concert at the Palace of Auburn Hills - 9th row = $$$ for tix! |
| 2005 Start working a contract job at MSX International. - December 2004 Leave MSX International for newly-created position at Datapak Services. Las Vega$ in October. My first tattoo. No annual trip to Cedar Point with my brother. |
| 2006 Leave Datapak Services to start a new job at RGIS Inventory Specialists in Auburn Hills, MI. Get my hair cut (reason above) and donate 12 inches of hair to Locks for Love. Lance and I retire from the Relay for Life. Yet another year without a trip to Cedar Point with my brother. The return of Beers Through the Years. |
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| This page last updated Saturday, June 28, 2008. |
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