I am a busted down Senior Citizen who has had a lot of fun getting here. I
have an older brother, older sister and one younger sister. I have two great
sons, one grandchild and my wonderful wife. I am pretty
happy right now enjoying every day as much as I can.
Employment
Webmaster www.kumeyaay.org - do
it for fun, why do they use the term "Master," it should just be guy
or gal. I like Javascript and I use a lot of in my sites.
Getting Social Security and hoping I don't
drain our 401K too fast.
Indian Trail Guide/Story Teller Mission Trails - Wow, Indian Trail Guide.
Data Base Management Analysis for Neighborhood House Association, San Diego CA - Head
Start non-profit.
Computer Systems Manager The law firm of Seltzer, Caplan, McMahon and Vitek., San Diego CA
- Attorneys are really funny. This was a great job with great guys. Just before
I got there the law business went down an a lot of firms went under. These guys
stayed afloat and are still there. There were these Junior Attorneys who had a
certain amount of time to bring in the bucks or they had to leave. These really
brilliant guys and gals could not make the cut and were asked to leave, that was
really sad.
Computer Systems Manager, Southern Indian Health Council, Alpine CA -
My boss there did terrible things with money and it almost went under. To this
day they have not recovered.
Computer Manager, Santa Ysabel Band of Mission Indians, Santa Ysabel CA -
There is nothing like a fist fight breaking out in front of the tribal office.
Instructor at Grossmont College Computer Science, American Indian History, El Cajon CA
- Full and part time, great students one of them ended up giving me a job. My
Son and I both got our AS degree there.
Instructor at Sherman Indian High School, Riverside CA - Indian boarding
school 500 miles away from parents. My late Mom and Grandma both went
there. I guess I can say I went there too. A lot can be done to improve
the school but there was the old guard making sure their family members were
employed.
Economic Planner, Inter-Tribal Council of California/U. S. Department or
Commerce - This used to be the pre-eminent Indian organization in California.
They had a state wide convention once a year. One of my relatives met his old
girlfriend at the conference and did not come home to his wife and kids for six
months.
Instructor for San Diego City Schools, San Diego CA - Be a teacher and
live in poverty,
no kidding, teachers have no pay, no respect and drive economy cars.
I also taught at a series of trade schools - Adults borrowing money hoping
for a decent future. I wonder if there are still trade schools. Somehow they
existed by getting government training money. I don't know what happened to this
industry.
Lockheed Electronics - Here I got the multi-layer circuit boards to not
explode. I was a teenager at this job. I learned all about being on time,
working lot of overtime, joining the union and other stuff. I had to leave the
res and go to LA for this. I remember all the people that I worked with. It must
have had some impact on the rest of my life.
Education
B.A. Mathematics S.D.S.U., Teaching Credentials High School and Community College
- I guess getting a degree in math is different than what most Indians do.
I barely got it. Didn't give it much thought at the time. Met my wife there
A.S. Computers Grossmont Community College - Ended up working here.
That was in the very early days of computers. Hardware and software were not separated
back then. I cut my first teeth in programming back then.
El Capitan High School - I really hated high school. I ended up doing
my student teaching there. I went to my 40 th. reunion. There were a bunch of
old people there, I left early because I did not want to be one of those old
guys.
What I like to do
Our Grandchild is now the love of our lives. My Wife, My Son and his Wife and
my other Son are all crazy about her, the newest member of our
family. Quite an enchanting experience and some day I hope you all will
experience a Grandchild.
I like to drink coffee, in the morning,
before my day flies apart. Then I go to the casino to charge my electric car. (Nissan Leaf)
When I was born the world was a different place, this was especially true of
the reservation. I was born shortly after WWII. When I was a kid
there was radio and TV, but my family didn't have them. The
road, to the reservation, was paved just to the start of the reservation.
Before I was born the main road passed by our house but during the C.C.C.
(1930s) a new road was set out about 500 yards from our house. Sometime,
during my child hood, the road was extended about half way through the
reservation and then all the way to a town called Ramona. This just shows
that we were really isolated. As kids we made bows and arrows, we wondered
through the hills. We would gather the kids in the area and we would all
sleep outside, under the stars, in the summer. Things have really changed since then.
My family moved to a house, on the reservation, that had a flush toilet and we
got a black and white TV.
Now there about five times as many people living on the reservation.
There are government and private houses built on the reservation. There is
a lot of traffic through the reservation. Kids have satellite TV and watch
MTV. Kids don't wander through the hills with home made bows and arrows
anymore.
I was just talking to one of my cousins. When were were kids we nailed
together a wooden cart with a one cylinder engine. We drove it around until we
crashed it. If any kids today did that people would be astonished. How can you
learn to nail together a cart with a motor on MTV?