After High School in November I left on my mission to New York, Rochester (Palmyra area). There I gained a love of church history and teaching people. When I got back to Provo I played golf at UVCC, won my first tournament, took second in my second, but realized at nationals that, although I loved the game, it would take more than I was willing to give to make it a career. So, for all intents and purposes, I put the sticks away and started a new life. It also had something to do with rekindling my relationship with Christa Ghoslin (Class of '90, we dated briefly in high school). We were married in 1993 and stuck our noses into college books (hers was already there). I got an Economics degree and MBA from BYU, while she got a Masters in Molecular Biology, also from BYU (we often saw Blake Baliff in the labs and lived in Dave Rowe's ward for a while).
It took us eight years to have a child, which didn't worry me until about year six. After quitting fertility treatment, we finally had our first girl, Lindsay in 2001. She's been followed by Nichole and Greta. We don't know how we got such cute kids (Christa's genes I guess). Now I'm stocking up on guns and ammo in preparation for the dating years, or the next revolutionary war, whichever comes first. We recently added a puppy with very sharp teeth, also a female. FYI, Christa came from a family of six girls. To get the oft-needed testosterone boost, I take my girls to Cabelas, or Home Depot, or Gold's Gym. They haven't quite gotten into golf or cars yet...sigh. That said, I'm extremely well-versed in everything princess, fairy, and Hanna Montana (which I do enjoy...did I just say that out loud). Other fun female topics are just around the corner.
While in college I started an automotive enthusiast web site, beginning as CarPictures.com and branching out from there. It was mostly a hobby, but when I won the BYU business plan competition with it, the Utah Angels invited me to present to them. They warned me that about 1% of companies got their funding. Somehow I did and it has change my life ever since. The funny thing was that this investment happened concurrently with the dot-com bubble bust, in the Spring of 2000. So, I worked on that full-time under difficult market conditions for four years, until I realized that my family and I, and even my company, needed me to leave self-employment.
I got lucky (blessed) to join Ancestry.com in 2004 and am currently the Product Manager over U.S. Content. This experience has taught me much about internet business and content models. As employment is never certain, I still have my other internet content business, mostly being operated by others. Life is very good for us.
We'll see you tomorrow, Chris
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