Rob Kaplan:
CLASS OF 1983
Ft. Hamilton High SchoolClass of 1983
Brooklyn, NY
Ft. Hamilton Public School 104Class of 1979
Brooklyn, NY
Rob's Story
Life
Life, eh? Hmmmm.
1983- graduated FHHS. Went to work on Wall Street as an operations clerk. 25 years later; still haven't figured out what to do with my life; now a very overpaid operations "specialist."
1988 - left Brooklyn for San Francisco. Drove. I-80 starts at the George Washington Bridge and ends at the SF Bay Bridge.
1989 - experienced Loma Prieta Earthquake from my studio apartment. No damage and no power for a week.
1990 thru 1993: - drank a lot;
June 14, 1994: Was the best day of my life until my wedding. (NY Rangers win the Stanley Cup)
1996 - Met my Canadian wife on a moderated internet hockey board before Match.com ever existed. Wrote emails from work 6 out of every 8 hours every work day.
1997 - Future wife move to SF from Edmonton, Alberta.
Midnight; 1/1/2000 - watch Y2K from the roof of 1910 Greenwich Street. The world survives.
9/23/2000 - got married at the Monterey Plaza Hotel. Honeymooned in Kauai. Excellent time.
2001 - needed a change. Moved to Calgary, Alberta in Canada. Became a permanent resident. Couldn't find work for 2 years.
2002- Built a new home for $210,000 (Canadian dollars)
2006 - finished paying off the house.
2007 - sold the same house for $544,500. Converted all the money to US Dollars. Moved to San Diego. Have money now. Until we buy property in California, anyway. Trying to lose the funny Canadian accent. Right on, eh ?
Life. In a nutshell.
UPDATE: 2008:- bought a 1600 sq ft house in Walnut Creek, CA- used most of our house proceeds and still only put 50% down
also in 2008: get hired in the financial services industry on the day Lehman went down-probably the only one hired in America that day.
2009- planning on going tio Thailand this year and get a dog next year- still no kids (allows for the early retirement we are planning on in 2020)
School
If I could do it all over again, I'd probably smoke a lot less pot in high school. And figure out some sort of a real career. Fort Hamilton was fun, though. I remember being the only pot smoking burnout in the Honors ...Expand for more
Academy. Should have married Anita Tonneesn like Mom wanted. Also should have tried to score with Morgan McLoughlin (sat next to her in Mr. Golik's math class). Also should have tried harder with Joanne Amico, the first chic that found me interesting for whatever reason. Had a crush on Diane Gurvis; married a Diane, anyway. Hung out with The Jakes. Everyone knew them. Don't remember many teachers from high school. But I do remember White Castle murderburgers at 4 AM and the Venus II Diner at 5 AM after getting kicked out of The Shining Star after last call. Ah, drinking and partying. Wasn't high school great?
College
Nothing much to say; couldn't get my act together at the time. Went to Bernard Baruch College for 2 years but working on Wall Street was more fun at the time. Never graduated. Never had the ambition to go back. Yes, I regret it. But life worked out OK given my pathetic lack of ambition during those years. Advice for the young? Find a fun career before you get to the middle age crisis stage. Or become a surfer.
Workplace
How has work progressed? I've only known the white-collar world of the financial services industry. It's kept me employed for over 20 years, although it's getting harder because I'm "overqualified" for most jobs. Yeah, right. While living in Canada, I tried working at Staples. It sucks. the public sucks. And the dumbass that's your boss who just came out of college in retail sucks also. I also tried working in a gourmet supermarket. Slicing meat and kissing ass of snobby customers asking for "112 grams exactly" sure makes you appreciate being a financial clerk even when you know you should have been a writer.
Military
Yeah, right.
I'll join the military when America becomes a democracy again, recognizes human rights, shuts down Guantanamo, impeaches a president for lying to Congress, not oral sex, exhibits the very principles it claims we're fighting a war on terror for, and changes the constitution to allow for a system wherby the popular vote actually decides an election.
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