I spent quite some time contemplating how I would go about writing this. I reminisced about bygone days.. browsed ancient photographs.. had a few false starts.. and, in the end, I came to the conclusion that I was not the person to write this. So, without further delay, here is my Mom's take on the matter.
A Mom's perspective of Dan
I have heard that engineers are born - not made, and for Dan that is absolutely true. From an extremely early age Dan had a complete fascination with how things work and his dad and I could not keep him from crawling under, looking behind, or climbing on anything the least bit mechanical. When ever his dad had to work on something Dan would be right there helping him and he pestered me to stop at every garage sale to buy something electric so he could take it apart. We knew he was destined to be an engineer and that there wasn't a single thing we could do about it.
Dan's early years were spent engrossed in his huge collection of Legos that literally covered the den floor. He spent hours building bizarre structures complete with straws for pipes and dental floss for wires. He really expanded his horizons with Lego Technics, complete with motors and pulleys, and built a wide variety of motorized contraptions.
Dan's interest in computers also began at an early age. His first computer was an Epson QX10 that I bought at his preschool's garage sale for $25. At age 8 he moved up to a Commodore 64 and, with only a little help from his dad, taught himself BASIC. He wrote all the code for the computer controlled robot he built with Lego Technics for his school's 4th grade Invention Fair. Dan was 11 when we finally upgraded to a Dell computer allowing him to learn Visual Basic as well as giving him access to the limitless possibilities of the World Wide Web.
However Dan wasn't satisfied with the Dell for long so by age 14 he was custom building computers for himself. Since then he has custom built over a dozen computers for myself, his Dad, his brother and his friends. He has had complete responsibly as the "Tech support" for the multiple computers, 7 on average but as many as 10, in our house. I would have been lost without him! And he has managed to earn some cash on the side by working on the computers of several of his dad's coworkers. Dan also installed and manages the extensive wired and wireless networks that, among other things, have enabled him to host several multiplayer video game events for as many as 10 friends.
In early 2003 Dan discovered a new passion, High Voltage Electronics, after seeing the Tesla Coil that a fellow HCC student had built. Since then he has taken over his dad's garage, amazed his friends, and convinced neighbors that he is trying to bring something (or someone) back to life with one of the 5 Tesla Coils he has built thus far. His quest to learn more has led him to also build a CNC (Computer Numerical Control) Milling machine, for the automated production of circuit boards, just for fun.
Dan found his public school experience to be a bit disappointing because after looking forward to a technical subject he'd find that he knew more about it than his teachers did, from electricity in elementary school to programming in high school. However in his junior year of high school he jumped at the chance to do Running Start where he was able attend community college, acquire college credits, and fulfill his high school graduation requirements all at the same time! After attending Green River Community College for one year he transferred to Highline Community College where in March 2004 he was awarded an Associate of Science Degree in Computer Science. Dan is looking forward to attending Washington State University beginning fall of 2004 where he will pursue degrees in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science.
But don't think that Dan is just some guy who never leaves the house because he also enjoys hiking and camping. Our home in Kent Washington allows easy access for day trips into the Cascade Mountains and to Mt. Rainier. For vacations we made several trips to visit many national parks including Yellowstone, Yosemite, Glacier and the many located in southern Utah. Most recently we traveled to Canyonlands National Park, Utah, and spent almost a week exploring the Maze by jeep and by foot.
