My Moving Past

My brothers and I, who I can't wait to see next weekend, have been playing around with Google street view over the past few days, checking out pictures of our old houses in Pittsburgh. After digging into previous years, it was obvious that I needed to document the 15 different places I've lived in the past 30 years.

This chart basically details my past life:

• 38.10% of my life, or 12 years, were lived in Pittsburgh, PA
• 25.40% of my life, or 8 years, were lived in Chicago, IL
• 19.05% of my life, or 6 years, were lived in Hudson, OH
• 12.70% of my life, or 4 years, were lived in Oxford, OH
• 3.17% of my life, or 1 year, were lived in Breckenridge, CO
• 1.59% of my life, or 0.5 years, were lived in St Louis, MO

1) From 1978 - 1979, I was born and raised in this apartment in Pittsburgh. My parents had lived there since 1976. It was in a neighborhood called Dormont which is 4.6 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. We lived below a husband and wife who we affectionately called Aunt Carol and Uncle Chuck as we became good friends with them. According to my mom, there was a little yard in the back and a garage underneath where Dad kept his Toyota Celica and would dry it off when he brought it in from the rain. For some reason, I just can't see that.



2) From 1979 - 1984, we moved to a different neighborhood in Pittsburgh called Brentwood which was 6.4 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. This was my parents first stint into home ownership when they bought this house for $42K. I used to run this house until they decided to have my 2 brothers. The streets used to be brick and on that porch I almost chopped my pinky finger off when I pulled down the gate holding me into the porch. Still trying to figure out what that gate was made of and I wonder if my grandfather smelted that thing out of straight steel from the steel mill. Real safe.



3) From 1984 - 1990, we moved to a neighborhood called Bethel Park which was 12.5 miles south of downtown Pittsburgh. There used to be the most kick ass crab apple tree in the front yard which we used to climb all over but it has since been removed. What a shame.



4) From 1990 - 1996, we made a big move to Ohio and lived in a town called Hudson which was 28.7 miles southeast of Cleveland. I was 12 years old and had to make all new friends. I remember this being a rather traumatic time but soon enough, I found some friends to wreak havoc on Northeast Ohio. This is also where I picked up my first job(s). Started out for 2 years working in construction with our neighbor who owned a construction company. Then moved to washing dishes manually for a catering company which was hands down the worse job in my life. Then moved on to working at Sea World which was a good time. My buddy Dan Altvater and I worked in the parking lots directing traffic, working tool booths and parking cars. It was actually a great time and for some reason they thought it would be a good idea to give us a truck. We destroyed those things. Overall, I caused a lot of ruckus in Hudson. I can tell more stories over some beers sometime but it's best left off of this site.



5) From 1996 - 1997, I was accepted to Miami University in Oxford, OH and lived in the Emerson Hall. I lived in one of the quads w/ 4 beds with some really quality guys. It was a great time. We managed to sneak 2 kegs past our RA one night and had a huge party. Not sure how we didn't get into any trouble. I didn't work during this time so I could fully concentrate and focus on school...yeah right.



6) From 1997 - 1998, 7 of my friends from the same hall moved off campus to this house which was about 1.2 miles southeast of uptown (what everyone calls the downtown area where all the bars are located in Oxford). I worked in the dining hall during this time cleaning dishes or accepting cards at the front.



7) From 1998 - 1999, I moved with 3 of my buddies from the Fiji house to a little house 0.6 miles from downtown Oxford. Unfortunately, Google doesn't have a street view or a satellite view of this house. I worked at a bar called First Run during this time busing tables.

8) From 1999 - 2000, my brother and I and one of my buddies moved into a condo just north of downtown. Same thing with this house and Google, no street or satellite views. But this is the time when I met my now wife Kelly when we worked at the climbing wall together. We'd go camping/climbing almost every weekend together. It was so fun.

9) From 2000 - 2001, I moved to the bright lights, big city of Chicago, IL. My buddy Eric Walker and I lived in a big ole high rise right in the heart of Lincoln Park which is 4.8 miles north of downtown Chicago.



10) For most of the year in 2001, Eric and I moved 1 mile west to a little 3 flat and lived above a bar. It was a high traffic area with a ton of things to do and women errr I mean people to see. However, I was laid off from my job right after September 11th, sublet my half of the apartment to a friend and moved on to #11 below.



11) From 2001 - 2002, 4 of my college buddies decided to move out to Breckenridge for a season. We found a million dollar house where the owner couldn't sell it and just wanted someone to cover his mortgage. Sweet mother was it an amazing time and house. It was on the opposite valley of Breck and overlooked every run on the mountain. We all worked for the mountain driving buses and received a 5 mountain season pass in return. We did what we wanted and lived the most relaxing and unstressful life that one could possibly live. It was and still is hands down the best year of my life.



12) From 2002 - 2003, my then girlfriend Kelly basically gave me an ultimatum to either stay in Colorado and we split or else move back to Chicago where she was teaching at the time. It didn't take me long to make that decision, although if it wasn't for her I'd still be living there. I'm happy to say it was the best decision of my life. Anyway, I rented a one bedroom apartment while I worked for a painting company and tried to find a career job. This apartment was in a neighborhood called Lakeview and was about 6.5 miles north of downtown.



13) From 2003 - 2006, I moved just a bit south in Lakeview and rented a 2 bedroom apartment. Kelly and I married in 2004 and we lived here for 2 years. It was a nice little apartment that had a spiral staircase up to the master bedroom.



14) From 2006 - 2008, Kelly and I bought our first apartment in a neighborhood called Wrigleyville and lived about 2 blocks from Wrigley Field. The neighborhood itself is about 7 miles north of downtown. The area was incredibly convenient as we could walk everywhere, Kelly's twin and her husband lived on the other side of Wrigley and it was close to an "L" stop which is the public transportation train line. Our first daughter Ashley was born and brought home to this apartment.



15) After much discussion and thought, Kelly and I made the decision to move down to St Louis, MO. Our second child Aidan was born here and we are busy creating new memories with our young family.