Howard Smith:
CLASS OF 1974
Kennedy High SchoolClass of 1974
La palma, CA
Howard's Story
Here you go, for anyone interested, this is my long story :-)
Shortly after graduation from Kennedy HS in 1974 I started as a music major at Cal State Fullerton. While it was interesting for a short time I was very disappointed in the curriculum and in the prospects for a future career in same (most likely a teacher.) Not that I have anything against teachers but it wasn't where I saw my life headed right then.
After dropping out of the University I wasn't sure what to do next. My Dad suggested joining the Air Force (he was a lifer) and I decided to take his advice. I took the aptitude tests and did very well, so they handed me the book of job choices and told me to pick whatever I wanted. Music was still high on my list and as I had an interest in electronic music, I decided to learn electronics by becoming an "avionics navigational specialist." Next thing I knew I was off to San Antonio TX for six weeks of basic training and then onto Keesler AFB in Biloxi MS for several months of electronics training. I did well, coming away as a "high honors" graduate.
During my time in the USAF I continued to study and after my return to Orange County completed my degree as an electronics engineering major at CSUF. (No matter where else I live eventually I return to Southern California, there's no place like it in the world :-)
By this time I was an early expert with microprocessor technology and in high demand. My employer at the time, Process Systems Incorporated, had a technology exchange contract with a German company, VDO Instruments and Controls. (They're best known in the USA for making VW automobile gauges that say "VDO.") They'd sent a couple of their engineers to the US to study our development and production methodologies, and asked if I would be willing to come to Germany for a year to assist them with developing their own systems and setting up a production facility. I didn't know a lot about Germany and didn't speak much of their language beyond "Guten Tag," but decided to accept the opportunity. And what an adventure it turned out to be! I was able to travel all over Europe and see places I hadn't seen since I was a child. (Most of you wouldn't know but I lived for several years in the UK when I was young, as my mother is English.)
VDO asked me to stay beyond my one year obligation, but I declined, I was ready to head back to the USA. After my return I was contacted by a friend who told me of an opportunity at a private technical school as director of their electronics engineering technology curriculum, and I accepted the position. (Yes, I accepted the position, this from the guy who wasn't interested in teaching after high school.) It was fun for a while, and I definitely enjoyed the experience of seeing students advance through their graduation of an AS degree, but the pay was way below industry standard so I ended up leaving.
It was at the school that I met Suzanne. She was a drafting student, not within my curriculum, so there was no conflict of interest. It was my first marriage, her second, and she had two early-teen children from her previous relationship. Sadly, it didn't last more than about six months, she turned out to be a little unstable and changed her mind about our marriage after the fact. Ironically, I got along very well with my step-children, a girl and a boy, I think they appreciated me as a father figure in their lives. Suzanne allowed me to continue spending time with them even after our divorce, but I eventually backed out of the relationship. I didn't feel it was the best for them over the long term.
By this time I had accepted a position at another school, ITT Technical Institute. I'd found that I actually enjoyed working in education (yeah, ironic huh?) and became their regional director of electronics engineering technology for a couple of years. It was there that I met Susan. (What is it with these names, Suzanne, Susan.. ;-) She kind of latched onto me more than the other way around, she started asking me out, inviting me to her house (she owned her own home), etc. What can I say? I became blinded by love (or more likely lust) and eventually asked her to marry me. Big mistake.
It turned out that Susan was borderline manic-depressive, but I didn't see it early enough. After three years together she eventually entered a long-term depressive state, decided she wanted a divorce and I willingly gave it to her. (This after my suggestion for counseling, which she didn't want to pursue.)
I eventually decided to make more money by leaving the education field and getting back into real engineering. So in the mid-80s I switched over to a start-up government contract company called Airspace Technology Institute. AirTech specialized in military air traffic control systems so I was able to leverage my earlier military experience with avionic navigational systems in a position as project engineer. I was with them for about six years and it was within the last couple of years there that I met the love of my life, Joni.
Joni's a somewhat shy girl and had just gone through a bad divorce from her first marriage, and so was cautious about new relationships. I, having been through two divorces, was equally cautious. Nevertheless, I believe it was our caution with each other that drew us together and eventually led to our marriage. This October marks our 20th wedding anniversary and we love each other just as much as the first day we met.
In the interim, shortly afer we married in 1989, the owner of AirTech decided to move the company to Salt Lake City, in order to consolidate resources with a sister company there. I went along because the Engineering group was the first to move while Joni remained in Orange County until we could sell our condo and make a final move. But I could see that the company wasn't going to survive, government contracts were on a downswing, so I left AirTech and moved back to OC.
My next position was as an engineer with Southern California Edison at the San Onofre Nuclear Generating Station (SONGS) near Carlsbad. By this time I'd realized that electronic engineering jobs were becoming harder to find so I enrolled at CSUF for a MS in Computer Science.
Our first son Brandon was also born during that time, he's currently 17 and a junior in high school.
After about six years at SONGS I left there for an IT director position with Ingram Micro in Santa Ana. Ingram Micro is the world's largest distributor of technology products, at the time I was there they were a Fortune 50 company (not sure what they are today.) I was the architect of some database systems that are still in use today, ten years later, frankly something I'm very proud of.
Our second son Matthew was also born during that time, he's currently 13 and a junior in middle school (just finishing 7th grade.)
Now here's where the fun starts career-wise..
About ten years ago, while at Ingram Micro, I received and accepted an offer from MP3.com located in San Diego. By this time I'd completely switched over my career from electronics engineering to software engineering. MP3.com offered an opportunity to combine the two professions I'd come to love, software and music. I'd come full circle :-)
To minimize my drive time we ended up moving from OC to SD county, to a town called Vista in the north part of San Diego County. It's where we live now, in a nice development in t...Expand for more
he south part of Vista called Shadowridge.
But nothing stays the same, especially within the Internet business. MP3.com was eventually acquired by Universal Music and although I stayed with them a while longer, it became apparent to me that a shutdown of the MP3.com website was coming. And indeed it did, but only after I'd left about six months earlier.
By that time I'd left for another on-line music company in San Diego known as Musicmatch. I wasn't there longer than 18 months or so before we had an acquisition by Yahoo.
And that's where I am today, working as a director of software engineering for Yahoo. The pay and benefits are VERY nice, but I often miss working for the smaller start-ups. Given today's economic situation it's difficult to say where things will go. I receive numerous offers from headhunters for smaller companies, but until angel investment picks up I doubt that I'll be leaving where I am for a while.
So, some general information about me and the family..
We're all very involved with Scouting.
- Brandon is a Life Scout and just recently completed his Eagle community service project, we're all very proud of him. Given his follow-up work he'll probably become an Eagle Scout by August or so.
- Matthew is also a Life Scout, but at 13 I feel he's a little young yet to take on his Eagle community service project. Maybe by the time he turns 14 (December) we can start looking into it.
- Joni and I are both involved as adult Scout leaders and have been for about 11-12 years now, starting with Cub Scouts. I'm currently the Committee Chair of Troop 787 in Oceanside CA and Joni is a committee member. (check out our recently revised website, prepared by me, troop-787.org) I'm also a local Scout counselor for various merit badges, e.g., Computers, Dog Care, Astronomy, Radio, Emergency Preparedness, etc.
Genealogy has become my number one hobby over the last several years.
- I never thought I'd get very far with the surname of "Smith," but it turns out my Dad comes from a little town in Alabama near another little town called "Smithtown." The town dates back to the 19th century and is named after my family. There's also a Baptist Church cemetery there with about 75-80% of the people buried being my ancestors.
- Between mine and Joni's ancestry (her's is a combination of German and Norwegian) I've been able to identify about 2,100 relatives so far, dating back several centuries.
- I'm currently enrolled in the University of Toronto's National Institute for Genealogical Studies, working toward an advanced certificate in genealogical research. Genealogy has become one of the top interests in the US after gardening, but like gardening not everyone wants to put in the effort themselves. I don't believe we can count on Social Security, my Southern California Edison pension, and home equity alone to support us in retirement. It would be nice to have something we can fall back on that I can do easily, something that's of interest for many other people but perhaps beyond their capability.
Joni was a stay-at-home Mom from the time that Brandon was born.
- It was tough for her at first, given that she'd worked her whole life. But we both agreed that the best thing was for someone to always be home with the boys.
- The first few years, when we still lived in OC, I encouraged Joni to pursue a certificate in a topic that had always interested her, as a Medical Administrator. The transition from always working to always being home was tough for her. My Mom was very supportive, every morning that Joni had classes she drove down from Buena Park to Mission Viejo so she could watch over them while Joni was in class.
Nevertheless, although she successfully completed the certificate and internship, she never took a position as a medical administrator. It was more important for her to be at home for our boys.
- Nevertheless, for the past several years, Joni has been employed part-time as a noon-duty security officer at the same middle school our boys have attended. This has offered the best of both worlds: she's able to work and get out of the house yet still be home at the same time as our boys.
Exercise.
- I used to be into the LifeCycle, but about 18 years ago I got into running. At the time we lived across the street from Lake Mission Viejo and I started making the circuit around it every day (about 3 to 3-1/2 miles.) I eventually expanded to the point where I was running at work every lunch time 7-8 miles per day. I participated in every local 5k/10k in OC and eventually expanded to others in SD county, including the Camp Pendleton 10k Mud Run (what a blast that was!) I've done numerous half-marathons in SD County, but frankly can't afford to spend the time preparing for a full marathon, that would take a full day running 20 miles in preparation and I don't have that much time to spare from the family.
- We learned long ago that Joni suffers from exercise-induced asthma, so unfortunately while she's tried, she cannot keep up with me when running. Nevertheless, we own a Lifecycle and Body-Solid weightset, she uses those instead.
Pets, we have many pets.
- Our oldest pet is a leopard gecko belonging to Brandon named "Hidey," he named her that because she would "hide" a lot during the day. Incredibly she's about 10-11 years old now, we never thought she'd last so long.
- We also have a cat named Odie, she's about 12-13 now. We had another cat named Maximilian, Max died a few years ago. Whereas Odie is "my" cat, she's very shy, hides a lot, and really only comes to see me, Max was just the opposite. If the doorbell rang he'd run to the door to see who it was, but Odie would run and hide under the bed. Max had to be put to sleep, we all cried over that. His ashes are in a special wooden box in the office, we'll never forget him.
- Fish. Yep, we have fish. How much can one say about them?
- We have a six-year-old Australian Shepherd named Docker. Docker is an indoor dog, he pretty much has the run of the house, but he's VERY well behaved. Frankly, where ever we go, he goes, he can't stand to be away from us. Docker is my third dog but Joni's first. She was a little apprehensive initially, having had a bad experience with dogs when she was young. Amazingly, Joni's completely turned around regarding dogs, she absolutely adores Docker and he adores her, the two of them are probably closer than any other family member/pet combination.
For better or for worse, we own two homes.
- Our current primary residence in Shadowridge, Vista is holding it's own despite the diminishing average value of homes in San Diego county. The average value in Shadowridge is still well above what we paid, plus we have a 15-year mortgage with only about 7-8 years more to go. At least we still have significant equity.
- Our secondary residence is in Idyllwild, CA. If you'll are not familiar with Idyllwild, I'd recommend looking it up on the web. It's kind of like Big Bear except without all of the commercialism. We own a VERY small cabin there, but on a prime piece of property. We purchased it a few years back as a retirement investment, currently it's underwater for us, but given that property values will eventually go up, plus we're on the up-side with our place in Vista, I have no doubt we'll end up ahead over the long run.
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