jschlechty
I come from a family of 5 children, of which I am the oldest. Born and raised in Mesa, AZ. Growing up we did a lot of outdoor activities - camping and fishing as a family, hunting with my dad and brothers, etc. Favorite sport as a kid was baseball- played little league, hung out at the Oakland A's spring training facilities, etc. In high school, got interested in aviation, and started flying lessons. I soloed at 16 and got my Private Pilot's license a few days after my 17th birthday. I had hopes of losing enough weight to get into the air force and pilot training, but that all went down the tubes during my senior year when my eyes went bad and I had to wear glasses.
After that I did some different odd jobs for a few years until I decided to serve as a missionary for my church and was called to serve for 2 years in Hokkaido, Japan. During the time I was in Japan, I discovered that I enjoyed teaching, and upon returning to the USA, went back to college to get my BA in Elementary Education. While attending college, I took some Japanese classes as my minor, and the instructor suggested that I might want to look into teaching in Japan as I was already fluent in Japanese, and obviously enjoyed education. I mentioned it to my wife, and to my surprise, she said she wouldn't mind going for a couple of years. After I graduated, I accepted a position at a private high school just outside of Tokyo, and we packed up the kids and moved to Japan. Well, a couple of years soon turned into 4 years, and when my wife realized that out kids were unable to communicate with her in English, we decided that it was time to return to the USA. When we returned, I taught first grade for a year and started on my Master's Degree in Elem. Ed. During this time I met a teacher who was teaching high school Japanese, and encouraged me to apply for a position in her district that was opening up. To my surprise, I was accepted, and spent the next 12 years teaching high school Japanese and ESL.
In 2003, some kidney problems that had ben bothering me since 1998 got worse, and it reached a point where I was no longer able to work due to the near constant pain I was in. Since 2003 I have been on medical leave/ disability/retirement. My PCP doctor has been encouraging me to get this surgery done in order to try and save my one remaining kidney from the problems associated with diabetes, as well as all of the other health problems we share as morbidly obese individuals. I started down the long path of arguing with the insurance companies and getting clearances back in the spring of 2007, and was finally able to schedule my surgery in December. Surgery (bypass) is scheduled for Jan. 14th, 2008 - just about 3 weeks away as I write this on Christmas Day '07. That's it for now . . .
