How long have you worked on Atlantis? 6 years

Where are you from? Nowhere really. I’ve traveled around and lived in so many places that there isn’t one place I call home. I spend more time on the boat than anywhere else.

Background: I joined the Navy when I was 20 and was a fire control man and anti-aircraft warfare support on a naval vessel during the Gulf War. I also ran radars and was in charge of primary surface-to-air missile defense.

After six years in the Navy, I went back to college and earned a degree in Ocean Engineering at Florida Atlantic University before being shanghaied by Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution to work in the Alvin operations group. Actually, I saw an ad from WHOI on the Internet, applied for the job, and was hired to be one of the tech support personnel.

What’s the most unusual thing you’ve ever seen on a cruise? That’s hard to say because everything you see is unusual on a dive. There’s always something odd or strange on a dive. One of the best places on this dive is "Tubeworm Pillar." It’s am awesome place and there’s something always something odd there.

What’s the strangest thing you’ve ever eaten? Balut (sounds like Baloot). It’s a Philippine delicacy. It’s a fertilized duck egg that’s been allowed to gestate for 18 days. After it’s cooked, you crack open the top and drink the broth (it tastes like chicken soup). Then you peel off the rest of the shell and eat it like a hardboiled egg. Yummy.

What’s the scariest thing that’s ever happened to you? I can’t think of anything, really. Nothing on a dive has really made me nervous.

If you didn’t have this job, what would be your next job of choice? I’d really like to be an astronaut and be a mission specialist for NASA. I’d also like to be a pilot.

What’s the hardest thing you’ve had to endure? It’s really hard to be separated from your friends and family. It’s isolated our here, and you really miss the normal routine of coming home from work. I really miss things like the smell of freshly mown grass.

Where’s the coolest place you’ve ever been: Kenya was awesome. I spent four days on Safari there. I also really liked Easter Island in the South Pacific Ocean. The Atlantis has pulled in there several times, and it’s beautiful. The inhabitants of the island are the happiest people you’ll ever meet. It’s in the middle of nowhere, but it’s wonderful.