Toast Masters' Speech: About Me

The title of my speech is quote "A heck of a guy, even if I say so myself." end quote.

It's bit tongue in check, but When I was growing up in Houston, my mom would often compliment the work she had done around the house with the admonition quote "even if I say so myself." end quote

Well, I'm here to talk about myself.

AARP
I'm new to AARP; I've been here only four months. I'm in a new role as web analyst for the online strategy and operations group. Web analystics is a new field that's part technology and part marketing, in fact a true bridge between the two.

DOS CAPITALS
I've lived in central Texas - Austin and San Antonio - and DC since 1982, bouncing between Austin and DC at least three times.
Austin's the capital of Texas and DC's the capital of the USA. I could call my life "Dos capitals." But I've never been in politics, nor do I care to.

AUSTIN
Houston's my hometown, but Austin's my spiritual home. It's hip, techno savvy and quirky with a great music scene and very Texas.

FAMILY
My family's been in Texas for generations. There's a Xicano saying, we didn't cross the border, the border crossed us. My paternal great grandparents are from a town outside Corpus Christi. My mom was born in Texas, but her family's from Mexico, though they often lived in the United States. My maternal grandparents worked in Wisconsin picking sugar beets. And my maternal great grandparents worked here at a time when becoming a US citizen only requiring showing up at the border.

UT AUSTIN
I twice graduated from University of Texas at Austin, once with a journalism degree and once with an MBA.

REPORTER
I was a reporter for years, working here in DC, Austin and San Antonio and even interned at the Wall Street JOurnal, where I got 2 front page stories.

ONLINE MEDIA
I gave up writing to take on the Internet challenge facing news organizations, spending the last 15 years in some form of electronic news. So I call myself a "recovering Journalist."

AOL
I ran an early AOL forum for US Hispanics for almost four years, pretty much by myself. AOL twice recognized the site as an AOL "Members' Choice" area. I met Steve Case, Ted Leonis, those guys.

WORK HISTORY
After AOL, I tried to do a startup focused on US Latinos, then landed at Gannett and USA TODAY. Most recently, I worked at National Public Radio down the road.

OUTSIDE WORK
Outside of work, I'm a dedicated bicycle commuter, riding 17 miles to AARP most every morning. I also enjoy surfing, but I'm not that great at it. I recently learned to scuba dive and belong to a club. My wife and I are separated, but we do have a son Max, whose only 10 months old

HECK OF A GUY
Even so, I'd like to say I'm a heck of a guy, even if I say so myself.