What's in a name? : Big John=BJ=Beejay=Beej

Well this has potential to be a bloody long page! However, I shall not bore you. I was born near Nottingham England in the early 60s (actually I was born in a caravan!). I am one of five children (myself being in the middle). My upbringing was pretty turbulent to say the least, but I seem to have escaped unscathed into a reasonably decent adult. :-)

I left school at the age of 15, and soon after joined the British Army. Where I served my time with the Parachute Regiment, then later with the Royal Green Jackets. After leaving the forces, I became a cabinet maker / carpenter - a trade that I had adhered to up until the past couple of years, at which time I became an IT Manager / Web Developer. During my years of spitting out sawdust I decided the stimulus was no longer there working with wood etc. So, I went back to higher education and obtained a joint honours Bachelor of Arts degree. I actually ended up with a 2:1 grade (top 15% of student intake)...not bad for a guy who as a kid cleaned out horse stables instead of doing homework, and left school with no qualifications whatsoever.. :-)

I am a father, with three lovely kids. Heidi, Georgie and Laura.

What are my passions in life? Hmmm..well, anything remotely related to aviation seems to give me a buzz. I used to enjoy speaking German, although nowadays (heuzutage - for all you Krauts readin) I dont get chance to speak it, resulting in me looking rather confused at the TV if I watch a German speaking programme..:0( although I can still just about hold a conversation with a sunbed stealing German tourist..:0)(thats a joke only Europeans would understand!)

I also LOVE to skydive!yeeeehaaa..I have around a hundred & thirty jumps now plus some military jumps from years back, and have skydived all over the place, especially the States. Ive had a few mishaps whilst doing it...like colliding with portable toilets on landing...getting knocked unconscious in freefall...multiple wrist fractures and...hey! I survived! Im here am I not? :0) A favourite place of mine is the World Freefall Convention in llinois www.freefall.com, where 5000+ jumpers gather from across the globe and make 60,000+ jumps in 10 days.

I also play the piano. I wouldnt say I am that good at it, but for someone who is self taught I aint too bad. One of my other passions is Information Technology. I consider myself one of the Web pioneers (designed my first web site in 94). I also have strengths in graphic design and web development - which I still do on a freelance basis. Needless to say, I built this CMS (content management system) you are reading :0). Hope you like the layout...If so, and you are a business person looking for a website startup or remodel, give me a shout! You can peruse my web development site at www.65degrees.net (I just couldnt help advertising there...sorry :0).

I do have one bad trait - I am impetuous. OK that can be a nice thing, but I think you need showing what I mean by example:

I woke up one mid week morning, started to get ready for work, then just decided to go on holiday for a week...just like that (tho to be fair, I was self-employed at the time, so re-scheduling was easy). I phoned a travel agent, made the necessary calls to work etc, and hey presto! We were sitting on a Spanish Island beach that same evening...

At the time of writing, I am in my early 40s, I have achieved most of my goals in life. Such as, happily married, will retire with no mortgage, higher education achievments etc. However, I have two more goals to go; become a pilot, and build / fly my own plane, hence this web site.

I believe anything is possible in life if you want it bad enough..just remember not to knock other people over during the journey.

About Laurie

I was born in Minnesota USA of which I know little else about, being that Dad was in the army and we were shipped overseas after I was born. Being in a military family we moved around quite a bit, mostly Germany, until coming here to Texas which at the time seemed like hell because of the heat, not to mention the cultural differences. What was I supposed to do with all those years of German language classes here?

I am the second of five children and was the only girl until I was twelve. Needless to say, growing up was a survival test. I learned that what boys get to do at certain ages were different than what girls were allowed to do. I learned how to debate, but not winning very often and usually with the stipulation of having to take my sister along...everywhere I went.

I was always interested in the medical field and followed my dream, I started as a Red Cross volunteer at the army hospital here when I was 14, and then went to work at a nursing and convalescent home until I graduated from high school and started a college for Nursing. I got off track shortly after my first year and went on to dead-end jobs, not knowing what I wanted to do. I have finally found my niche, working for Wal-mart Distribution having started at the bottom, I worked my way up to Area Manager in a relatively short period and the sky is the limit.

I unfortunately never had any children but have been blessed with everyone elses :).

I have many hobbies, of which I have unfortunately little time for, since my hours are quite demanding at work. I enjoy anything outdoors, especially gardening, and since my Father passed away I find myself at moms alot doing the things he always did - my family is very important to me and I guess being raised the way I was, I feel its my responsibility to help out (thats just the way I am :0). So in a nutshell - thats me!