|
|
I was born in Salt Lake City, Utah. Both sides of my family are quite large. My grandparents were/are the finest people I've ever met, and whenever I'm down on myself I try to remember that I'm the favorite out of a horde of quality grandchildren. I am an only child, and yes, spoiled rotten, but I could be a lot worse. My Grandma and Grandpa Daniels are talented and resourceful gardeners and my Grandma Warner grew beautiful roses and hanging baskets. I like to think I inherited my green-thumb gene from them.
My mother and I moved to Iowa when I was five. I went to school at Dallas Center-Grimes high school. I competed in cross country, wrestling, track, and soccer. I also practiced Judo, the only sport I would continue playing into college. In ninth grade I experienced an adolescent heart condition and the doctor convinced my parents that I needed a pacemaker, which Mayo Clinic later concluded was not necessary. The device never worked properly and eventually stopped working completely. The misadventure put a blemish in my medical records that keeps coming back to haunt me. My mother was relieved, however, because it prevented me from joining the Navy as I had intended.
The summer of 2003 was an awesome experience; I spent a month in Australia for Bio 394 and two weeks in New Zealand. Aussies and Kiwis are warm, welcoming, wonderful people and I would go back in a heartbeat. In Australia (Oz) I saw penguins at the southern tip, dived the Great Barrier Reef, visited a rainforest research station, played with the kids at an aboriginal youth center, attended a symphony at the Opera house, drank a lot of really good beer, and saw the sun rise over Uluru. In New Zealand I saw an albatross nesting site, hiked Fox Glacier, went shopping, tandem skydiving, and bungee jumping in Queensland, went caving in Greymouth, drank more beer, watched kiwis at an aviary, and pet a tuatara. My next big adventure will be in Antarctica this Christmas. I'm helping my professor, Carol Vleck, compose a seminar about Antarctica for Reiman Gardens' Global Garden theme next year.
Stay tuned for our presentation on Landscaping at the end of the Earth...