The pleasure of finding things out ...
then making them even better
When:
Everyone keeps asking
that
!! SORRY, THIS IS NOW
EXTREMELY OUT OF DATE !!
WORKING ON IT, I PROMISE!
Sure, I was born the year Star Wars came out, but more
significantly, I was alive when Elvis was still alive. Though it hasn’t
been all downhill since then. I grew up playing in Bay Creek, the
glorified ditch that flows through the town of Erie, Michigan and then
out into the great lake of the same name. Country life treated my sister,
brother, and me well, but then again, we were only five minutes from thriving
Toledo, Ohio, giving us that hard urban edge ... well, notsomuch.
Life at Mason High School, despite ten varsity letters, held the typical
frustrations of an awkward and skinny geek. After a summer in Japan and
moving into the University of Toledo dorms, things got better,
though. Much better. Undergrad was a whole lot of fun and just before
my senior year I met Mimi, my little sugar bugar. And life’s only
been getting better since...
I'm currently a student living in Ann
Arbor and pursuing my doctorate degree at the University of
Michigan. I've been a Mechanical Engineer all along -- got my
Bachelors at Toledo, Masters here, and now finishing up with the Ph.D. I
work in the Compliant Systems Design Lab with Professor Sridhar Kota, who
is one of the greatest resources in our school. I started the PhD in the
fall of 2002; best guess is that I hope to be finished in 2007. Who wants
to place some bets... ?
Family
I'm the son of Denny and Kathy
Trease, who still live in the big, red brick house I grew up at in
Erie, MI. Dad is a retired Ironworker but still among the hardest working guys I
know. Retirement came just last year, and he’s now doing more that I
am ... like seven night sea-kayaking trips up in Canada! Mom is a
librarian for the Monroe County Library System and, more importantly,
makes the best potato salad I've ever had. You can stop by to visit
them at the 60s/70s Sports Bar, Erie's main local watering hole.
My younger sister, Nicole, graduated from
Eastern Michigan in Chemistry and is now at Ohio State going after her
PhD. How's that for sibling rivalry? Nikki lives down in
Columbus, Ohio with her boyfriend, Chris Knight. My even younger brother,
Tony, graduated from Eastern with his Bachelors
in education and Earth Science. He used to be the biggest
goofball in Ypsilanti, blowing all the money he made working at the
Mongolian BBQ in Ann Arbor. He's been to Chicago and back, teaching
Freshmen Environmental Science at the inner-city Farragut
Career Academy. Now he's back at EMU working on his Masters in
Science Education.
Mimi
And then there's my one and only shining star, Miss
Amanda Layman (aka. Mandy, Mimi, sugar bugar). We started dating
in the summer of 1998 and have been living together in Ann Arbor since the fall
of 2001. She's also a graduate from Toledo with a business degree in
human resources. She's had many good co-op jobs along the way and
now works as an HR Generalist at TCF Bank headquarters in downtown
Ann Arbor. She's currently making more cash than me, taking
certification courses in HR, and plans to go back to school one of these
days.
We live together in Glencoe Hills apartments,
which most people think is actually in Ypsilanti because we're on the
other side of US23. No folks, we're just getting the best of both
worlds: Ypsi rent and an Ann Arbor address. Glencoe Hills is
nice, peaceful, and our apartment is away from the noisy roads. In
fact, our windows overlook our little nature area where we get squirrels,
chipmunks, birds, hawks, rabbits, toads, skunks, possums, and more.
Our dog, Samantha, thinks it’s just great.
UPDATE: We got married!!
We were engaged in Costa Rica in January '05.
The big date was
September 9th, 2006!
Sure, I was born the year Star Wars came out, but more
significantly, I was alive when Elvis was still alive. Though it hasn’t
been all downhill since then. I grew up playing in Bay Creek, the
glorified ditch that flows through the town of Erie, Michigan and then
out into the great lake of the same name. Country life treated my sister,
brother, and me well, but then again, we were only five minutes from thriving
Toledo, Ohio, giving us that hard urban edge ... well, notsomuch.
Life at Mason High School, despite ten varsity letters, held the typical
frustrations of an awkward and skinny geek. After a summer in Japan and
moving into the University of Toledo dorms, things got better,
though. Much better. Undergrad was a whole lot of fun and just before
my senior year I met Mimi, my little sugar bugar. And life’s only
been getting better since...
I'm currently a student living in Ann
Arbor and pursuing my doctorate degree at the University of
Michigan. I've been a Mechanical Engineer all along -- got my
Bachelors at Toledo, Masters here, and now finishing up with the Ph.D. I
work in the Compliant Systems Design Lab with Professor Sridhar Kota, who
is one of the greatest resources in our school. I started the PhD in the
fall of 2002; best guess is that I hope to be finished in 2007. Who wants
to place some bets... ?
