Curt Crader:  

Life It's been a long time since the purple hair and parachute pants but believe it or not I'm still alive. I'm married with 2 kids, retired from the Navy, working as an Electrical Engineer and running my own website (magazinehawk dot com) in my free time. All that fun didn't warp me too bad. School My school years were the best of my life, but then again aren't they supposed to be? Although I can't always remember names and places, they come back to me at the weirdest times. All of a sudden I'll think of somebody or something and wonder why I remember that. I still remember the days of playing football at recess on the map at Combs Elementary, arguing with Dave Bertorello and Diane Wilsdorf about the rules all the time, all part of being a kid. Kickball games that were dominated by Antwaun Nunn and Gensein Williams, sorry if the names are spelled wrong. The dreaded last day of school... Junior High was good too, Cross Keys Junior High. I remember the dances at all the catholic schools, parties at peoples houses and riding my bike all over to get there. High School, more of a blur. I made a lot of new friends during my high school years but lost friendships too. I enjoyed going to "Animal House" and hanging down at "The Loop" in U City. My last adventure prior to going to the Navy was a trip to Chicago with Chip Costello that I'll never forget. It was from that trip we invented the "Oh Dice, How Nice!" game that we made classic for all of my parties for the next year or so. I damaged my knee real bad stage diving in Chicago at a show and it turned out my last adventure kept me out of the Navy for about 16 months. College Sorry, no crazy college stories. I went to college on nights and weekends while still in the Navy so if anything, there are less stories to tell. My undergraduate degree (Nuclear Engineering Technology) was relatively painless and I graduated with a 4.0 GPA. I guess once you've worked in a field for so long the formal education after the fact should be pretty easy. My Master's degree (Adult and Career Education - Training and Development) was a little trickier. About 3/4 of the way through the program I became frustrated with public educational systems (and the politics) and lost my desire to complete the program. I still forced myself to go to classes to complete the program and graduated with a 4.0 GPA. I'm glad I've got the degree but don't see myself teaching in a public institution in the near future. If you're interested I'll be happy to explain to you how American schools are failing and how we must reform them in the next 10 years or we will suffer as a nation. I'm very proud of my educational accomplishments particularly because I joined the Nav...Expand for more