ABOUT / CONTACT
IN THE BEGINNING...
I started this website upon entering UVA (free web space - what a concept!) with not much of an idea as to what I wanted to do. Thus the title. I had sections for Doctor Who, History, and Reviews of books, movies and music. I also started, and took pride in, what became the national database of widescreen VHS videotapes. The database had been developed over the previous couple of years, and the website became it's home, and a venue for the rest of my soapboxes. However, over time sections were truncated or eliminated entirely as studies and my personal life took precedence. Eventually the site became... Nothing.
I relaunched the site after Wendy started her own site with regular rants, but also keeping a database on her own obsession, Denis Lawson. With that inspiration, I came back to the ICRVN intent on being a somewhat more focused resource for such diverse topics as East Asian History, Myrna Loy, and DVD information replaced the VHS database. (I couldn't get rid of the title of the site though - it had become a wee bit of a classic.) Unfortunately, maintaining the DVD calendar took over the rest of the site, and all of my energy for the site became devoted to just the DVD information, and I soon tired of maintaining a database in my waning free time. Other sites existed for such information. Maintaining my own website was no longer... fun.
When the events of September 11th happened, I re-connected with a few friends, one of whom had started a site of reflection and commentary - now known as a Weblog (Blog) with a friend. I basically decided to steal the idea (Thanks, Ant!) and allow my website to be a reflection of my personality. The DVD calendar was first to go.
In the time between the initial launch of the ICRVN and this particular relaunch I had met and married a beautiful woman, finally moved out of my Mom's house, and worked my way up to rung two of the retail step-ladder (but not necessarily in that order). I was certainly busier than I had expected to be after graduation. 2001 and early 2002 proved to be no easier.
Early in 2000 both of my wife's parents were diagnosed with cancer. Sadly, her father Sam (who had come to be my father after having grown up without a real father figure in my life) did not survive, passing on in late April 2002. The website allowed me to maintain a connection with friends and family while also letting me rant and vent about the world. The website also gave me an outlet for my writing, something I had always enjoyed but had not exercised in some time.
After Sam's death, I left the retail world and puttered around a bit until moving back into non-profit work. After some 18 months running a website for a non-profit I took a plunge and joined an anti-death penalty group as their Executive Director. Unfortunately, the organization was so grossly inept at the board level that I was hamstrung and given no assistance, leadership, or guidance. I left six months later. Sadly, such a failure is reflected more on me than on the situation on my resume, so I'm back in retail while looking for a more permanent job. However...
In July of 2005, everything went financially to hell as my life got eminently greater.
If you haven't figured it out by now, I am the father of a beautiful little girl, Samantha Katherine, named for her grandfather. There were all sorts of complications with the wee lady's birth and first few months, but it was all worth it as my wife and I have been blessed with a happy, silly, and wonderous (and wonderful) little angel.
And yes, I am the doting, spoiling Daddy. Even if she is (as I write this) in serious "Mommy-only" seperation anxiety mode this month.
As for my personality? Well, despite the fact that have a "blog," I actually enjoy my privacy. Go figure. I have a very small but wonderful foundation of friends to draw strength from. My brother Calvin and his beautiful wife and my kick ass Mom ground me and give me a wonderful haven. My greatest assets are the aforementioned wee angel and her beautiful, loving, and exhausted mom, my beautiful wife. Lucky man, indeed.
CONTACT ME...
Email me your comments, complaints, questions, et cetera, at:
info AT icrvn DOT com
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