I have been married for six years as of September 18, 1993.  I have a little boy who is now two years old.  I've been living in Dallas County for five years now, having left Austin in 1994.  I've lived in Dallas, Desoto and just brought a house in Cedar Hill (suburb of Dallas).  I've been employed with the City of Dallas for almost four years now.  I've gained a lot of weight and hope one day to lose all the excess weight. I drive to Austin once a month. I sometimes run into old classmates visiting Dallas. 

That's all folks!  Hope to see everyone at the reunion.
 

[From John -- I'm the one who jokingly suggested that people report any alien abductions. Miki's not just being random, although it's good to know that she's not been the subject of any weird alien experiments. But would she know it if she had?] 
 
 

Directly after high school, I attended the University of Texas for two years on a scholarship and majored in Zoology.  But after attending school for fourteen years of my life, I felt that I was missing out on something, and I quit college.  That was the biggest mistake I have made, but at the time I thought that there was more to life. After I quit school, I got married to a wonderful man and started working in the semiconductor industry.   I started the daily grunge of domestic life.  I did that for several years.  Although the money was good in semiconductor, I soon found my life unrewarding and moved to Colorado on a whim.  I had lived in Austin since I was five years old, and I wanted to see more of life.  Again with the soul searching.  I suppose I have never accepted that what I was doing was all there was to life.  So I moved to Colorado with no job, no place to stay, and no family.  All I had was my faith, but I have never regretted the decision.  I have been through so many changes since moving here.  I have divorced, gone back to college, and found a job working with animals.  I have found mountains here and snow; the mysteries and beauty of nature.  I have found optimism here and self-esteem and my spirit. 

Sometimes I look back and regret decisions I have made, mainly because it has taken me so long to reach this point.  But I realize that I needed to make those decisions to get me to where I am and to learn what I have along the way.  I think my greatest accomplishments these past ten years have been: learning patience and compassion for others; discovering how important and wonderful my family is; understanding that money isn’t the most important thing in life; and learning how to stop, breathe deep, and enjoy the moment…
 

At work, I am a manufacturing specialist at Samsung Austin Semiconductor.  I had planned to walk away from the semiconductor industry as soon as I graduated.  The pay and benefits are excellent, but the work is routine and boring.

I married a wonderful man on June 19, 1999.  My husband is a sheriff's deputy for Travis County.  My husband and I welcomed our first son into this world on October 2, 1999. We are living in Austin, Texas; however, we are thinking about moving to my husband's home town of Pasadena California.
 
 
 

My daughter, Shaquanda, is now 10 years old and a fifth grader at Baty Elementary.  She is a straight "A" student. 

Becky Marsh Peterson and I recently reunited and had lunch.  We also visited Rosemary Leake (now Stolle).  She recently had a baby girl. Her name is Katlynne Marie and weighed 7 lbs., 13 oz. at birth.   I also recently saw Stephanie Whitley (now Yell) at a downtown Schlotzsky's. She tells me she is working as a Legal Assistant for the Texas Lottery  Commission.  I see Claudia Morales from time to time.  She is married with a son.

Looking forward to hearing from you soon!!  Delonda Dean :-)
 
 

Let's see: I got married the day after we graduated. Man was that a lot of work! Finals, graduation, then the wedding.

Still married: Whit and I will celebrate our 10th anniversary on June 2, 2000. We have two kids, Wyatt Logan Weaver (3) and Wriley Elizabeth Weaver (2).

We live in Dripping Springs where we have been for 9 years. After graduation I worked for Progressive Insurance and then went to work for the North Austin medical center. When the Hospital and the Austin Diagnostic clinic split practices, I chose to move on with the clinic. They have better looking doctors :) So now I  work for the MIS department of Austin Diagnostic Clinic in tech support for the medical doctors. Sometimes I wonder how they received those medical degrees! 

Anyway, life is boring as I like it, doing the family thing and aging everyday.
 
 

I am still a student at Huston-Tillotson College in Austin, TX.  I am not married never been.  I have a 3-year-old daughter named Alijah Unique.  I am a supervisor for Kinetics Fluid Systems in Round
Rock.

I have only 48 hours left before graduating with a double major of Chemistry and Education.
 

Over the past nine years, I've worked for Electronic Data Systems as a file clerk, at IBM in at least 6 different positions supporting OS/2 (competitor for Windows), Dell as a web author, here at BMC Software as a Desktop Support Analyst III, and now as a Systems Administrator for the Global
Education department. Kristin works as a Systems Administrator for an industrial company in South Austin. 

We currently have no children, unless you count our two Labrador Retrievers and our three cats, but are attempting to have a child.

Today,  I'm CONSTANTLY fiddling with the computers at home, and plan on getting my A+ and MCSE certifications someday -- I just need to break loose of those poor study habits I developed in school (yaknow, not studying at all?)

Here's Mike's web page: home.austin.rr.com/thezodiac/
 

After high school, I went to work at Texas Parks and Wildlife. I really liked my job and my best friend Susan LaGree worked across the street at Lockheed. It was during this time that I met my husband.

Tim and I married in March 1993. We already had Tessa and decided to go ahead and tie the knot there in Austin. Lupe and Francis were there, and Susan, my best friend in the whole wide world ha ha, was my Maid of Honor. 

Before we got married, I had began to work on my B.A. in Criminal Justice. My cousin Maria made it look easy, but I changed my mind and decided to study in the medical field. I haven't finished my degree yet, but I hope to now that my kids are in school all day. Speaking of my kids, I have two girls, Tessa Paloma Lake -- 7, Taylor Anjelika Lake -- 6, and I have my brother, Michael Garza -- 14. We have an extended family consisting of two dogs, Lassie and Noodle, and a fuzzy hamster named Angel. We want to have more children but are waiting until Tim retires from active duty in nine years.

We were stationed at Ft. Hood, Texas before we moved to Germany. We live in the state of Bavaria in a town named Kitzingen. It is close to Nuremberg and Wuerzberg. We have been here since 1996 and will return stateside in 2002. My family and I have traveled throughout Europe and have enjoyed it immensely!

As I come to an end of my short biography I would like to say that I hope the coming years are joyful and prosperous for my family and everyone else's.
 
 

Did anyone besides me notice the journalism trend among 1990 Del Valle Alumni? 

Let’s see.  I have three lovely daughters from an ill-fated marriage of five years (do any of you remember DeWayne Strong?).  Their names are Jo-Elizabeth, Madison, Kolby.  Ruth “Jehlen” Kelly is their godmother.

Jo-Elizabeth has a rare disorder called Schizencephaly.  In 1994, along with several other parents, I had the opportunity to lobby a bill into law in the state of Georgia.  It allows for child-led funding at public schools so that if a child is mainstreamed or “included” in a regular ed classroom, the same amount of funding is provided, by state and federal government, as if the child remained in the special ed classroom (there is a significant difference).

I kept my ex-husband’s last name.  I figure, I earned it.  Besides, it works well to be a Marine with the last name Strong.  Well, it can actually be pretty painful to have that particular last name at boot camp.  Horribly reminiscent of Full Metal Jacket.

I am a journalist for Marine Corps News and Marine Magazine.  I have had the opportunity to meet or interview the Director of the CIA (Mr. George Tenet), the Secretary of Defense, two successive Commandants of the Marine Corps, and two successive Sergeants’ Major of the Marine Corps, and many Congressmen and Senators.

I have also gotten to photograph many of the subjects of my articles, but alas, have learned that, although you can learn the techniques, it takes talent to take really good photos.  That’s why it pays to schmooze the photo guys who save my neck on a regular basis!

Our offices, with Headquarters, U.S. Marine Corps, are located at the Pentagon and at the Navy Annex at Arlington.  I love my job, hate the hours, and spend most of my time missing my children.  We are hoping to get stationed in California next, where the lifestyle is a little more laid back and I can actually work fewer than 12-hour days.  It can’t be any more expensive than DC.

I still write in my off time (Hah!), and spend the rest of it with my munchkins who constantly amaze me with their intelligence and wit (okay, so I’m a little biased, but they ARE the three most fabulous little girls in the world).

My parents still live in the Austin area, but I rarely get to travel there.  I spend a lot of time going up and down the East Coast.

That’s it. 
 

However, on that note I would love to tell you where I’ve been and am looking forward to seeing all of you again next year hopefully.  I moved out immediately and went to college at Southwest Texas Sate University in San Marcos.  I attended school there for 18 months and then quit.  After doing nothing for six months I married my high school beau – Jason Kelly.  We stayed married for seven years and are now divorced.  In between we moved to the San Francisco area where I worked as a legal secretary in the same building (101 California Street) where a man lost his mind and shot about 20 people including himself one day.  I mention this as my most notable claim to fame.

We moved back to Texas in 1993 where I worked as an executive administrative assistant in a consulting firm for four years.  Somewhere in there I moved to the marketing department and began developing and writing promotional materials.  In '96 we had a little girl named Autumn and in '97 we had a second little girl named Erin.  They are precocious, talkative, and silly.  My days now are spent working in sales for a semiconductor/asset management company called Comdisco, Inc.  I work behind the scenes with our legal department (based in Chicago) negotiating contracts, setting up agreements, babysitting customers, handling shipping and accounting issues and basically running the show in this office.  I am a sales associate and assistant project manager.  Comdisco is a great place and a huge company, although I am the only woman in our Austin office.

After ten years I’ve learned who I am, and I like me.  I’m strong, ambitious and open.  I am independent, spontaneous, creative, and unique.  I work very hard, but more importantly, I have a wide network of friends and a tight-knit family, and I know those relationships are the most valuable thing in my life.  I work a second job in the evenings and am also the president-elect of the local chapter for the International Association of Administrative Professionals (IAAP) where I am responsible for putting together membership drives and training seminars.  I get to travel a fair amount between work and the association and just came back from a conference in Las Vegas.  To help me manage my schedule and my household I have a nanny.

There are times when I wish I had finished my journalism degree, but more often than not I don’t waste time wondering how I might have been different.  I see my future before me now as more infinite and limitless than ever.  I know that you never have to follow the conventional methods of achievement to obtain your goals.  My biggest hope these days is that I can impart this attitude to my daughters so they can grow up to be smart, savvy and capable women.

The End
 
 

I will write more later

On the business end of things, I have been employed by the Texas Department of Housing and Community Affairs for seven years now.  After attending the Formal Credit Training program where I was trained as an Underwriter, I assumed my current position. I get to travel all around Texas and train nonprofit organizations who provide housing to low-income families. 

I've been in touch with quite a few old friends and can't wait until the reunion to see all of you!
 
 

I have a 7-year-old daughter and I'm engaged.

Well that's it for now.  I need to get my daughter ready for bed.  Take care.
 
 

With a B.A. in hand, I moved to Dallas to write for the gay community newspaper -- the Dallas Voice -- in February 1995. There I covered local politics, AIDS developments and neighborhood happenings in Oak Lawn. After about two years, I headed downtown to get my foot in the door at The Dallas Morning News. Let's just say the door needed multiple kicks. Eventually, the paper moved me to a full-time reporting job in one of its suburban bureaus, covering the city governments of Garland and Mesquite, just east of Dallas.

Have you ever seen the TV show "King of the Hill"? It's based on Garland. Mesquite's known for having the rodeo. Learn how to say "Not in my backyard!" and "Here's your tax break, Mr. Developer" and you pretty much have a full grasp of what I wrote about. On Sundays, I got to do the police beat for the seven-county metropolitan region. Blood-soaked murder scenes are fun!

Meanwhile, I got the notion that it would be cool to get a master's degree in public policy. The folks at Princeton University's Woodrow Wilson School of Public and International Affairs were nice enough to let me in, and I'm currently in the first year of a two-year program.

On the personal side, I met a heck of a fella, Daniel Moore, in late 1995. Very cute, and the biggest goofball I've ever met. He's a fellow Rice grad, although we weren't there at the same time. We've been shacked up in domestically partnered bliss for about three years now. Dan's a doctor, doing his residency training in internal medicine at Dallas' Parkland Hospital (forever known as the place they took Kennedy after he'd been shot. Locally, we prefer to think of it as the place where they deliver 12,000+ babies a year.) Because of my school, Dan and I  have to be a long-distance couple for a while. I've been telling everyone I know to buy stock in Continental Airlines: this relationship is throwing a lot of business their way.
 
 

I worked on and off throughout my college years.  I worked at the Texas Guaranteed Student Loan Corporation (TGLSC) for almost five years doing computer operator/production control work.  My
first job after college was at FIC Insurance Group as a computer operator.  I stayed there just 6 mos. then I went to the University of Texas System to be their help desk analyst.  I got a lot of good experience there but after two years ot sitting at the help desk, I went looking for another job. 
This time, I was hired by PartnersFinancial as a tech support analyst.  So far I've been at PartnersFinancial for a year.  This job is a little more interesting in that I do a lot of client/server database support over the phone.  When the phone support isn't enough, I have to travel all over the U.S helping these users out.  The only good side to the traveling is I get to see some folks who I work with over the phone in person and that usually turns out okay for me (i.e. free dinners, drinks, etc.). 

Dave and I bought a house in Southwest Austin about 3 years ago which we share with our two cats, Jack and Zino. Our latest project is working on the house doing some home improvement (repainting, replacing old fixtures, putting in new flooring, etc).  Hopefully in between doing that and working on the reunion, I will have time to reconnect with some old chums from high school.
 
 

A lot of exciting changes are currently taking place for me, one of which is I’ll be moving into Austin (from the country), so I’m very excited about that.  I’ll be close to work, church, and my friends.  A lot of my dreams have been achieved in 1999, so I’m excited to see what will come of 2000.

I’ve enjoyed being able to catch up with a few old friends, and am looking forward to seeing everyone at our reunion. 

See ya in 2000! 
 

I also have a son named Terrance LaMont Carson Jr. who was born October 8,1998. He is my pride and joy!!!

After graduation, I attended Texas A&M for four years.  I ended up graduating from St. Edward's University in December of 1997.  Yes, I was on the ten-year plan.  I am now living in Lewisville, which is a suburb north of  Dallas.  I have lived here for a little over two years.

I have a six-month-old daughter named, Landry Lauren.  She is the best baby!

I have been married to my wife, Tricia, for almost 3 years now.  We are one in  the same. She is an accountant for a custom home builder here in Dallas.  She  also has a ten-year-old boy named Herbie.

Here's Mike's e-mail melman@firstam.com