Dell_Blog

Brief Bio:

Father was in the Army thus I moved a good deal as a child. I attended 19 different schools before graduating from high school. Lived in Germany in while in the first grade and in Alaska for almost four years, which included the great Alaskan Earthquake (9.2 on the Richter Scale).  We moved back to St. Petersburg, where I finished the 11th and 12th grades.  I continued to live in Florida, moving to Orlando to attend college and stayed there until 1996 when I moved to the Northern Virginia area. Attended Florida Technological University (later renamed University of Central Florida by a group of really boring regents....) and the Technical Education Center in the St. Petersburg, FL area.

Myers Briggs: I have taken the Myers Briggs test five times (uyk) and came out: ISTP (two times) - INTP (three times).  The IT&P are pretty much pegged at the ends but the S/N is about dead middle, which is why it goes back and forth.  If you are not familiar with Myers Briggs, one shows I’m a problem solver, the other a visionary.  Guess that means I like to solve problems with creative but unworkable solutions :-)
For those that always ask ‘what’s your sign’, I could make reference to a Shel Silverstein song, or just say I’m a Gemini.  Technically, I’m on the cusp with Taurus.  However, in 2011 the zodiac was recalibrated to take into account the movement of the heavens and under the ‘new’ chart I’m square in the middle of Taurus.  I guess if I cared enough I would go figure out what that means, but since I’ve always liked the dual personality characteristics of Gemini, I’m going to go old school on this :-)

What I Do For A Living

Started out as an Electronic Engineer, moved to Systems Engineering then to program management to R&D management and eventually to the front office as an 'executive'.  My area of expertise is modeling and simulation, mostly for training and for the design/development/fielding of new systems (such as cars, aircraft, etc.).  Retired in Sept 2004.  Later in life highlights include:
-- DARPA program manager (Advanced Simulation Technology)
-- Director of the Army’s office for simulation policy (where I held the civilian equivalent of a brigade general’s rank)
-- Technical Director for the Institute for Creative Technologies at the University of Southern California
-- Executive V.P. for a startup (Total Immersion Software, Inc - now called Intific

In Sept 2004 I ‘retired’ the first time.  On the actual day of my retirement I was in Peru. Upon returning I took up the USC/ICT and the Total Immersion jobs

In 2010 I ‘retired’ a second time.  I wanted to be in Egypt on the day of my retirement, missed it by a week.

For about six months after returning from Egypt I didn’t do a thing, then I took a part time job as a consultant to put together a vision document on the use of computer based modeling and simulation to support the design of new systems (for example, the use of simulation to test a vehicle’s crash worthiness before it is built).  That, along with a few other consulting jobs keeps me in travel money.

Eventually I plan to retire for the third time and this time for real, after all no one ever said 4th times charm!!