MWC Board - Get to know each other thread

[Old_Sparty1857]

Name: Old Sparty 

Alma Mater: SJSU, BS Business Marketing: Arizona State, MBA

Catholic (I need to be forgiven). Proud Gen Xer. Proud fraternity man  

Teams: SJSU, ASU, SF 49ers, Oakland A’s, GS Warriors. Grew up a Cal Bears fan. 

Hometown: Born in the Bay Area. Grew up in both Pleasanton, CA and Scottsdale, AZ

Current Home: Santa Cruz County, CA. Second home: North Lake Tahoe, CA

Married, three kids. Wife is a former college athlete and works in health care. Son graduated from UC Berkeley. One daughter graduated Cal Poly. Youngest daughter currently at UCSB. One dog: half yellow lab, half golden retriever.  Third generation Californian. Paternal family has been in the USA since the 1760’s.

Brother served in the Navy and is an SDSU alum and a big Aztec fan. Bastard! Grandpa served in the Army in the Pacific during WW2. My father (RIP) was a Navy Corpsman. A big hunter and fisherman he turned me on to the outdoors. Majority of my extended family are Cal Poly alums. Family all over the Central Coast and Central Valley  

Career: Worked most of my life in Sales and Marketing for various sporting goods companies or in the sports industry. Also a small business owner.

Hobbies: Waterman. Former triathlete and marathon runner. Basketball, Swimmer, and Water Polo player. Now hiking, surfing, fly fishing, golf, skiing, back packing, mountain biking, etc…Like a lot of you guys, I’m a life long athlete and outdoorsman. I enjoy living in the Western US and I travel and get around the region.  Love both the ocean and the mountains. My favorite place now days is a mountain river. 

Avid reader and history geek. Movie junkie but don’t watch TV. I don’t tweet or twerk. Have never been on social media.  Like most all music but mostly rock and country.  Love live music and Broadway musicals.  Can dance a little but have zero musical talent myself. My wife and kids do. 

Vices: Beer connoisseur. Coffee junkie. Gambler. Poker player. College sports geek. Griller and smoker of dead animals. Muscle Cars. Quoting 80’s movies.

Two truths and a Lie: Completed the Hawaiian Ironman Triathlon. Was in 4H and raised cattle and pigs as a child. Shot a hole in one at Pebble Beach.  

Scariest moment: Too many to count but here’s an interesting one.

Wife and I were young travelers and accidentally drove a jeep off a dirt road, down an embankment, and into a ditch in outback South Africa. Stuck in the heat, we couldn’t get it uprighted and faced the real possibility of spending the night out with the lions and tigers and bears….oh my! (And in South Africa the animals are often the least of your troubles). 

Pre cell phone, we hadn’t seen anyone all day and we we’re building a makeshift shelter for the night when a young farmer stumbled upon us. He had a truck with a winch and saved our bacon. He invited us to his house for the night where we met his wife and kids and had a nice meal. That was 30 plus years ago and we still keep in touch with them to this day.  They have visited and stayed with us at our home in CA.