Maggie is Jeremy's other half, but they are more different than you can imagine. This is one girl who knows what she wants and usually how to get it. A girly girl with a tom boy streak, she is just too much fun! She too is a blessing in our life! PS We love their Momma too!!

___________________________________________________

Lindsey is the only good thing that came out of our General Chemistry class our sophomore year of college. We immediately bonded over our mutual hatred for the subject and our crazy professor! Since that time we've never lived in the same city, but have managed to stay the best of friends. She is the most thoughtful and creative woman I know - plus if you ever need medical care...she is the best nurse around!

My oldest friend of the bunch, Patty has been there through it all. We knew of each other in elementary school, but became close in 7th grade. We ran around with a tight group of girls that stayed constant through high school, but waned throughout college. Although I wish we were all still close, I feel fortunate to have Patty! We share some of my greatest memories of growing up! Patty is one of those people who always does what she says she will (ie go away to college, go to medical school, be a great friend) and I admire her for it!

_____________________________________________________________

Burton and I met in 1981 when I burst into the living room of his house in North Portland and said: “wwwaaaaaa”. That was the day I was born, and my brother has been there with me ever since. We’ve had our differences over the years as adolescence and differing interests led us to butt heads occasionally, but we’ve emerged loyal to one another and we now embrace the differences that make us such a dynamic pair. Burton is ~ 2.5 years older than me, and he was waiting at the University of Oregon to show me the lay of the land when I decided to go to college. After receiving his bachelor’s degree in 2001, Burton moved back to Portland and took up a career in network administration within the technology sector. In 2006, he left the workforce to pursue a Masters of Business Administration. After graduation in Spring ’08, I believe that the sky is the limit for my brother. He is hands down the smartest individual that I’ve ever met.

I met Harry Potter (Matt Walworth) as a neighbor during my Flintridge years. Flintridge is the name of an apartment complex that Joel and I lived in during my junior and senior years as an undergraduate. The apartments were aligned in the shape of a horseshoe, and there were only about 15 of them. The atmosphere quickly became that of a 24 hour party scene, with some individuals failing out of school and others leaving town because they went broke. Potter was the intellectual of the bunch, and he received that nickname from a man as brilliant as any I’ve known, my friend (and former math professor) Bob. Potter had the right idea: he came to Eugene to start someplace new, but didn’t enroll in school right away. Instead, he landed a full time job at U-HAUL and worked by day so he could party by night. This kept his financial situation robust and allowed him to stay free of responsibilities like homework and studying so that he could focus his priorities on having a good time. A few years later, after the party had run its course, he enrolled at the community college here in Eugene and began his academic studies. He is currently a senior at the University of Oregon focusing on political science with additional interests in history and social theory. After graduation in summer ’08, Potter plans to study political science at the graduate level. I have no doubt that he will be successful in those endeavors.

Potter is also my running buddy, though he would say that my lack of dedication since beginning my dissertation has stripped me of the right to declare us runners. Nonetheless, we have run together (off and on) for a couple of years now. I was drawn to Potter’s attitude toward exercise from the start – if you ask him why he exercises, he’ll say: “to look good naked”.