I am an Air Force brat so I have lived everywhere. I was born in Japan and two years later my father was stationed in the Philippines for 10 years. When he was transferred back to the US, we were move around to different cities. He retired in Sacramento, CA. The last city I lived in before moving to Austin was Lake Tahoe. Yes, it is as beautiful as you see in the pictures. No, that’s not me in the “Come Visit Lake Tahoe’ commercials.

I used to own an indoor skateboarding park and motocross track in Woodland, Ca. It was the biggest one in Northern/Central Ca and was featured in all the skateboarding magazines and videos. I even had the opportunity to train a chimp, Bernie, to skateboard for a movie called MVP 2. (Please no autographs are signed during office hours)

When I was 28 I designed and built my first house. There wasn’t a piece of that house I didn’t touch. I was hooked! Taking an idea from dirt and physically building that idea was an amazing feeling. I wanted other people to have that same feeling. To see the faces of mothers, fathers, the tails of pets wag, it brings back the feeling I experienced at 28. Being part of the American Dream for individuals and families is an honor that few get to be a part of.

Every day my parents text or call me. The words my mother says to me inspires me to remember where I came from, where I am at today and where I want to be in the future. I may or may not be a little scared of her, too.

“In life, it doesn’t matter how much money or what material possessions you had, what people will remember is your word.” A Buddhist Monk told me this quote years ago.