Category Archives: About Me – Getting Started

About Me

Originally born and raised in Mays Landing NJ with my 5 sisters and 2 brothers, I now live in Knoxville TN with my wife Tracy, our 4yr old, Frank and his 1 yr old sister Anne Marie. This blog is named for Frank and was Tracy’s idea. So it is truly a family affair.  

I’ve had the privilege of serving for 22yrs in the United States Air Force, first as an aircraft electrician, then as an instructor at the Noncommissioned Officers Academy in Knoxville, TN.  In that time I received an associates degree in Mathematics from ACC, a community college in South Jersey, and a bachelors degree in History from the University of Maryland’s distance learning program. Aside from my formal education, I was educated by some great people in the military. There are so many, too many to name but W. Clark Allen, Tim Donovan, Joe Zane, and George Wessler are the 4 guys who got the ball rolling. They taught a 20yr old, know-it-all it’s not enough to strive to be good at your job, you have to be dependable, reliable, and trustworthy as a person, be someone others can and want to count on, and when the red phone rings answer only with; “yes sir I’m on my way.” In other words, as Clark would always say “Vinny, it’s time to grow up.” To that foundation all others have added on. Well guys, I hope I’ve been worthy of your efforts.

ps The aircraft in the header – “142″ is an F-16 Falcon from my old unit, 177th Fighter Wing in Atlantic City, New Jersey, Home of the Jersey Devils!

Getting Started

Well this is it.  I’m finally putting all my inane ramblings on the internet.  Those that know me know that I can get on some pretty crazy rants.  While my rants are mostly political in nature they can cover a wide array of topics and are usually seasoned with what I am told is my unique brand of South Jersey humor.

The picture along the top of the page is Frank sitting at my desk.  Well it used to be mine.  Once Frank could walk he took ownership of this spot, and my chair specifically.  Apparently my chair can spin at speeds approaching time travel, so it’s a big hit with Frank whether he is sitting in it or standing next to it spinning his legos into another dimension.  Hence the name Frank’s Place.  The  picture to the right is Frank blogging the morning after the Tennessee Gubernatorial Race, won in a landslide by then Knoxville Mayor Bill Haslam.

As I said, I’ll probably rant about all sorts of things.  All comments are welcomed.   I’m an Italian, Catholic from South Jersey with 5 sisters and a brother, all but one older than me, so I am a battle tested debater and enjoy the dodge and parry.  I reserve the right to delete negative comments if the vulgarity gets out of control.  And yes out of control is solely my subjective opinion.

One regular feature will be a monthly post from a book I started to write currently titled Diary of a Stay at Home Dad.  It’s a collection of the bizarre and boring things that have happened to me as a direct result of the decision to retire after 22 years in the USAF and raise Frank.  Likely way to lazy to finish the book, the majority of it will end up here.