| What is your most memorable childhood experience? | I grew up close to a farm that was owned by a college and used to train students going into the biomedical and agricultural fields. Part of the farm was a dairy operation where they had milk cows. My brothers and I visited the farm often to see the animals and play. I remember very clearly watching one of the cows give birth when I was around five years old. It was the first time I'd ever seen anything like it, and it left a really vivid memory for me; probably mostly because of the gruesomeness of watching a birth as a five year old, but also at getting to experience new life and what an amazing thing it is. I probably wasn't aware of how amazing life is at five but, as I remembered the experience growing up, it definitely had an impact on me. Newborn calves are cleaned by their mothers, stand up, and start exploring and feeding very quickly. Watching one of the graduate students assist in the birth, seeing the mother's acceptance of the newborn, and the calf getting up and walking on her own were all part of the experience that make it a very clear memory from my childhood. |
| What immediate family member do you closely identify with and why? | I closely identify with my dad. He is a hard working, honest man who serves others in everything he does. He is an excellent role model and approaches life in an optimistic and aggressive way. His family means everything to him and he serves his community passionately. He is active in several non-profit and community organizations that serve the less fortunate and he would selflessly do anything to help his family or friends. |
| What character traits do you admire in an individual? | A character trait I admire is an ability to know who you are and a drive to continuously improve yourself. Understanding who you are, your strengths and weaknesses, knowing what you need or don't need gives you a broader perspective so that you're more able to become who you want to be. I feel this trait creates a well rounded, flexible person that is better able to succeed at life and deal with difficult things that come their way. Other character traits I admire are people who are happy, balanced, and content on a daily basis. People who enjoy their lives are attractive to me. I also admire people who are hard working, self motivated, honest, and respectful of others. |
| What is the funniest thing ever to happen to you? | It's not the funniest thing to ever happen to me but this is a recent story that made me laugh. Myself and several friends (and friends of friends) go hiking for a few hours early on Sunday mornings. Last week we had a lot of new people along with several new dogs who we assumed were owned by the new people. About an hour and a half into the hike someone asked who owned one of the dogs. No one answered so I checked his collar, called the number listed on his tag and told the person that we had his dog and that we could meet him at the entry to the park in an hour. The owner wasn't too concerned, it was clear this dog had wandered off to this park before. We all had a good laugh that this dog had met us in the parking lot and invited himself along with our group. When we finished the hike I called the owner again and he came to pick up his dog. He stepped out of his car and called two of the dogs! It turns out two of his dogs had escaped, ran down to the park, and joined this random group of hikers for a few hours. Hilarious. |
| If time and money were not an issue, where would you travel and why? | If time and money weren't an issue I'd travel by sailboat to the Galapagos Islands with my wife and several close friends. I love nature and the weather close to the equator; I think this trip would be a great experience. The ocean can be unforgiving, successfully sailing across it sounds like a lot of fun. The Galapagos Islands are mostly untouched with strange animal and plant species, experiencing those things with people I am close to really appeals to me. |
| When and if you ever have children, what would you like to pass on to them? | If I ever have children I would want to pass to them the skills needed to be healthy adults. I believe those skills are a balance of many things that are developed through experiences, so I would focus on giving them those experiences. First I would make sure to give them the daily devotion and love that a child needs in order to become a healthy, balanced, successful adult. Giving them my time and attention as they grew up is the most valuable thing I could do for them. In order to develop a broad skill set I would make sure they spent time in nature, playing with other kids, playing sports or music, working on puzzles, reading books, and going to museums. As they got older I would want them to balance their school activities with a part-time job and activities in the community like volunteering. I wouldn't force them to be so busy that they can't enjoy themselves. But I would want them to have a taste of many things so that as they matured they can choose which skills to further develop and how to balance the things that compete for their time. |
