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 am the lucky man to be married to my beautiful wife Kristi. We have five awesome kids: Morgan (14), Kelsey (12), Nico (10), Kolby (9), and our newest addition Gianna (almost 2- 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.
As far as pets go, we have have
a cool cat named Mowser, a turtle named Morla
(after the giant ancient turtle in A Neverending Story), and a fish named Bob.
Funny, even with all of these pets, Kristi and
I hear - at least once a week - "Can we get
a (insert some type of furry or scaly critter here)?"
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 anyway, 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 am 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.
There are some great people involved in this organization
and we all work toward making softball a fun and
great learning experience for our girls. Heck,
there are now full softball scholarships to most
major universities and even an Olympic team, so
the sky is the limit for girls softball players.
|
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.
My other machines are an Apple Powerbook G4/550, Apple
Macintosh G4/400 tower and an old G3 iBook that the kids use to supposedly do homework on, but they spend most of their time on IM (the older girls) or playing The Sims or creating goofy tests for them and their friends on the web.
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. |
| Favorite
Software |
Adobe Photoshop hands down
(even though I feel like I only know a tenth of
what it can do), iMovie (I could live in front of that program), Amadeus II (audio app), Macromedia Dreamweaver, LimeWire,
Adobe InDesign, and
OmniOutliner (it's my brain dump application). |
| Hobbies |
Music - I sing,
write songs, and play guitar and piano. I have
a piano, keyboard, impressive books and everything.
I was in a rock and soul cover band called
Undercover for a while and I am working on a jazz/swing group (ala Sinatra, Prima, etc.). I'm also considering starting up another rock cover band. It's just hard to find solid musicians anymore...if it was ever easy.
Update: I just joined another cover band out of Roseville called The Summer Hill Band. We'll see how it works out.
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.
|