Born in Pennsylvania, I was raised from age 5 in Stone Mountain, Georgia. I attended Clarkston and Marist High Schools and then went to the University of Notre Dame on an Air Force ROTC scholarship and majored in Aerospace Engineering. Before embarking on an 8-year active duty career as an Air Force officer, I also earned a Masters Degree in Aerospace Engineering. Once in the Air Force, I was stationed in Dayton, Ohio and Los Angeles, California (yes, tough duty), where I developed advanced jet engines and GPS receivers. Following my Air Force career, I embarked on a second career as an engineer and manager in the private sector. That career has taken me and my family to Louisville, Kentucky; Clifton Park, New York; Tualatin, Oregon; and Hunt Valley, Maryland, where we live now. My background as an engineer has given me an analytical, and skeptical, approach to things, including health and fitness. Throughout my life I have always been fairly fit, but have never been as fit as I have wanted to be. For the most part I stuck with conventional wisdom, until I came across "Paleo" or "Primal" principals. These fit with my natural curiosity, scientific bent, and an inclination to rebel against conventional wisdom.