Bio
Okay, this isn't really a full bio. Not like the ones on A&E, anyway. Those are cool. You think they'd want to do one on me someday? Me neither. So, until or if A&E ever gives me a call, here are some small chunks of my life for your amusement.

Vitals

I have five awesome kids: Morgan (16), Kelsey (15), Nico (13), Kolby (11), and Gianna (4 - born 1/14/05). They are truly the inspirations that keep me moving through each day.

We live in a beautiful area of the country at the base of the Sierra Foothills just northeast of Sacramento, CA in Grass Valley. We moved here in 2001 from Pleasanton, CA where we lived for three years. Before that, we lived in Scotts Valley (near Santa Cruz) for 8 years.

I grew up in San Jose, CA and graduated from Pioneer High School (although I started out at Gunderson High School and went one semester in my junior year to Oak Grove HS - ain't divorce great?).

What I Do

I am one of those jacks of all trades. I can design, produce, manage, market, sell, and create. If you pinned me down, I'd have to say that I'm a producer. I can visualize a project or idea and I'm resourceful enough to get the materials and people needed to put it all together.

I've been self-employed for most of my teenage and adult life. I started my first company when I was 14 called R&S Cleaning Service. My friend Scott and I cleaned rain gutters and did odd jobs (mostly for elderly people) in our neighborhood and made decent cash doing it. We had business cards and everything. I have been pretty entrepreneurial ever since - even when working for other companies.

I'm also a freelance writer. I've written many chapters in several Internet books and penned an Internet marketing book. I am a freelance sports writer for the local newspaper (The Union) in my spare time as well.

I used to have a regular column in Mac Design Magazine (the only computer design magazine for Macintosh users) where I also used to write reviews and tips and tricks for them- mainly on Macromedia Dreamweaver.

I contribute to several other periodicals, well, periodically. I write some fiction as well and I have half a dozen unfinished screenplays and television series ideas lying around here someplace...

I started DJing again. I've been performing at weddings and parties since April 2006 and it seems to be doing very well. I love the audio/visual equipment and keeping up with music is a lifelong hobby, so it's a natural thing for me to do. And the extra income doesn't hurt.

Charities

The Markie Foundation - My good friends Joe and Janis Wuelfing lost their precious baby Mark after just a few months of life. They were lucky enough to utilize children's hospice and have Markie with them at home during his short life. They found out that there are many families who do not have access to this special and necessary service, so they founded this foundation to raise money for those families in need of children's hospice.

Nevada Count Girls Softball Association (NCGSA) - I was on the board of directors and a coach in this girls softball league where I live. I am still involved with the league as a parent, coach, and volunteer occasionally, even though my oldest daughters are now out of the league. But, Gianna will have me back in it full-swing in a year or so.

Tracewell
Family Credo
• Responsibility - Always do your best.
• Integrity - Do the right thing.
• Honesty - Tell the truth.
• Respect - Use good manners.
• Compassion - Help others in need.
• Self Discipline - Set goals and work toward them.
The large wood carved sign on the wall as you enter our house says...

NO WHINING

Computers

My main every day machine is a new MacBook Pro laptop (233GHz, 2GB of RAM, 17 inch screen) that runs Windows XP natively on an Intel Core Duo chipset. Amazing machine. It freakin' screams.

My workstation for everything media-related (audio, video, web, etc.) is a G5 dual 1.8gHz machine with 2GB of RAM. Yes, it screams.

The other machine is an Apple Powerbook G4/550 that has seen better days, but still manages to get things done albeit very slowly at times. This is a testament to Apple computers - this notebook computer is almost ten years old and it still runs.

My first computer (thanks to a hand-me-down from my long-time friend and fellow computer geek Paul Sanchez) was a Texas Instruments TI-99A. My monitor was an old black and white TV and my "hard drive" was a standard cassette recorder. I was actually making little games and programs with Basic (anyone remember Mr. BoJangles?) way back in junior high. Amazing.

Funny enough, I found one in perfect condition on eBay and bought it. It's sitting on a shelf. I have no idea what I'm going to do with it. Maybe I'll use it to make my kids feel guilty when they complain about their computer speed some day. (Update: I sent the TI-99A to my friend Paul - the one who gave it to me originally - for his 40th birthday.)

Favorite Software

Adobe Photoshop (even though I feel like I only know a tenth of what it can do), iMovie, Amadeus II (audio app), Macromedia Dreamweaver, LimeWire, Adobe InDesign, and OmniOutliner (it's my brain dump application).

I love GarageBand, but I avoid it. Why? If I sit down and start a new song idea, I raise my head up and three days have gone by...

Hobbies

Music - I sing, write songs, and play guitar and piano. I have a piano, keyboard, impressive books and everything.

I'm in two bands currently. RetroActive is two, two, two bands in one! We are a classic rock cover band and when someone needs a blues band, we are Blues Highway. My other band, Tracewell (wasn't my idea to name the band that) is a hard rock cover and original band. Fun stuff.

Sports - I am an avid racquetball and softball player. I enjoy martial arts, but haven't done that for quite a few years - I plan to take it up again. I also golf (I have the shoes and everything). I'm pretty much into any sport that has "game". I'll play soccer, football, basketball, volleyball, foosball, ping pong or anything else someone wants to play.

Favorite Sports Teams Oakland Raiders ("Comes with rotating coaches and everything!"), Oakland A's ("We cultivate more of the finest athletes now playing for championship MLB teams than anyone else!"), San Francisco Giants (I'm a bay area baseball bandwagoner, but if you push me, I'm an A's fan first), New York Yankees (go figure), San Jose Sharks, Sacramento Kings (I really, really tried to be a Warriors fan since I grew up in the bay area...really).
Favorite TV Shows
(in no particular order & not necessarily still on the air)
Inside The Actors Studio, Myth Busters, Family Guy, American Dad, Simpsons, South Park, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, According To Jim, The Daily Show w/ Jon Stewart, Six Feet Under (RIP), Dead Like Me (RIP), Will & Grace, Two Guys & A Girl (RIP), CSI, Forensic Files, West Wing (RIP), New Detectives, Cold Case Files, basically anything on Discovery Channel or the History Channel, Gilmore Girls, The Drew Carey Show (RIP), Rodney (RIP), Titus (RIP), Crossing Jordan (RIP), Who's Line Is It Anyway?, ESPN SportsCenter, etc.
Favorite Classic TV Shows
(in no particular order)
Taxi, Cheers, Mad About You, M*A*S*H, All In The Family, The Carol Burnett Show, Seinfeld, Friends, Everybody Loves Raymond, Soap, Laugh-In, etc.
Favorite Movies
(in no particular order)
Anything from M. Night Shyamalan, The Matrix, House of Sand and Fog, Memento, The Majestic, The Patriot (after watching this, all I wanted to do was run out and kick an English guy), The Jerk, Lethal Weapon (all 4), Happy Gilmore, Beverly Hills Cop, Water Boy, Rush Hour, Tommy Boy, Ace Ventura, all of the Rocky movies (cheesy, yes, but I'm still a sucker for them), Back to the Future, E.T., all of the Raiders of the Lost Ark movies, Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon, Remember The Titans, Breakfast Club, and tons more.
Favorite Bands or Musicians Extreme, Billy Joel, KISS, Nuno Bettencourt, The Beatles, Van Halen, Stevie Ray Vaughn, Dio, Nat King Cole, Def Leppard, Dio, The Offspring, Styx (yes, Styx - you gotta problem with that?), Lynyrd Skynyrd, Louis Prima, AC/DC, Huey Lewis & The News, The Doors, Earth, Wind & Fire, The Beach Boys, and many more that I just can't think of right now.
Favorite Comedians Steve Martin (all-time favorite stand-up comic), Mike Meyers (an inspiration), Howie Mandell, Robin Williams, Paul Reiser, Mitch Hedberg, Foster Brooks, Milton Berle, Eddie Murphy, Adam Sandler, Rodney Carrington, Jon Stewart, Steven Wright, George Carlin, Richard Pryor, Jim Gaffigan, Ellen Degeneres, etc.
Favorite Actors Kevin Spacey, Mandy Pitinkin, Harrison Ford, Sean Connery, Denzel Washington, Mel Gibson, Helen Hunt, Julia Roberts, Meryl Streep, Nicolas Cage.
Favorite Writers Dave Barry, Stephen King, Dean Koontz, John Grisham, Bill Bryson, Dan Brown, Aaron Sorkin (West Wing/Studio 60), David Mamet, David E. Kelly, and more.
Favorite Mags I enjoy Psychology Today, Reader's Digest, GuitarOne, Photoshop User Magazine, Fast Company, Business 2.0, Men's Health.
Favorite Quotes

"Great spirits have always received violent reactions from mediocre minds."
~ Albert Einstein

"Discipline is the bridge between goals and accomplishment."
~ Jim Rohn

"A free lunch is only found in mousetraps."
~ John Capuzz

"The early bird may get the worm, but the second mouse gets the cheese."
~ Anonymous

"Happiness is not an accident. Nor is it something you wish for.
Happiness is something you design."
~ Jim Rohn

"PIE: Perception Is Everything."
~ Rick Tracewell

People I Miss

I really miss the old-time comedians from the 1940s to the 1970s. Guys like Foster Brooks, Milton Berle, Jack Benny, Ernie Kovacs, Jonathan Winters, Bob Hope, Abbott & Costello, George Burns & Gracie Allen, Mel Brooks, Sid Caesar, and countless other comics that I can't think of right now.

They had a camaraderie that was special. Anytime you got a few of them in a room together, it was like they were in awe of each other's talent. They were a great big family and some of the genuinely funniest people on the planet - without outside writers or having to use profanity to shock people into laughing. Just in everyday conversation you would be pissing your pants laughing at what they were saying.

Great stuff.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Okay already!

You know the page is done, right?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Quit scrolling. You're wasting your time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Is this what your boss pays you to do all day?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Go home to your children.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Yeesh.

 

 
Quotes
There are three
types of people:

1) Those who make things happen.
2) Those who watch things happen.
~ and ~
3) Those who say,
“What happened??”

"I couldn't wait for success...so I went ahead without it."
~ Jonathon Winters

"Advice is what we ask for when we already know the answer but wish we didn't."
- Erica Jong

"Experience is what you get when you didn't get what you wanted."
~ Italian Proverb
© 2009 by Rick Tracewell • All rights reserved...whatever that means.
I care: This site is made with recycled pixels. A 15% gratuity will automatically be added for more than 5 site visitors at a time. Save the whales (collect the whole set!). For the billionth time, stop exaggerating. No smoking. If FedEx and UPS merged, would it be called FedUp? If you receive a letter with postage due, would it be called "fee-mail"? Stop reading the fine print and get back to work, will ya?
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