Michael Ott:  

Michael is from Farmingdale, New York. His schools include Farmingdale High School. He later attended SUNY at Farmingdale. He works(ed) at Florida Department of Corrections. Michael's interests include History, Museums, Art, Biking, Scuba diving, Snow skiing. Music he likes includes Classic rock, Classical, 70s and 80s. Movies he likes include True Grit (1969), True Lies, Alien Trilogy. TV shows he likes include Bones, Dexter, House. More about Michael:"On 9/11/2001 I was starting a new contract as Assistant Shore-Ex manager for Renaissance Cruise Lines, and was moving into my permanent cabin. I had joined the ship a few days before in Amsterdam, and we were now in our home port of Dover, England. I had CNN on as I was unpacking and caught the attack pretty much right from the start. When the second plane hit, the thought that went through my mind was "terrorist attack", which had yet to be confirmed. I managed to complete my unpacking in tears. The following week, half of the Renaissance fleet sailed empty. The week after, I remember being at sea when the captain announced that Renaissance had just announced they were going into bankruptcy, and the ship was turning around to return to England, where arrangements were being made to fly the passengers home. The crew, however, was stuck for the time being. I spent the next three weeks in England, as the lawyers were negotiating a way to pay the crew, get them home, and also pay the accumulating port fees. I had a chance to see Dover before the ship moved up the Thames, closer to London. Then I had a chance to see London. If I had known that I'd be there that long, I would have visited Ireland, or Scotland, but we were expecting to be sent home any day. To Renaissances' credit, I was paid for the time I spent waiting for a ticket home (and continued to eat and sleep on board) and was given an additional months salary. I was really looking forward to seeing the Mediterranean ports, but that was not to be. As it was, I only got to see a little of England, Amsterdam, Oslo, Belgium, and ironically Normandy. I'll never forget the majestic way the crosses were lined up at the cemetery there. Back home, the unemployment bureau paid for my truck driver training, and I drove big rigs for a while with my newly acquired Class A license, which would come in handy later, when I worked for the DOC. My career as an assistant manager for the local Blockbuster Video store lasted until a Correctional Officer stopped by the store and gave me the recruiting sergeants phone number. I was hired by the state in June of 2003, trained, passed the exam and worked at a major correctional institution in Milton, FL until I transferred to Big Pine Key Road Prison in January of 2005. The last number of years I drove a big yellow DOT truck with a five inmate road crew on board. So if you happened to see five inmates, dressed in blue, walking down US 1 with plastic bags and pick sticks picking up trash in Key Largo, (Amy and Shane), that would have been me driving the truck following them. My territory extended from the DOT yard in Marathon at MM 48 to the Dade County line at MM 112.5. We also cleaned up many of the bridge ends, and occasionally some of the "hot spots" in the mangroves. At the en...Expand for more