My Life Story

Monday, 05 July 2010 05:08

I jettisoned myself from my mothers womb in Fort Ord, California in February of 1982. I’m the son of an African-American U.S. Army soldier, and a Caucasian hair dresser. I moved from California as an infant, just to end up moving around Denver and her surrounding suburbs. In middle school I moved to Copperass Cove, Texas for two years. In 8th grade, my mother left her then husband and we moved to Fort Morgan, a small town in northeastern Colorado. None of your travel brochures talk about Fort Morgan because it’s in the boring, fiat, grassland part of the state. But I digress.

To most of the kids that knew me growing up, I was perpetually the weird, mulatto, new kid. I played football and basketball. I was unremarkable in both sports until my senior year, when my football team won a state championship, and I rode the coat-tails of better players to All-Conference and All-State Player awards. Although I was slightly better than mediocre in football, my real passion has always been for electronics, computers, and robotics. I taught myself BASIC (a programming language,) when I was 13. From there, C and C++ (other programming languages) became like second nature to me. I began mapping my plans to take over the world with killer robots.  By the time I graduated high school, I knew 11 different programming languages fluently. I was accepted at all the colleges to which I applied. I played football for Nebraska Wesleyan Unrversity, a small, private, Division-IIl school in Lincoln. I had a decent freshman year athletically, and a less-than-stellar year academically. My freshman year culminated in me starting a web site devoted to my playing pranks on my teammate and roommate, Jerry. I was ultimately suspended from the school for a year, for what was tantamount to bullying. I still regret my actions to this day. Not because I got kicked out of school, but because I was really mean to a kid who didn’t deserve it. I’m ashamed of myself for making such terrible decisions.

I returned to Colorado, and attended the University of Northern Colorado in the fall of what should have been my sophomore year. I pledged and was accepted into Delta Upsilon fraternity. Again, I had a fun year (this time, minus the bullying.) But again, my grades sucked. At the end of the year, my academic advisor said to me, "maybe college just isn’t for you." He was right.

So I spent a semester wallowing in self pity, and didn’t go to school. I decided that I missed playing football, and I went back to Nebraska Wesleyan University to join the team again. I trained (admittedly half-assed) all spring, and I thought I was ready to take back my starting spot in the Fall. At the end of the summer, I found out that because of the semester I lost due to the suspension, the semester I took off after iJj.c and my overall poor grades in the classes I did take, that I didn’t have enough credit hours to be eligible to play. After that, my life became a downward spiral. Although I met some really cool people along the way, I wasted a lot of my life abusing marijuana and alcohol to cope with my own failures in life.

During my “party years” I did manage to hold on to my passion for computers and robotics. I continued dabbling in programming, and I taught myself 3D drafting, so I could actually start building robots (a lifelong dream of mine.) I sweet-talked some companies into giving me the parts I needed, and I built a small robot for a competition in San Francisco. The trip to San Francisco was in itself a fiasco, and I ended up not even being able to compete. But I still learned a lot, and I got to talk to other robot geeks.

By this time I was 23, and I had knocked-up my girlfriend, Amanda.  Having a baby greatly influenced the direction I was heading, and I began working hard to give my son better opportunities than I ever had.  Zachary Robert Ragsdale was born on February 18th, exactly one day after my own brthday.

Shortly after Zac was born, I got a full-time job as a glorified drafter at Metal Tech Partners, in Bruning, NE. I learned the ins and outs of industrial machine design.  I also started a garage-business selling robot parts on the internet.  I then made a jump from my job as a drafter, to a job at Crescent Electric Supply Company.  I got a huge salary, and I learned as much as there is to know about industrial control products.  I also got a grip on my marijuana addiction, and sought help for the depression I was was self-medicating.  Once the fog of weed lifted, I made a huge leap to Ellison Technologies Automation, where I was finally able to work full-time with robots.  Amanda gave birth to my daughter, Jaden Rose Ragsdale.  My princess.  My sweet angel.  For Ellison, I designed end-of-arm tools, and I drafted the layouts for robotic work cells.  I was paid a ridiculously high salary, and I loved every second of it.  It was a robot geek's dream-come-true.  I was in paradise.

Then the Great Recession happened.        I was laid off.

I was 26.  I lost my healthcare benefits, and the anti-depressants that came with it.  I began using pot to self-medicate again.  The addiction took over, and I was using hourly.  My internet business went by the wayside, along with my sense of self-purpose.  While in a weed-fueled state, I wrote a program that spammed my resume and a simple cover letter to every robotics company in the country.    Literally hundreds of companies received my email.  I got exactly three replies, and only 1 offer for a job interview in Boston, Massachusetts.  Luckily, I got the job, and I earned a lot of money in a short time, but I hated the East Coast.  The people there were...  let's just say that they weren't warm and friendly like it is in the midwest.  I hated it, and I self-sabotaged my career until I was fired.  Luckily, I was found "not-responsible" for my job loss, and I was allowed to stay on unemployment.  Thank God for Uncle Obama, and his willingness to keep extending unemployment benefits.  This allowed me to stay at home, and keep getting high until I figured out what to do next.  Amanda gave birth to my youngest son, Xavier Robert Ragsdale on May 21, 2009 (rest assured that I got her pregnant while I had a great job.)

I continued wallowing in self-pity and a cloud of weed smoke until Amanda had enough.  It was Halloween, 2009.  We had a big fight, and things got ugly.  To make a long story short, I ended up with a drug paraphernelia ticket, and an ultimatum to clean up my act, or risk losing my family.

I decided to get clean, and I did.  I started going back to school, and in September of 2010, I got a job as a Software Developer for Phoenix Web Group.  I'm now schooling part-time, and programming full-time.  As I write this story, I am still working at Phoenix, and I am  currently remapping the path to my eventual domination of the world with killer robots.  Look out for me. Mwuahahahahahahaha...  :)

I'm glad you’ve taken the time to read about my life.  If you've gotten this far, and still want to contact me, please feel free.  I can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .  Later, Gator.