Edward Triebell:  

MY LIFE WOW -- can it 30 years since high school graduation? YIKES! Where did the years go? I don't know how many of you know that I was born in France, at Chateauroux Air Force Base. We lived there until I was ~3 years old when my Dad was transferred to Brussels, Belgium. We lived in Brussels until I was six, when my Dad got transferred to Patrick Air Force Base, near Satellite Beach, FL, where he retired. As you can see from Classmates, I went to Palm Bay Elementary, Stone Middle School (part of the national busing program of the 70's), Southwest Junior High School (now Palm Bay High School) and then Mel-Hi! Immediately after Mel-Hi, I went to college (Florida Institute of Technology) on a NASA-funded Cooperative Education Scholarship program to study Electrical Engineering (EE). This program gave me the opportunity to alternate quarters of work at NASA as an engineer and then school pursuing my degree. It was an exciting time during the first launch of the Space Shuttle and some of the projects on which I worked were for the Shuttle program. I actually got to climb into the first shuttle vehicle when it was on the launch pad! I graduated from FIT in August 1983 with a degree in EE and a minor in Applied Mathematics. I decided to pursue a graduate degree and received a teaching scholarship at FIT which allowed me to work on a dual Master's degree program, in EE and Engineering Management. Marriage to another Mel-Hi Class of 1978 alumni, Angela Boozer, changed the course of my life and education and I started working at Harris Corporation in January 1984 as a design engineer and attended FIT at night to pursue my Master degrees. I was recruited away from Harris in October 1984 to work for Scientific-Atlanta in Atlanta, GA, where Angela always wanted to live and we very much enjoyed living in a big city. I lived in Atlanta for ~ 11 years; only 3 of it with Angela as my wife. In 1991, I met my second wife, Cyndi, while she was cleaning my teeth; she is a dental hygienist! Interestingly, she was dating someone from Melbourne, FL (YES, even though she was living in Atlanta) and she was ending their relationship and I was ending mine -- I felt karma was at work and asked her out. About 9 months later, we were married! In 1993, she gave birth to our daughter who is the absolute LOVE of my life. I still remember her being born and being overwhelmed with emotion that this little life was part me and being given to me to love and to take care of. I have NEVER felt such an emotion of pure love in my entire life! In 1995, I accepted a job in San Diego, CA and have been in San Diego ever since, although, I did live/work in Santa Barbara, CA for two years (April 2001-April 2003), but spent every weekend in San Diego with my daughter. (That's a 200 mile drive each way through hell, better ...Expand for more