Who Calling TreeFrog - tell us about you!

[Lorelei]

Hi Treefrog!

You have made a great impression on these boards since you have joined, not only with the way you have rapidly picked up our '' diamondese'' and have helped others with their purchases, but because you conduct yourself here in such a polite, friendly and dignified manner!

I know I am not alone in hoping to learn more about you if you are comfortable with that?

I know you are engaged to a wonderful girl and that you work in emergency services - thank you for your service!!!!!!!!!!!!

What are your other interests? Favourite foods? What do you do for fun?

 

[treefrog]

Wow... not intentional but this is post #100 for me.

This must be payback time. OK, OK... I''m sorry for starting the pink shoe tribute and confusing the masses.

I feel so unworthy to be invited here at 2 months and 100 posts. I feel honored, however. Thank you so much for your kind words.

I don''t mind sharing some info. Hope you know what you''re getting yourself into! I''ve been a rather busy little treefrog...

Give me a little time to gather my thoughts...

Treefrog

 

[monarch64]

You don''t have to be here for a certain length of time or offer a certain amount of posts to be a Who''s Who...we just think you''re a cool character and want to get to know you better!

I''m excited to see what makes you tick!

 

[Lorelei]

Date: 7/26/2009 9:51:04 PM
Author: monarch64
You don''t have to be here for a certain length of time or offer a certain amount of posts to be a Who''s Who...we just think you''re a cool character and want to get to know you better!

I''m excited to see what makes you tick!

Ditto Mons, it is the contributions and all around conduct on the boards that matter!

 

[bee*]

I''d love to know more about you too!!

 

[treefrog]

This is going to take me a few days but I promise a fun and interesting ride.

Chapter 1: In the Beginning

I have wonderful parents and they actually met at work. I was born at a US Army hospital in Germany. It''s a riot to hear my mother tell the story. I guess in the third trimester, the doc kept telling her she was gaining too much weight and had to cut back. My mother said she was hardly eating and couldn''t cut back. (Meanwhile, I was in there just starving. I was like... "Hey - what''s it take to get some schnitzel and beer in here?") So finally after they deliver me, the doc leaves the room but the nurse called him back in. He came in and told my mother to "stop carrying on, your little treefrog has already been delivered." Apparently, my mother was still having contractions because nobody knew I had a sister in there with me! No wonder my mother was gaining weight and felt like she couldn''t eat enough... there were 2 of us! My sister must have got most of the schnitzel because I was somewhere in the neighborhood of 4 pounds (1.8kg for those abroad). Off to the store they went for 2 of everything!

My twin lives pretty close to me and I have another sister that is 10 years younger than us. We all get along great. What is funny is when people find out I have a twin sister. First question they ask is "Are the two of you identical?" Ummm... I''m a boy... she''s a girl... get some books, charts... think about it. Second question they ask... knowing my age or at least having a general idea... "How old is she?"

No brothers, few boys my age in the neighborhood growing up... eek!

To be continued...

 

[Lorelei]

Fascinating!

Look forward to the next instalment.....

 

[treefrog]

So I enjoy writing...

Grab some popcorn and I'll pretend somebody is actually interested in reading this...

Chapter 2: Growing Up

I was always an outside kid. Riding my bike for miles and miles and miles, even at an early age. Playing in creeks, fishing, building forts in the woods. My father signed me up for Cub Scouts and I loved it. Two other boys I knew from Sunday school were in the scouts with me. We moved up into the Boy Scouts and had a blast hiking, camping, and canoeing all over the Mid-Atlantic area of the US. We had so much fun. I have some of the funniest stories I will remember forever. Snipe hunters extraordinaire! Both of them are in California now and I don't see them much. All three of us went on and became Eagle Scouts. That's probably what made me a compassionate person. Doing service for others. Truly some of the best times of my life. Billy, if you're reading this... thanks for walking right through my lean-to at camp for my wilderness survival merit badge.

So sorry you couldn't start a fire with your 2 matches and had to eat a raw ground beef. Mike - how, exactly, did you drop your flashlight into the Spot-a-pot? Yes, as a matter of fact, you can sink a canoe.

As soon as I turned 15, I got an after school & weekend job at a local wholesale nursery. I used to ride my bike there after school, racing to get there in time. We had 42 enormous greenhouses along with some mum fields outside. It was very hard work, the boss was very strict but I loved it and started getting some nice minimum wage income. Christmas poinsettia time was insane and started back in August. One of my co-workers was a volunteer firefighter. He always had great stories to tell but I wasn't really interested at the time. I worked at the nursery through high school and right up to the time I started my next phase in life...

Backtracking a little... so in the 4th grade, my Boy's Life magazine had an ad in it for a contest to win a Cessna 150 (small single engine plane). I didn't win it, don't know what a 9 year old would do with a plane anyway. I decided then I wanted to be an airline pilot when I grew up. Ordered all kinds of free publications from the FAA and learned everything I could about it. Many years later, I learned of the vision requirements and knew it wasn't meant to be. So I decided I wanted to be an air traffic controller. I carried that dream throughout high school and decided the military was the best place to get the training. To my mother's dismay, I signed up to go into the Navy out of high school.

After all of the processing, exams, etc. my recruiter came back to me and said my test scores were great but I didn't meet the uncorrected vision requirement to be an ATC. He handed me a book and said "Here, pick something else." Pick something else? This is all I wanted to do and never gave college or alternate career paths a second thought. I was devastated. He told me there was an opening for a data processing technician. That slot happened to be a short 3 years on active duty, followed by 2 years in the reserves and a year on stand-by. I asked him if I could phone a friend. I called my father. I guess he thought it sounded ok so I signed the paperwork. I was only 17 so my parents had to co-sign. The recruiter said "Computers... you'll be on some plush short station and can come out of it with a 2 year degree and money to complete college." I was excited. I went to boot camp in San Diego and stayed there for my computer school, actually finishing and graduating early. Then my orders came in. An aircraft carrier. But what about the plush shore station and college I wondered...

To be continued...

 

[treefrog]

Chapter 3: Anchors aweigh

So I catch the carrier down in Fort Lauderdale. My first day started at 7am. I couldn''t figure out why nobody was leaving work at 4:00, 5:00, 6:00...then 7pm comes around and they all leave. Wow, 12 hour days + watch duty 2 nights a week. Can''t wait until Saturday! Saturday morning rolls around... yeah, i can sleep in. 7:10 gets there and somebody is sliding my curtain open. "Why aren''t you at work?" It''s Saturday. We''re at sea. Seven days a week. UGH!!!!! Where''s my plush shore station????? I did a cruise way up in the North Atlantic ocean. Iceburgs and everything. Seas that make The Deadliest Catch look like a bath tub. Sick as a dog. I later did a Mediterranean cruise (they were called cruises but this was no Queen Elizabeth II) and got to see some wonderful places (albeit a very limited time on shore). Cannes France, Livorno Italy, Naples Italy (caught a train from there down to Sorrento on the Amalfi Coast), Catania Sicily, Benidorm Spain, the island of Majorca. We didn''t get to go to Haifa Isreal, Alexandria Egypt, or Athens Greece due to some a certain conflict.

I actually had to man my battle station at one point as we had missles inbound. I had written a letter home thinking I may not return. We had a very tense few weeks. I took lots of pictures.

We got back to the states and went into the shipyard at Portsmouth, Virginia for a year. I came home to Maryland every few weeks and helped with a youth group at church. While not working in the shipyard, I volunteered at a hospital near Virginia Beach. I worked in ICU/CCU but was an over-achiever. They had me doing all kinds of stuff. I loved it. Everybody in the hospital knew me by name. I spent every non-working or non-sleeping minute there. I did something like 500 hours in about 6 months. The CCU was swamped one night and a nurse recruited me to help her suction a patient. Let''s just say I woke up in the ER! I got much better after that and saw my share of crazy stuff there. Emergency procedures in the ICU, sprinting down to the pharmacy and to materials to get meds and supplies needed 10 minutes ago. Loved it! I have a lot of respect for those doctors and nurses.

I was also on a navy sponsored bike racing team. Somewhere, I found time to do that too. Was near the front of the pack in my first road race when somebody in front of me went down. Took out at least a dozen of us. Not much fun to watch on tv... not much fun in real life either. I still have a scar on my shoulder.

So... 3 years on an aircraft carrier... pretty much like trying to sleep in a tent next to the runway at LAX. Working 7 days a week, 12 hours a day. I get honorable discharged after my 3 years with a stack of ribbons and medals... and 6 college credits.

Back on the outside, I initially worked as the lousiest waiter ever and then did a semester at a community college. My buddy from the nursery talked me into joining the fire department so I spent several days a week there taking both firefighting and emergency medical technician classes. I was then asked to work for the father of a Boy Scout/church friend. He had a small computer security company. I worked part time while going to college and was kind of a Jack of all trades for them. I continued working there for 10 years while paying my way through college. Graduated college with a Bachelor of Science in Information Systems Management 10 years after finishing high school with no debt. Best company I ever worked for. The company had grown to an international size and a top internet security company... until it was acquired by Network Associates which was then acquired by Mcafee. Many of us lost our jobs. I then took a job as a software application developer and worked there for 10 years. We lost our contract and after being unemployed a bit, I got picked up recently by a very large company as a systems engineer.

So that''s the big picture. Everything else will fall into the middle... and should go much quicker! Why did I even bother? I don''t know. On with the good stuff...

Chapter 4: Engagement
Chapter 5: Hobbies

 

[treefrog]

Chapter 4: Engagement

I'm out of popcorn. This one will be easy.

https://www.pricescope.com/community/threads/my-recent-proposal.117517/


To be continued... the good stuff... the stuff I should have started with! Maybe I should have skimmed some other WW's first...

 

[treefrog]

One of my absolute favorite pics... taken in Livorno, Italy many years ago.

 

[treefrog]

... and a nice sunset in Cannes, France.

 

[Lorelei]

What a fantastic write up TF, thank you so much!!! I really enjoyed reading about you!

 

[somethingshiny]

You''re hysterical! I don''t often respond in Who''s Who, but I just had to tell you that your writing is great.

 

[treefrog]

Date: 7/28/2009 12:27:26 PM
Author: somethingshiny
You''re hysterical! I don''t often respond in Who''s Who, but I just had to tell you that your writing is great.

Thanks Somethingshiny! I have an explanation for the writing. See below.

Thanks also for my little froggy! He''s still with me.
<---

Treefrog

 

[treefrog]

I have lots of hobbies. I guess through so many years at the fire department seeing so many lives ended abruptly I have really come to just want to make the very most out of every minute of my life. There is just so much to do, so much to see... most of us hardly scratch the surface. I try to do
all I can while I can!

 

[treefrog]

Photography - I do a lot of wildlife, nature, and sports photography. Big animals, little animals, I''m not picky. I find it incredibly relaxing to sit on the edge of a field or something early in the morning and see life kind of just start to happen around me.

This one is for you Bee*

 

[treefrog]

Cycling - I ride both a road bike and a mountain bike several days a week, year round. I throw in a couple of races each year to give myself a target to aim for and to prevent me from becoming lazy. Sara did a triathlon recently and we signed up as a relay team so I did the bike leg for her. Excuse the hair... I just finished a very hilly 25 mile race... in the rain:

 

[treefrog]

Skiing - I learned to ski back in the Boy Scouts. I learned by having a friend get me on a lift and taking me to an intermediate slope. He quickly disappeared and I had a long night. Got lost and wound up on an expert slope. Not good. I've come a long way since then. Vail is my favorite.

Snowmobiling - My buddy and I each bought snowmobiles a few years ago. It's something I've always wanted to try so we gave it a shot. Lots of fun! I would tow my trailer up to New York and there were hundreds and hundreds of groomed trails to ride. I found that I could combine snowmobiling and photography and get some pictures not otherwise possible. Sara loves it too and she would sometimes go with me too. It's up for sale to help absorb ring/wedding plans. Since Sara enjoys going with me, I know it won't be too tough to talk her into letting me get one again if I
want. Small price to pay but I've had my fun and my buddy already sold his anyway.

SCUBA diving - I took dive lessons as an elective in college. I busted my knee up skiing and thought it would be good therapy. It was but after class, I didn't have anybody to dive with. I took an advanced class and a rescue diver class and eventually became a divemaster. I've also done some technical diving and very deep diving. I've been diving with sharks, seen giant sea turtles and rays, it is beautiful in an entirely new dimension. Talk about relaxing! I even made a couple of dives on the Atocha - a Spanish treasure galleon that sunk during a hurricane in 1622 near Key West.

Cooking - what can I say... my mother is an exceptional cook. One of my grandmothers was straight from Italy and an excellent cook as well. I really should weigh 400 pounds! I love cooking, grilling, hosting any kind of party where I can cook or make desserts. I seldom show up at a party
without something. It's always an opportunity to try something new. I have a recipe for the most delicious and moist rum cake ever. My twin
sister won't let me over her house unless I make my macaroons. Rarely does a Christmas go by that I don't have cookbooks on my list!

Home improvement/woodworking - My father is very talented and analytical. I guess I picked up a lot of stuff from him. I love home projects. Faux painting... decks, gazebo's, an occasional furniture piece. Whatever needs to be done.
Remember way back when I had both my airline pilot and air traffic controller dreams shattered? Years ago, I started taking flying lessons, using every dollar I could scrape up... often only once or twice a year. Eventually, I finished and got my pilot's license. Then Sept 11 came and flight restrictions in the area made it not so much fun to fly any more. It also got way too expensive but I achieved my dream nonetheless. I flew over the nursery I worked at when I was 15, put the plane on autopilot, and snapped some pictures. I had one blown up (Errr... a photograph... enlarged) and I framed it and took it over to the nursery. I thought my old boss was going to cry. He may have. He said to me "That is so thoughtful. I always knew you were going to make something of yourself one day." I'm not too manly to say I had to fight back tears as I shook his hand and left. Man I love doing things for people. I find no greater satisfaction. No wonder I find myself here and relating to you all...

 

[treefrog]

Last, but not least, Screenwriting. You knew it had to be in here somewhere! Yes, I love to write. Not sure where it came from because I sure didn't do well in high school!!! I felt that I had a great idea so I wrote a script and submitted it to a Hollywood script consultant for an analysis. The analysis came back and I was devastated. I essentially had to start over. I put it aside for a year and then re-wrote it and entered it in a screenwriting contest. That review was slightly better. A little more editing and I entered yet another contest. I'm getting closer. I didn't make it out of the first round but I am clearly making progress. I just got the contest report back and was overall pleased but I need to get back to it. Here's an excerpt:

PREMISE/CONCEPT: The premise needs fine-tuning. A premise is a line of argument, an idea, or a situation that the story sets out to dramatically explore. The premise serves as the overall concept of the work, and unifies the characters, action, and plot behind a single idea of what the story is about.

FORMAT/TYPOS: The formatting and presentation of the work is professional and fully complies with industry standards.

CHARACTERS: The characters are unique and refreshing, and truly pop off the page with personality and charm. Characters are divergent and interesting, and play off one another, highlighting the subtle nuances that make up the human species. Technical revision is necessary, however, so that Nathan emerges as an effective protagonist, fixed on a clear goal in your story.

DIALOGUE: The dialogue’s an absolute highlight. Full of punch and perspective throughout, the dialogue gives the characters a distinct portrayal, offers the world texture and mood, and demonstrates the author’s unmistakable voice.

STYLE/TONE: The writing style is professional and competent. Scene descriptions pop, offer a sense of texture and atmosphere, and create a full picture of the story’s rich world and tone.

I really need help and Hollywood connections to see this through. I will persevere...

Hope I didn't bore you to death but that's pretty much me... Mr. Barbie doll proposal guy... AKA Treefrog

The End

 

[Gypsy]

Ohh... must come back and read this!

 

[Lorelei]

ABSOLUTELY NOT boring, I must come back and reread all this properly and really absorb it, this is great TreeFred!!!!!

 

[Gailey]

Treefrog,

I rarely step into who''s who and I think I''ve only made one other post before. But I just gotta say you are the closest thing to male perfection I have ever come across. You must have some gremlins or bad habits somewhere ..........

Seriously, you sound like a marvellous chap and thankyou for sharing so much with us.

 

[joflier]

I love your proposal story! Too cute!

 

[treefrog]

Thanks joflier! After lots of thoughts and dead ends, that idea just came to me. I like to be different and didn''t like any of the ideas I found online.

Hope all is well with you. Hang in there.

Oh... and bubblers don''t even bubble! Makes NO sense to me!

Treefrog

 

[joflier]

Date: 8/17/2009 1:44:40 PM
Author: treefrog
Thanks joflier! After lots of thoughts and dead ends, that idea just came to me. I like to be different and didn''t like any of the ideas I found online.

Hope all is well with you. Hang in there.

Oh... and bubblers don''t even bubble! Makes NO sense to me!

Treefrog

Very creative, I must say! I''m all for being different.

And, ya know, bubblers do bubble......sorta.....a little bit. Ok, maybe not really. But at least I have the luxury of typing so no one can hear my ridiculously strong Wisc''ahh''nsin accent.

 

[treefrog]

Date: 8/17/2009 1:02:34 AM
Author: Gailey
Treefrog,

I rarely step into who''s who and I think I''ve only made one other post before. But I just gotta say you are the closest thing to male perfection I have ever come across. You must have some gremlins or bad habits somewhere ..........

Seriously, you sound like a marvellous chap and thankyou for sharing so much with us.

Hi Gailey,

I''m blushing. Thanks so much for the kind and very generous words. Does that mean you actually made it through the whole thing???? I suspect few, if any, people write about themselves and highlight the bad stuff so you are seeing a very subjective and biased view.

I''m sure my ex or any number of other people would be glad to illustrate my flaws. Nobody is perfect.

I just try to make the most out of life and treat people how I''d like to be treated - whether it''s recriprocated or not.

chap

 

[treefrog]

Date: 8/17/2009 2:07:35 PM
Author: joflier

Very creative, I must say! I'm all for being different.

And, ya know, bubblers do bubble......sorta.....a little bit. Ok, maybe not really. But at least I have the luxury of typing so no one can hear my ridiculously strong Wisc'ahh'nsin accent.

Yikes! I'm glad you don't type with an accent!

I've yet to see any bubble but if Kohler created them and Kohler is in WI, I guess they can call them whatever they want! I must say... it's a lot better than the names other companies called their "water fountains":

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbler


Treefrog

 

[joflier]

Date: 8/17/2009 2:27:29 PM
Author: treefrog

Date: 8/17/2009 2:07:35 PM
Author: joflier

Very creative, I must say! I''m all for being different.

And, ya know, bubblers do bubble......sorta.....a little bit. Ok, maybe not really. But at least I have the luxury of typing so no one can hear my ridiculously strong Wisc''ahh''nsin accent.

Yikes! I''m glad you don''t type with an accent!

I''ve yet to see any bubble but if Kohler created them and Kohler is in WI, I guess they can call them whatever they want! I must say... it''s a lot better than the names other companies called their ''water fountains'':

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bubbler


Treefrog

Wow! There is seriously a wiki article for everything!!!! What would we do without wikipedia?! Thanks for posting that, I had no idea that Kohler invented the ''bubbler''! Now I have a new nugget of knowledge to share today!

 

[ckrickett]

you are fantastic!