franklin beilfuss:  

"After Kensington, I went to Buffalo State, where I took my first FORTRAN programming courses. This eventually led me into the systems consulting and software engineering field, and landed me a career that would take me to various parts of the world, including Boca Raton, Florida, Washington, D.C., Kobe, Japan, Birmingham, England, and finally Dallas (Plano), Texas. I worked as a top echelon software engineer for three world-class corporations, Dunlop Tire, Electronic Data Systems (EDS - Ross Perot's company), and the American Airlines Sabre Group, all at their corporate headquarters. Out of college I worked at Dunlop at their Sheridan Drive Headquarters in Buffalo, then moved to a bigger pond at EDS, first at Harrison Division of GM in Lockport, NY, and then on to their world corporate headquarters in Dallas, and finally moving on to American Airlines' Sabre Group, prior to moving back to Florida for my retirement at age 52. Yeah, I was lucky, but it was prefaced with hard work and, unfortunately, a massive stroke (cerebral hemorrhage). I still play the piano, now on my wonderful Baldwin Grand, and try to practice daily. Not those grueling 4-6 hour practice sessions of my teens, but more along the lines of 1-2 hours daily, if I can. I remember performing Chopin's Military Polonaise for a dual assembly in my senior year, which capped my recital career. I got too busy after that. College, family, life. At age 21, I was diagnosed with SLE, Systemic Lupus Erythematosus, or Lupus for short. I took massive amounts of Prednisone (a steroid) to stay alive, and this eventually gave me cataracts at age 30. I had surgery, but no implants (1980 only provided hard implants, and they wouldn't put them in a 30 year old). I wandered around for 23 years with no lenses in my eyes, relying on "coke bottle" cataract glasses to see life from inside a fishbowl I had another massive lupus flare at age 51, which caused a bleed in my brain, roughly the size of a lemon, which nearly killed me. I spent 3 weeks in ICU, my left side totally paralyzed, another month in a wheelchair, then several months on a walker and finally a cane. It took me about a year to walk "normally" again, but I'm not complaining. I'm still alive! I initially lost all of my pianistic ability, as my left arm did not work. I sat at the piano for countless hours, trying to get it working again, and eventually, I could play a few notes, then a chord or two. Those piano sessions after my stroke are what I attribute my nearly full recovery to (about 90%). Without those sessions, I doubt whether my brain would have been able to "re-wire" itself the way that it did, allowing me to live a rather normal life after a truly massive stroke. I thank the universe every day for the blessing of being able to continue life here on this wonderful little rock that we call home. My brother, Mike, developed lupus at age 33 and unfortunately passed away at 38. He was a quiet soul who never complained once during the five gruesome years of his battle with lupus. It was hard to watch. I studied hard and practiced 3-4 hours daily, which enabled me to become a good pianist at age 18. I was a member of Mensa from 1980-1996 (when th...Expand for more