The year was 1979, the month November, and instead of waiting until the 25th of December I decided I wanted out. I joined my family of a stay -at-home mother, father who worked and a brother who is 6 years older than me that still considers me to be the baby brother - even though I'm 2 inches taller than him.

We moved to Eugene when I was 3 years old and my father was working in the then booming RV industry. My parents bought a house I grew up in and they still live in. I graduated from Sheldon High School in 1998. For the first couple of years after high school I just worked at Fred Meyers but in 2001 I decided to make a move to Seattle to attend the Art Institute. I graduated with a degree in Media and Graphic Design in 2003. I continued to work in Seattle doing some freelance and got a regular retail job to help the income. After 8 years in Seattle I decided I really missed my family and all that goes on around them so I once again decided to pick everything up and move back to Eugene.

At the beginning of my sophomore year at Sheldon we were required to take a foreign language so I chose Japanese, and I was hooked. The Japanese language and culture totally captivated my imagination and the language was relatively easy for me to speak. So, I applied to become an exchange student with a sister school in Kyoto, Japan. I got accepted and at the age of 16 I climbed on a jet plane for the first time by myself and flew a total of 34 hours and about 7000 miles to live in a foreign county with "stranger" for almost a year. It was one of the best times of my life. I explored Japan and immersed myself in their culture. A truly life changing experience. The family I stayed with took me in as their own and I still consider them to be my Japanese parents. We have remained close and I have been back several times to stay with them and I continue to go as offend as I can.

When thinking about favorite things, my list is long but I will just mention the ones at the top of my list. Probably the thing I love the most is my Siberian Husky , Nanook. He is 6 years old and is for the most part the most laid back dog I have ever known. I have a couple of collections that have stayed with the through the years. One of which is a huge movie collection which expands every week almost and allows me to pretty much tell anyone about almost any movie you can imagine. I also have a rather large star wars collection of stuff from, action figures, posters, trading cards, light sabers and even a pair of chop sticks. And, of course I LOVE my 1992 White Volvo station wagon, which to everyone that knows of it is referred to as the "Sweet Ride". She is a thing of beauty and is kept in pristine shape by the best mechanics in the city.

Working at Swedish is an adventure every day. I really enjoy working with the customers and helping them resolve their automotive problems.