Who I am - words that describe me:
Active, Caring, Conscientious, Good Sense of Humor, Personable, Multi-Faceted

My personal challenges:
By staying healthy, I have been able to maintain a steady work ethic in an otherwise younger man's environment. Not smoking, proper diet, and reasonable workouts have contributed to me remaining healthy.

My career challenges:
We all tend to pursue achievements and life-long learning if we want to succeed. My personal life has been one of continued learning in several areas. Although I have enjoyed income from several fields of work, I have felt the greatest personal success in the diving industry. A career in diving has many separate facets. In order to make the most of the diving objectives, you begin with the nucleus of becoming an instructor. The other areas required to maintain a full service business include business management, sales background, certifications to work on life support, cylinder inspection technology, dive planning and management techniques, coordination of dive activities, knowledge of the underwater environment, and medic first aid training.

Likes/Dislikes about career:
Scuba Diving is a very competitive industry. Keeping people interested in diving with continuing education courses and finding new markets are the greatest challenges we face. What would I change? ... the negative factors that affect our industry. Throughout the industry of highly trained professionals, there is no common respect. We need to generate a pride among peers that does not exist at the present.

Influences:
Many people have assisted in my goals and career objectives, but none as much as the late Jacques Cousteau. His achievements, by far, affect all of us in the diving environment throughout the world.

Future goals:
I doubt that I will achieve all of my goals. As I age, I find more objectives and challenges to conquer. I hope I never stop learning.

My thoughts about space exploration:
The similarities between space exploration and our diving environments create vast learning possibilities. When the astronauts began training underwater, the world of diving took on a more complete picture for many people. In our scuba program at Big Red Divers, emphasis is stressed on using minimal weights and breathing properly. Both of these directly relate to weightlessness and controlling our surrounding environments. We stress the protection of our diving reefs and ecosystems. As we travel throughout the U.S. coastal regions, the need for reef protection becomes a vividly critical issue. What we learn from space exploration may help us survive on our own dying planet.

Personal information:
I have the following PADI Specialty Instructor Certifications: Underwater Naturalist, Night Diver, Medic First Aid Instructor, Peak Performance Buoyancy, Law Enforcement, Underwater Rescue, Underwater Photographer, Ice Diver, Equipment Specialist, Search & Recovery Diver, Deep Diver, Suit Diver, Safe Air, Nitrox Instructor, Wreck Diver, Basic Archaeological Research Assistant, and Shark Diver.