Robert Gray:
CLASS OF 1987
Walker High SchoolClass of 1987
Jasper, AL
University of Florida - Tax LawClass of 1998
Gainesville, FL
University of Alabama - LawClass of 1997
Tuscaloosa, AL
University of Alabama at BirminghamClass of 1991
Birmingham, AL
Walker Junior CollegeClass of 1989
Jasper, AL
Robert's Story
I suppose the "catching up" depends on when you knew me.
To my high school classmates--despite rumours to the contrary, the fact that my name changed does not mean I am in the Federal Witness Protection Program.
After high school graduation, I followed in the path of many Walker High grads and attended the "Harvard on the Hill" (or across the street) Walker Colllege.
After graduating there, I went on to UAB, where I majored in the fascinating topic of Accounting. After graduation in 1991, I spent the next three years wearing a green eye-shade, toiling away at a public accounting firm in Birmingham. I passed the Exam and served the required period of indentured servitude to earn my CPA pocket protector, but by then I had realized that this life really wasn't for me.
As some of you may remember, I had always been fascinated by the law. Not always clear on which side of it I wanted to be on, but the idea of testing the limits of the law as an attorney appealed to me. So in the fall of 1994 I was off to Tuscaloosa and the University of Alabama School of Law.
Once in Tuscaloosa I felt like I had truly found my calling, I regretted that I chose UAB over the University for undergrad. Tuscaloosa was wonderful fun, all of the football games (Stallings was the coach, oh how I yearn for those days), the bars on the Strip and using the pick-up line "haven't I seen you around the Law School?" on numerous undergrad girls. The three years flew by, with graduation nearing I didn't want it to end, but what to do? I had heard about Tax Law which typically required another year of law school to specialize in. Even better, the top two schools for this specialization were New York University and the University of Florida. It sounded like a can't miss proposition. The only tough part was deciding where I had rather spend a year, NYC or Florida. Since Florida was well Florida, and they were cheaper and offered me a scholarship, I chose Florida. So in 1997, I moved to Gainesville, FL.
Serious miscalculation on my part. First of all, Gainesville is not even remotely close to the beach. Secondly, they expected me to work for this "scholarship", so I had to help a Tax Professor write articles that he took all of the credit (and money) for. Thirdly, Coach Stallings retired and the University of Florida had just won a NC. Florida fans are insufferable normally, but this was too much to bear. Finally, "haven't I seen you around the law school?" didn't seem to work nearly as well on UF undergrad girls. The few highlights of this time, were the nice weather, plenty of golf (but watch out for the alligators, it truly is a swamp), and meeting people from various parts of the country. I had a classmate from Rhode Island, proving to me that that place did in fact exist, and I introduced a classmate from Michigan to the Waffle House and grits. I even made a good friend from Utah, a reformed Mormon who decided to whole-heartedly reject the strictures of that religion by drinking lots of beer and coffee. Unfortunately, in 1998 the University forced me to graduate and left me with the daunting task of finding something else to do with my life. Deciding that medical school was a long-shot and that pursuing an MBA would be too much like Accounting, I resolved myself to getting a job.
Unfortunately, despite my impressive and colorful resume, I was informed that I wasn't quite smart enough to work for any of the bi...Expand for more
gger Birmingham law firms. But one of the National Accounting Firms in Atlanta was very interested in hiring me. These were the pre-Enron days (or Sodom and Gomorrha as I like to call it), so they knew how to seduce a candidate. Fancy hotel, expensive dinners, exciting stories of traveling to exotic locations, etc., etc. So I fell for it hook, line and sinker. Unfortunately things change once you accept the job. Oh I traveled alright, but in my opinion Clemson, SC, Chicago in November, Houston in August, etc. hardly qualified as "exotic." However, Atlanta was an exciting and fun place to live during this time. After dating more psychotic women than I care to admit, I met my wife Sonya. We were married in November of 2000.
Of course with the domestic situation settling down, the professional life changed. After three years of the accounting firm, I started getting restless. Around that time a "recruiter" contacted me about a job with a law firm in Savannah. Had I only known then that "recruiter" means a used car salesman in a nicer suit. But alas, I didn't.
I knew a little about Savannah, I had read "Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil" and thoroughly enjoyed the book. My wife and I visited staying in a nice bed and breakfast, we went out to Tybee Island, ate at all of the nice restaurants, etc. It seemed to have a quaint charm to it. So I took the job. We quickly discovered that while, Savannah was only 250 miles from Atlanta, it was in actuality a 100 years from Atlanta. In addition, even though "Midnight" was based on a true story, the Savannah described in the book was largely fictional. So within a few months I began planning my exit strategy.
After slightly more than a year in Savannah, an opportunity presented itself. I was offered a position with the Office of Chief Counsel to the Internal Revenue Service in Washington, DC.
After the initial culture shock, we adapted to Washington and really enjoyed living there. I really enjoyed my work with the government and the perks (lots of vacation and getting Flag Day and other silly holidays off) were second to none. Plus, the great benefit of having all of the people I didn't like selected for audit (Legal Disclaimer: This part, like much of this manifesto, is tongue in cheek. I had nothing to do with audit selection, my job involved writing rules for the taxation of corporations; not nearly as exciting I know). The downside was that President Bush in his infinite wisdom only granted us poor federal workers a 3% raise per year, while the price of homes in DC increased by 20% per year for the 4 years we lived there. Seeing the prospects of owning a home moving further and further away, I once again began looking for other opportunities.
Once again, a used car salesman/recruiter came to the rescue with an opportunity in St. Louis, MO. Of pretty much the entire world, St. Louis was a place where I had never even entertained the notion of living. All I knew about the city was they had that Arch thing and Budweiser was made there. Oh yeah, and the Rams won the Super Bowl fairly recently. Even though I was leery of recruiters and the city, the job seemed to match what I wanted. So here I am in St. Louis. I'm sure sometime in the near future I'll get restless and move again. Right now I'm generally enjoying the job, hating the cold and baseball, and trying to find a non A-B beer in this little city in the Midwest.
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