Ted Cahall:
CLASS OF 1977
Loyola AcademyClass of 1977
Wilmette, IL
University of Illinois - Graduate SchoolClass of 1985
Chicago, IL
University of Illinois - EngineeringClass of 1984
Chicago, IL
Holy Cross SchoolClass of 1973
Deerfield, IL
Saint Therese SchoolClass of 1973
Kansas city, MO
Ted's Story
Life
Moved to DC area in Jan of 2007 to be EVP of AOL Platforms. Moved up to the Seattle area from the San Francisco Bay area in August of '05. Work in the high tech / Internet field as a management executive. Was EVP/COO at Classmates.com (part of United Online). Was also responsible for PhotoSite.com and United Online Web Services (Freeservers.com, etc.). Previously CIO/SVP at CNET Networks and VP of Bank of America's Internet Home Banking prior to that.
Enjoy the company of two fairly large cats- Boxer and Jet. Really enjoy driving fast with my modified Harley Fatboy, 2 Z06 Corvettes and Mercedes AMG E55. Heck, I would race my cats if I could get them to cooperate.
I grew up 7th in a family of 8 in a suburb of Chicago and was born in a suburb of Cleveland, Ohio.
School
One of my favorite memories from high school was when a fight would break out. It was an all male school and the whole place would erupt with the chant, "fight, fight, fight". If it was near the cafeteria, kids would pound the tables in synchronization to enhance the effect. Everyone would rush over to see who was beating whom with what. Everyone was smiling and excited. It was somewhat surreal. Usually a teacher would have to drag one of them off the other. Occasionally even the teacher got hit - that really pleased the crowds!!! Yes, those were the good old days. Otherwise, with no females to help make the day go by faster - it was pretty damn dull.
I did manage to learn how to program in assembler and Fortran while I was there. The rest, you could say, is history.
College
Got a few degrees... Met a few nice people... Worked at the computer center...
Workplace
Had a lawn mowing empire at 8 years old. Previously had done sporadic work shoveling driveways and washing cars. Was always a worker and loved the concept of money. Heh, heh, money... Still makes me smile.
Worked at the cinema in high school. Had to get a permit since I was only 14. Got to see all the movies for free and got free popcorn. My mom had me bring some popcorn home for her - she was psyched. At the cinema, I had to take tickets and make sure the people were not smoking or pu...Expand for more
tting their feet up. The rock opera Tommy ran for so many weeks I thought I would kill if I had to go back in there to police the mutants. It ruined my love for the Who. Who knew?
Laid patio bricks one summer in college. That sucked. Lucky for me, the foreman was a jerk and fired me after a few weeks when I suggested that we use the tractor to move the pallet of bricks instead of my rickety old wheel barrow. It was then that I knew I was destined for management. :)
I also worked for the phone company a few summers before I graduated. Got to go up in the bucket and play with the wires. Eventually I got my own little truck and mini tractor to bury drops from the house to "the pole". I was virtually "the man". Just me, my truck, my mini-tractor, and a route slip.
Worked for the University computer center as a consultant until I graduated from college. Great experience. Met some very pathetic people - and I helped them. It made me think I actually had a brain. Comparison is a powerful tool to make you believe all kinds of rediculous things.
Well I have been working as a computer guy for a number of years now. Same old stuff, just differnt names for it all like: mainframe, client-server, unix, web services, PCs.
As Mr. Mom said, "210, 212, whatever it takes".
Military
When I was 17, I thought I was ready to go see the world. I went to the local Marines recruiter's office and took the entrance exam. Perfect score (I could actually spell my name). I thought I was hot stuff and ready to go. I told my dad (WW II verteran) and he was psyched to see that his son was ready to "be a man".
The recruiter came to the house and my mom refused to meet him. She was required to sign off on my paperwork since I was not 18 yet. She was pretty upset that my dad even let the guy in the house...
Needless to say, while I may (or may not) have turned out to be a pretty tough, bad-ass jarhead/leatherneck, I think my mom saved me from a lot of hard work and pain (and that is just boot camp).
Thanks mom! After all, I was always pretty lazy and had a hard time with her just trying to get me to clean up my room - let alone a drill sergeant...
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