The Groom: Chris Blackstone
Chris Blackstone was born on August 8, 1976 (old man) at 10:26 AM in Fort Wayne, IN. The fact that my birth caused my parents to miss church was not an auspicious debut
We lived in Fort Wayne for 5 years, during which time I was known to wander away from home and watch the big kids play "bakaball", until we moved to Santa Barbara, CA so my dad could teach at Westmont College.
Santa Barbara (actually Carpenteria) was very nice. Great weather, great friends. I learned to swim in the OUTDOOR pool at Westmont. I learned to ride a bike on my col-de-sac. I learned it was fun to hit a tennis ball with a tennis racket as hard as you can. I learned it's not good when your cat gets mauled by dogs. :(
After Carpenteria, we moved to Los Angeles so my dad could 1) get his doctorate at the University of Southern California and 2) be the music pastor at St. Peters By The Sea Presbyterian Church. The church was on the cliffs overlooking the Pacific Ocean. The Easter morning service was unimaginably beautiful.
From LA, we left for Enid, OK where my dad taught at Phillips University. Quite a bit different than LA, but I came into my own sporting the button-down plaid shirt and sweat pant look!
The family moved to Ann Arbor, MI in 1988, which I consider home. We moved there for my dad's job at the University of Michigan (notice a trend). I went to middle and high school in Ann Arbor, where my jerk high school baseball coach royally hosed me my senior year of high school. High School was, counter to the opinions of some, not the greatest 4 years of my life. I was happy to graduate and go onto greater, maybe, things in college.
I enrolled at Wheaton College in August 1994 and graduated in May 1998 with a degree in Computer Science. I went to college with the intention of getting certified in secondary math and coaching baseball. However, part way through Linear Algebra and Differential Equations as a sophomore, I realized I hated math so I switched to CS. That meant I couldn't get certified to teach, so the plan was to graduate, go to another college and get certified to teach. However, 12 years of school was enough, so I graduated and moved back home to work.
My first real, adult job was with Quantum Compliance Systems, where I met some great friends. In March of 1999, I moved to Arlington, VA to work for the Arlington Public Schools, where I am now employed as the Web Services Specialist.