January 23rd - David

My office is right down the hall from the IT Department, those intrepid men and women who field hundreds of daily complaints.  You never call the IT Department because your phone is especially clear that day, or your computer is running really quickly.  No, you call them when something is broken and damn it, why aren't they doing anything to fix it?!

One of the members of our IT staff has had to work on several of my issues in recent months, and he's always done so with a smile on his face.  We pass each other in the hallway and say "How's it going?" and we reply "Good" and then keep on walking. Yesterday, I sat down with David, that IT staff member, without having something for him to fix.




David

David is originally from the Charlotte area, and attended HPU for his undergraduate degree.  He was a student worker in the IT department during his time here, but his career path was a very circuitous one.

Lars: How did you make the leap to IT full time?

David: Painfully...

I started out wanting to be a pastry chef, it's what I wanted to do for my whole life.  My mom does professional wedding cakes, and I always loved helping her and decorating them. I got into Johnson and Wales, which has an excellent culinary program, so I was all set.

The summer before I was going to go into college I helped a friend cater some weddings and I despised every second of it. When I had the responsibility of it all on my shoulders, it wasn't fun. I want to do it on my own time and for fun, so I realized that wasn't the career for me.

I didn't want to go to Johnson and Wales at that point, but I had gotten into HPU and decided to go there instead.  I had always loved movies, that was something my dad and I shared together, so I went into media comm to do video editing.  That was always something I enjoyed. The media comm degree lead to double majoring in art and graphic design. Along the way I also picked up some computer science classes, which got me to working in the IT department as a student.

At the end of my four years, I was going to be graduating with a degree in graphic design, but I had work experience in IT.  Do I go down the path with the work experience or the degree?  Ultimately I chose the work experience.

And that's how an aspiring cake decorator goes into IT.

David has been with the IT department since July and he still enjoys it. He does admit, however, that it was a very slow start and was at times hard to make that transition from student to employee.

David: I went to HPU, so I was ready to take on the world when I graduated!  But then reality sank in...and I graduated in May of 2015 and didn't have a job and did have any money.  Plus, I finished up chemo in April of 2015 (everything is fine with that now).  So all of these things were happening all on top of each other so it was tough for awhile even after I started here.  But by the time October or November came, I really hit my stride.

Lars: What's it like being a former student that's now working here?

David: It's interesting, because I'll see old professors that I had that were mentors and now I'm fixing their laptops.  Or I'll have run-ins with fraternity brothers and I have to make that separation clear. I can't run up to the fraternity house anymore, and I have to be very distinct about that!

David lives in Cary now with his girlfriend of six years.  On Monday nights, they get together with a group of their friends to play Dungeons and Dragons, something that David himself had only picked up six months before.  While we were talking, he got excited by the news that he might get the chance to be the Dungeon Master for that evening's game.

What's your favorite joke?

David: I just hear a joke last week and I have been telling everyone.  Ok, so what's the best part about being Swiss?

Well the flags a plus.

What's the meal that reminds the most of home?

David: Shepard's pie, it is my mom's favorite thing to make. It is so simple but so good.  I try to make it with her recipe, but it is never as good.  There's something magical about the way mom's make certain things that you can't duplicate.

Will the world be better in 20 years?

David: God I hope so! It'll be different once my generation takes some seats of power. We will be able to make the change we want to make. We are more liberal as a generation, hopefully that will carry over. 

I actually took a social media break because I really wanted to break away from my phone. For my job that's kinda impossible. I've found that the less I'm on social media, the happier I am.

Towards the end of our conversation, as we were getting up to leave, David brought up how he thought I was going to ask different kinds of questions than those that I did end up asking.

Lars: What did you think I was going to ask about?

David: Hobbies, because I actually have stuff to talk about there.

It turns out that David has some pretty interesting hobbies, including origami...

David: When I was 7 or 8 my library had classes in origami. My older brother wanted to do it, and that got me into it, and I did it for about three years.  Then, the teacher that taught the class at the library got deported to Australia (because of an illegal work visa), and it was something that I forgot about.

Years later, I was cleaning my room and I found my origami and it became very therapeutic for me. I would make something new each day (I made it about 100 days of making something new).  And that lead me to modular origami, where you assemble bits of paper into larger sculptures.

I've gone on to enter some of the pieces in art competitions.  There are days where I have woken up, folded paper all day, then gone to bed.

To see some of his work, go to www.dfriedmancreative.com.  There you'll find his graphic design work, as well as what David's been able to create out of paper, which is truly impressive.

Another one of his hobbies is fire juggling...

David: Yup, fire juggling.  I got into juggling in general in middle school.  I have two older brothers, and one of them was in college and learned how to juggle.  He wanted to teach me but I wanted nothing to do with it.  Finally, after a couple of weeks I started learning and loved it.

I joined a juggling club in our area and went to it for six years.  I went to international festivals and even helped to host one in Charlotte.

I can do swords, fire, bowling pins.  I can do five balls now and I'm working on six.  I've competed against famous jugglers.  It's a niche world and I love it.

Here's a video to back it all up: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ulkf-G6hDsA.

That last bit of conversation was the best of the entire lunch.  Here was something that was obviously important to David and something he was proud of, but I hadn't even thought to ask about it.  Which, of course, makes me think about everyone else I've interviewed this month and all of those people I won't get the chance to.  We all have little stories and little interesting tidbits that make up who we are.  We've all got memories and experiences that shape us and our actions, and we've all go things that make us really proud. I'm glad I got to learn more about the things that make David proud, and the things that make him who he is.

And I hope he got to be Dungeon Master last night.