I've gotten a few emails asking me different questions about myself, so I figured others may have some of the same questions so I'm going to answer them here. Since I'm doing this as a narrative, just for reference some of the questions I've gotten are:
How old are you?
What do you do for a living?
What else do you do for fun? Are you into any other sports?
What kind of car do you transport your board with?
My name is Joe, I'm 31 years old and from Stratford, CT. I work at a nonprofit in Stratford that serves people with disabilities of all types and ages. I've always loved the water; when I was younger we owned a boat which I loved to tube or kneeboard off the back of. I've always loved swimming, fishing, and anything else having to do with the water, so last year when I had the opportunity to try my cousin's standup paddleboard it was love at first paddle!
I've always been the adventureous type - when I was younger I was an avid freestyle BMXer and snowboarder, as well as doing some skateboarding and inline skating. As I got older I became more concerned about getting hurt, so a car replaced my bike and I started spending more time smoking weed and less time riding my bike or board. Fortunately my first stint in college brought me up to Vermont, so while I got away from BMX I had snowboarding readily available (my campus had it's own ski-lift!)
After high school my original field of study was E-Commerce (internet business and web/graphic design) which I studied for two years at Vermont Technical College in Randolph Center, VT. I didn't finish my degree, but instead came back to Connecticut and went through a period of working dead-end jobs and drug addiction.
Nov. 2, 2006 I got clean off heroin with the help of suboxone and marijuana, and have been clean since. After working for three years in a newspaper factory, third shift, I went back to school at Housatonic Community College where I studied Human Services, with a plan to get into either substance abuse treatment or disabilities.
My second internship brought me to the Disability Resource Center, and after exhausting my 180 hours required as an intern I was offered a part-time position as Youth Transition Advocate. That was fun, working with kids with intellectual disabilities on independent and pre-vocational skills, and my successful development of the program led to another position working with Social Security on a vocational program called Ticket to Work.
After half a year of those positions I was offered a promotion to Assistant to the Director, moving me to the administrative side of the agency. After our Executive Director retired I was quickly promoted to Operations Director by our new Executive Director, effectively making me second-in-command at our agency.
In addition to my love of SUP I also have some other unique interests. I have a pair of jumping stilts which I like to walk around my block on when it's not too hot. I'm also a huge fan of target shooting, so weather permitting I like to spend a few minutes after dinner each night shooting targets in my backyard with my airgun. I'm also a big fan of knife throwing, and also target shoot with a bow. Other than those I also like hiking in Roosevelt or Sleeping Giant, I play a little golf, and enjoy swimming and playing volleyball.
The only question I haven't covered is about my car. I drive a 2013 Toyota Camry Hybrid, and I carry my SUP with a soft rack since my car is a lease. For anyone considering getting a hybrid I would highly recommend the Camry hybrid as it doesn't have the boring hatchback look that most hybrids do, and it's very quick for a four-cylinder so you can't go wrong. The combination of the gas engine and electric motor make it great on gas mileage, and although hybrid technology is not at the point of being cost-efficient as far as savings on gas, by supporting the developing technology you are encouraging car companies to continue to develop the technology and help us overcome our dependence on fossil fuels.
Any other questions feel free to ask, and thanks for reading!
-TreeburnerCT
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