Kerri Russ:  

I'm the one who ran away. I left with the carnival in March of our senior year. No, seriously. I ran away to a job. I was with the carnival for about a month and ended up Pullman, Washington, at Pullman High School with my cousin, Mark Holl (now a PhD in Arizona). I graduated from Pullman but always considered Atwater my alma mater because I hardly got to know anyone in Pullman. I returned to Atwater and I spent some time goofing around, then I went to work. I worked for Merced County as a typist and worked my way up there. Then I moved on to the State where I worked my way into management. I won a Supervisor Award and that was gratifying... I loved being a manager! It's the job I'd return to if I didn't have a family! I worked in Technical Support and email management when it was brand new. I left the State after 10 years and worked as a technical writer and operations manager. It seems like another lifetime ago. Now, I'm a medical transcriptionist (2-year diploma in hand!) and I work at home through AssistMed. I LOVE what I do and I wish I'd discovered it 15 years before I did. I got my diploma through an online school called M-TEC (mtec-inc.com)... it is the best MT school around. Along the way, I met my husband on a private computer network (The Sierra Network, ImagiNation Network... anyone??). That man came all the way across the country on a BUS just to meet me in person... hard to believe! I knew he was a keeper and I <jokingly> proposed. He formally proposed the following day and the rest, as they say, is history. I love that man with all my heart. We had our only child in 2000. I stopped working when he was born and enjoyed being a stay at home mom before starting transcription. I'm an Oregonian... life in Oregon is slower, the trees are taller, the air is clearer, the traffic is lighter (until you get closer to Portland), the grass is greener, and every few years, we get snow! Joe is in heaven when we get snow... h...Expand for more