Hello Steemit community! Excited to be here...

Hello! This is my first post on Steemit and I figured the best way to start would be to introduce who I am, my life story, favorite ice cream (mint chocolate chip), etc. etc.

I am a millennial, I think, but only just barely. I was born in October 1981, so I think that puts me just barely in the millennial generation. My dad was in the US Navy when I was very young so we moved around quite a bit, though I don't remember most of the moves. I do remember living in California from the time I was 3 until I was just about to turn 6 (that would be '84-'87 for those keeping count). And after that we moved to rural North Carolina where I spent the rest of my childhood.

Now, when I say 'rural' I mean VEEEERY rural. We lived on a farm in the western part of Harnett County in an area where, up until my senior year in high school, there were more unpaved roads than paved roads. It wasn't really a town, but more of a farming community. The official name of it is: "The Upper Little River Township of North Carolina, Harnett County." Good luck finding that mouthful on the map.

Growing up we were poor, I guess, but I didn't really understand that at the time. And when you're living in a farming community words like "poor" are pretty relative. We may not have had enough money to get a Nintendo at Christmas, but we never missed a meal and there was always enough for company. It was hard work, though, even at six years old. At the time I hated all of that manual labor, but looking back on it now that was when I developed my work ethic and my appreciation for all jobs that involve air conditioning. There's nothing quite like a tobacco field in the peak of August heat in the south to teach you a good appreciation for climate controlled spaces.

School was pretty normal for me. That is to say I was picked on ruthlessly as a kid up until middle school when I used a Prentice Hall literature book to knock the crap out of a bully who kept pulling his books out of his locker onto my head. After that, no one messed with me much.

After high school I went to a local community college, mainly out of a lack of direction and ambition more so than any real desire to attend the program I was in, if I'm honest. Still, the program was pretty cool and I ended up graduating with a degree in laser optics and photonics technology. That sounds really cool, but unfortunately the degree was largely obsolete by the time I got it. I was about ten years too late and shortly after graduating most of the industry switched to high-energy, high-efficiency diode lasers rather than the big gas-tube lasers we had learned to work on and repair.

I ended up going from the community college to a real university where I spent the better part of a decade bouncing around campuses and majors. I studied everything from Electrical engineering and biochemistry to creative writing and philosophy. Literally. Everything. I have more than 200 hours of undergraduate credit and I still don't technically have a bachelor's degree.

After college I moved to Charlotte, NC, where I live to this day with my amazing wife and 3 of my 4 kids. My oldest son lives in Florida with his mom, but we get to see him a few times a year when we fly him up for visits. Even after ten years in this city it is still a little surreal to me. I am the very definition of a small-town country boy living in a big city, and sometimes it does get to me. I miss the wide open spaces, fields, and being able to actually see the stars at night.

So those are the broad strokes of my life. Hopefully that will give you a little insight into who I am and where I come from. As I put more posts up I'll fill you in on some of the more interesting details of my life and the misadventures I've had along the way (by the time I was 10 we were on a first name basis with my orthopedist).

Thanks for reading, and I look forward to getting to know this community in the future.

DW McAliley