I've written this for you as a means for us to get to know one another better. Specifically, I'm hoping to meet up with old friends with whom I've lost contact, and to meet new friends with common interests.
I was born in Covina, CA on 3 February 1959. I
grew up in Orange County,
in the City of
Orange and later in Huntington Beach.
I left Orange County in 1979, lived in Burbank 1979 to 1982. Worked
in Hollywood
for KEM Editing Systems (now defunct).
I left Burbank in 1982, moved to Santa Barbara to study physics. I left
Santa Barbara to attend UC Berkeley. While I was at Berkeley, I often
visited The Exploratorium in San
Francisco. That's where my Science Magic
Museum interest in interactive, informal science learning began.
I returned to Santa Barbara, and worked for Santa Barbara Applied
Optics.
I founded Santa Barbara Science in 1988 while continuing to
work for SBAO. I got married in 1988 to the girl I met in Chemistry class at
SB City College in 1982.
(I'm keeping my family members' names out
of this document to preserve their privacy)
We have five children; four girls and a boy. They were born 22 May 89, 25 July 90, 16 March
94, 1 Jan 99, and 3 Dec 2001.
I left Santa Barbara Applied Optics in
October of 1990 to work for Santa Barbara
Infrared as an Applications Engineer.
I got tired of working in Sales, so I left full time employment of SBIR in November
of 1994. I worked for The
Optical Corporation as a process development engineer for about a
year, but then interesting things started happening at SBIR. So I returned there full-time
sometime in the Summer of 1996 to work in Engineering. I'm still there now.
I live in Lompoc now, which makes my daily
commute to work some 60 miles. It's a long drive but it is not at all
congested, as most of the drive is along the 101 freeway as it passes
along the coast. Very pretty. But anyway, I usually ride the Clean Air Express,
which makes the ride tolerable.
Lompoc
is
close to Vandenberg AFB,
where the 30th Space Wing lauunches stuff into polar orbits.
California Elementary, Orange CA;
Hope View, Mesa View and Rancho View Elementary Schools, Huntington Beach, CA;
Marina High School, Huntington Beach, CA Class of 1977 (completed studies in 1976);
Orange Coast College, Costa Mesa, CA
Golden West College, Huntington Beach, CA
LA Trade TechCollege, Los Angeles, CA
Santa Barbara City College, Santa Barbara, CA
UC Berkeley, Berkeley, CA
This is a sort of "6 degrees of separation" experiment. I'm pretty interested in hearing from/about the people listed below. Maybe you know one of the people listed here, and you picked up this page while searching on WhoWhere or another address book type of search engine. Or maybe you were searching for your own name on the Internet. Interesting!
Sorry, my memory is not perfect, and I have no yearbooks to assist me. If your name isn't here and you know me, please [click here]. If you don't WANT your name here, let me know.
Ed Bickel, friend
from Model, Inc. passed away in 2003
Herman H Bickel, friend and mentor from SBAO. Now retired in Carpinteria CA.
Mark Bonner, Hope View Elementary friend. Now??
Alan Caddell, friend I made movies with at Marina High. Now he's a Police
Captain. He still makes hilarious short films. The link is his photography site.
Greg Cain, Physics teacher at SBCC, now retired.
Bill Carlquist, former owner of Horizontal Editing Studios. Now a station Engineer at NCTV 11 in Grass Valley CA.
Gary Copeland, Friend from post-high-school era. Now a computer networking expert and politician. Was a 2002 candidate for Governor of California as a "Druid Libertarian", until an unfortunate incident led to the party discontinuing their support for Gary.
Dixie (Courtney) Redfearn, friend, late 70's, early 80s. Reporter, writer, journalist. Now works at radio station KNCO in Grass Valley CA.
Dorian Daniels, friend, late 70's early 80's; now a radio personality on WEZQ in Bangor Maine.
Don Davis, Rancho View School, MGM program fellow. Now???
Raphael DiLuzio, art professor at UMO, and artist.
Mark Fisher, neighborhood friend in the Sixties. Now a biologist. (Saw his parents at a wake in October'03).
Tim Fisher, neighborhood friend. Now a computer expert?
Paul Fox, optical engineer. Not sure whether Paul is still around.
Curt Ghan, was
an excellent Media Production teacher at Marina High. These days, he's a
businessman in Seattle.
Anne M. Parish nee Goldsworthy, receptionist at KEM, and friend. Now an assistant editor for the TV series "24".
Michelle Grace, classmate, Rancho View. Now??
Richard Grace, friend from Rancho View. Now???
Brad Hagen, friend I met
in 6th grade. We had the same jacket. Now he's a video producer.
Gary Harris, friend from Fotomat Labs. Now???
Brett Hisey friend from Marina H.S. Former effects animator. Now lives in Lexington KY
Craig Johnson, friend from SBAO. Most recently a financial consultant.
Gail Kiefer, friend, late 70's early 80's.
Chinhda Khommarath, friend from KEM Editing Systems. Chinhda builds custom equipment for sound recordists, and also works on-set.
Gar (Garson) Lipow, friend from Rancho View School. Now an environmental and peace activist living in Washington State.
Alex Lotocky, friend from High School and beyond. Last I heard he's a rocket scientist in Littleton CO? Or maybe Sunnyvale CA?
Bill Miller, Physics teacher at SBCC (retired).
Frank Pap, photography teacher at Marina High School. Now??
Brian Quinn, friend from elementary school. Now a geologist making maps
and administering GIS in Berleley. Has a company called Craiova Coding.
Doug Smetana, friend from High School. Lives in Kansas City.
Elwood Schapansky, former Physics teacher at SBCC, and bush pilot in Alaska. Now retired, at least from teaching.
Kiriakos Spentzos, friend from KEM Editing Systems. Now???
Jeff Scott, Friend from SBCC. We both transferred to UCB. Now???
Daniel Steven, friend from High
School. Animator and artist.
Byron Taylor, friend from Rancho View. Now???
Doug Turner, friend from California School. Now???
Peter Weibel, former president of KEM Editing Systems. Now???
NEW!! I've added a photo collage of these and other PEOPLE!
Back to Homepage
Last
Update: 31 March, 2008
Author: Brian Wesley Rich
