This is the Web Log of Adam Michael Young

This is mostly my programmers notebook, but also a journal for thoughts about climbing, coding, fatherhood, and anything else that comes up.

I am not the Lead Singer of Owl City.  That is a different Person, also named Adam Young. He is much cooler than I am. Neither of us have ever dated Taylor Swift. Here are 25 points about me in no specific order.

1. The mechanism in the brain is that is supposed to disengage the mouth doesn’t always work with me. When I remember an embarrassing episode from earlier in my life, I often yell at my self about it, out loud, usually something like “Stop think so much!” or “Quit it.” I get Code Rage.

2. I read incredibly fast. I started reading in kindergarten and have always devoured books. I was reading the full length Alexandre Dumas books in third grade.

3. I wore braces while wrestling in high school. My lips were routinely turned into chopped liver by them.

4. Music has been an incredibly strong force in my life. I was singing before I spoke. I started piano lessons in first grade (Thanks Mrs. Stephanski!). My great Uncle Ben started teaching me Saxophone in second grade. I sing out loud whenever I am in the car alone unless I am practicing on my saxophone mouthpiece. I contemplated going to Berkeley school of music. As a Junior and Senior at West Point I conducted the Jewish Chapel Choir.

5. I read Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance while in High School. No other book I’ve read has had more of an effect of how I interpret the world.

6. As a Plebe at West Point, I got into big trouble twice. The first time was because I had a sword for the medieval studies club in my locker in the trunk room. The second time was for drinking. My roommate had snuck a bottle of Jack Daniels into the Barracks. I had two shots, and threw them up.

7. When I was a three years old I made up a Superhero named “Strong Running Man”

8. I was really into Archery when I was in boy scouts. I had a recurve bow. My cousin and I were shooting arrows up into the air in New Hampshire. One got stuck in the trees, and fell to earth right in front of my father, missing him by a few feet. He broke the bow over his knees.

9. My first crush was when I was in nursery school. Her name was Elizabeth Lubin. I still don’t know how to spell her last name.

10. I compose music. I’ve written a few jazz and folk songs. I have written about 70% of the book for “The Princes Bride, the Musical.” It is an Operatta.

11. I spent my first two and a half years as a professional programmer doing Microsoft programming. My focus on Linux and Open Source programming comes from having been burnt by MS too many times.

12. When I was Lieutenant in the Army, I lived in a beach house on the North Shore of Hawaii. On certain days, when I was allowed to do the morning exercises (PT) on my own, I would often go snorkeling right behind my own house.

13. My favorite physical hobby is Rock Climbing. I have done more damage to my body by climbing with out doing injury prevention exercises than any other way . My favorite type of climbing is climbing cracks by jamming my hands and feet into the wall and camming them.

14. I was incredibly nearsighted as a kid. It killed my depth perception. It is one reason I never liked sports like Baseball or Basketball. I had LASIK about ten years ago, and my eyes have continued to get worse to the point that I need glasses full time again.

15. I have a ridiculous memory for quotes. I can watch a movie or TV show once and pick up a quote that I remember for years.

16. I grew up wandering in the woods. The thing I love most about being back on the East Coast (aside from being near to family) is the woods here. There is something about the deciduous forests and terrain gentle enough to let you walk just about anywhere while out in the woods that I find really recharging. I’ve recently taken up snowshoeing because I love being able to wander through the snow covered woods and walk anywhere.

17. Number 13 is not longer strictly true: I’ve done more damage to my body sitting in front of a computer than anything else. I now have a standing desk and work standing up. I am standing up as I type this.

18. I’ve Taken up woodcarving as a supplement for climbing. Being a Dad has forced me to be around the house so much, and I needed something visual and spacial to help me shift my brain out of programming. I’ve cut myself carving fairly regularly, but so far have avoided an emergency room visit.

19. IN 2006 I became a Dad. In 2009 we had our second child. The first was born in Berkeley California. The second was born in Boston, Massachusetts.

20. I know how to type/spell Massachusetts without looking it up due to Miss Standon (my 4th grade teacher) making a little song out of it. Em-Ay-Double-S-Ay-See-Aitch-You-Ess-Ee-Titi-Ess.

21. At 48 I took up running. I ran until Covid hit, and then my son and I started doing long outdoor hikes to escape the house. My knees could not recover from the downhill slogs fast enough to run during the week so I stopped. I recently restarted. I also recently started learning how to ride a unicycle at the age 52. And rejoined a climbing gym.

22. After my drinking slug (the punishment assigned for breaking thee rule at West Point) I felt I could not leave the Academy until it was served off. It lasted through the summer training and into the beginning of the next academic year. Once the year started, I was in the swing of things; no longer a plebe, and I was in more computer science classes that held my interest. The following summer I was send to Fort Benning for Airborne School and to be an assistant to a Drill Sergeant for the summer. I came back very much energized about the Army. The Basic Training unit I worked with was training Infantry soldiers, and I loved it. That is when and why I decided to go Infantry.

23. I went to Ranger School but did not finish. I wrote about my experiences at Ranger School in depth here.

24. I Deployed on Operation Uphold Democracy to Haiti in 1995. More about that here.

25. I played Saxophone in Jazz Bands from 4th Grade through 12th Grade. The one exception was 9th Grade when I did not pass the audition. Ron Christianson, the music director at Stoughton High School, put together a Jazz combo, and I played in that instead. I also started taking lessons with George Garzone, known as the Yogi Berra of Berklee. He taught me Jazz improvisation which is another way to say he taught me how to think. It has affected how I approach everything creative and performance based in my life ever since.