Steve Buckley:  

Life No kids, last pet died 5 months ago. We've had 3 cocker spaniels. All 3 died of health-related issues. I'm now a 19 year melanoma cancer survivor. Married 16 years in August. Just graduated from University of Nevada, Reno, with BS in physics. For those who actually remember me, they'll get a good laugh out of it. Especially since I only got my GED in 1981. In 1979, I went to Israel for 5 weeks to work on a "kibbutz" with my church group. It was an awesome, life-changing experience. Being able to see locations that were only part of a "mythological" type historical book that I've been reading, made it seem all the more real. The flora/fauna reminded me so much of Southern California, that I thought I was actually still in So. Cal, instead of 10,000 miles away. But, once I began touring around, on my off time, I fell in love. I came real close to not coming back to America. As a result of the melanoma cancer, I began getting involved in advocacy to obtain medical coverages for an illness not covered by insurance. The photo of me "now" is politicking with power brokers in the medical industry. As stated, my wife and I have been married for over 15 years. We got married in 1990, at the park below the Dana Point Resort. We had an awesome view overlooking Doheny State Beach, and Dana Point Marina. In early 1991, we realized that we'll never buy a home in "the OC." We lived in Laguna Niguel, and Dana Point until December 1992. We moved up to the Lake Tahoe area of Northern Nevada. Homes, and land were real reasonable when we moved here. Life can be hard here, but worth ten times what we could've gotten in OC. For those who're still there... I'm glad it's you, and not me/us. The mountains are 30 minutes away. Tahoe is 35 minutes. Open backroads ready for off-roading in my Jeep, just 15 minutes away. I've been to Hawaii 3 times. Kauai, Big Island, and Maui. My wife and I have been twice. And actually, while I reside in Nevada, I live in the State of Grace. In 1977, I became a Jesus freak. A year later it got serious after getting shot. Now, I live every day at the pleasure of my God. I've had 6 major cancer surgeries. As a physicist, I find great treasures in the small, and finite, as well as the large, and infinite. Computers were taboo to me until my recovery from the first surgery in 1997. Now, I'm the family IT guru. The internet is among one of the most awesome tools I've ever found. Of course, it's also a dangerous place for the innocent, and naive. This is an update on Dec. 1, 2007. Since I posted the above (mid-2006), I am still alive, and cancer free. It'll be 4 years of no C come February 10, 2008. My wife and I are learning to ballroom dance. It's the first thing we've really ever done as a couple. Which is scary since we've been married for 17+ years now. It's amazing how life has changed us. Last Christmas she bought me a saxophone, and while I almost quit trying, I finally found a more local teacher, so I start lessons this Wednesday. She believes my playing the sax will make me more "romantic." We'll see about that. I will offer this next part as an encouragement. Guys, if you don't know how to dance, learn. It's actually pretty cool. Ladies, if you're looking for guys who can REALLY dance, go find a ballroom dance studio, and take lessons, etc... I will say this though, it's not for the faint of heart. It takes courage to get beyond the embarrassment of learning something new. Last week at the studio we go to there were 3 x's as many women as men. I only danced with the same woman 2x's (not including my wife) over an hour lesson. Not all were young (considering I'm 47 now), but it was interesting. A Second update- April 13, 2008. My life is continuing on. I am still cancer free, and am grateful. It's been over 4 years now since my last recurrence. The sax lessons are ongoing, and doing pretty well. Learning to read music, and play an instrument in my late 40's keeps me going. I'd like to say we're still trying the dancing, but our health, and pocketbook has limited that. It's not that we don't "want" to keep learning, we've just found that the private lessons are out of our afford range for now. WE're still going to the weekly group lessons as we can afford it, but now we're taking abreak. We have filled out the application to get on the "Deal or No Deal" tv game show, so we'll see. Yesterday I took the "Fundamentals of Engineering" exam for the first time, so we'll see if I made it in another 2 or 3 months. We've been in our home now for over 8 years now-- to me a big thing. At one point in my life I was moving every two years or so, and it got old. This is hte longest I've lived in a single location--ever. So those of you who are bored to tears with your "sedentary" lives, be grateful, uprooting your lives isn't all that great. It keeps a sense of excitement sure, but it keeps one from growing, and maturing in very important ways. View that boredom, or lack of excitement in your life as a marker by which you can use to define some new phase, or find some new experience that won't destroy you. Workwise- I'm still with the State. I'm expanding my abilities, and skills with Excel. I.e., VBA. If I pass the FE exam that I took yesterday, that will bump me up in my work level by a notch or two. We'll see...... School My biggest crush was a girl in Cypress, when I was in the 4th grade. Her name was Karen Cantrell. Inspirational teachers... Can't think of any. I was a high school drop out, so no teachers had much of a positive impact. One had a definitively negative impact, and that was Mr. Voegel, my freshman math teacher, at Estancia. He and the Visine Eye commercial guy- Ben Stein- would get along famously. If ever there was ...Expand for more