About
Me
For some reason, a lot of
visitors to this site want to
know about my personal life. I get the impression
that many of these people assume that I'm financially
independent (i.e., rich) because of this liveaboard
lifestyle I lead, but NOTHING could be further from the
truth! I'm employed in the computer business, I have
a mortgage on the boat, and I dream of one day winning the
lottery and setting sail into the sunset. I'm just
an average guy. Below are some of the questions I've
been asked through this Website:
Where did you grow up
/ go to school / college?
I was born in Alexandria, Virginia on
November 19, 1969 at 1:13 in the afternoon. It was a
traumatic experience for both me and my mother (Shirley
Hall Doty), but we survived. My father (Ronald
Francis Doty) was in the Air Force
("Francis"...ha! ha!). Why I was born on
an Army base will forever be a mystery (although, I guess
I could call my parents to find out).
The family moved to Hawaii in 1970,
where my father was stationed at Hickem Air Force Base
where he retired. In 1974, we moved to Jacksonville,
Florida. This was not in the original plans; my
father had intended to go to Ft. Lauderdale to look for
work. Long story short, my mother's family moved to
Jacksonville in the early 70's because they were all
employed by Seaboard Coastline railroad, which moved from
Wilmington, North Carolina to Jacksonville. We
passed through just to visit, but my father found a job
with the Independent Life Insurance Company (now
defunct...thanks to Hurricane Floyd and inbred management)
as a computer programmer. So, we stayed.
I went to Andromeda Elementary for 1st
and 2nd grade before moving on to Trinity
"Christian" Academy for grades 3-8. I
learned everything about religious fanaticism that I care
to know at that school. I then "escaped"
Trinity and attended Jefferson Davis Middle School and
finally Edward White High School. I was a mediocre
student at all of these places.
Then, I had to start paying for my
education and became a stellar student at Florida
Community College at Jacksonville. In 1990, I
transferred to the University of North Florida, where I
majored in computer science.
In my senior year, I decided I really
hated programming computers, so I switched majors to
English Education (again, traumatic for my mother).
I completed my internship under the watchful eye of Gary
Builderback at Edward White High School (my 10th grade
English teacher).
Now, wasn't all THAT interesting?
What do you do for a
living?
Since 1996, I've worked for a
company called NCS. They make
"bubble-form" scanners. You know...you
take a test or complete a survey and use a #2 pencil to
bubble-in a form. They invented the technology in
1964. Oh, so now you're thinking, "Oh, he works
for those Scantron people." Well, no.
Scantron is our competitor. But they have a cool
name for their product. Few people know who we are,
though our revenues are about 9 times what those Scantron
folks earn. Hey, if you completed a U.S. census in
2000, you used an NCS form...not one printed by Scantron!
In any case, NCS was purchased by
Pearson, plc. in 2000. Pearson is basically a
publishing company. They own the London Financial
Times, Penguin Books, Scott Foresman, Prentice Hall, and a
bunch of other stuff. The company formally known as
"NCS" is now called "Pearson NCS."
My job is to help find new sources of
business for the company. For the past couple of
years, I've been working with on-line testing.
Instead of delivering tests on paper, I've been helping
organizations figure out how to deliver tests
electronically. I do a bit of marketing, a LOT of
sales force training, technical implementation, speaking
engagements, writing articles for publication, etc.
Whatever it takes to convince the world that Pearson NCS
is the PREMIER testing company! Paper,
electronic...it doesn't matter! And if I can steal
some business from Scantron in the process, well, that
makes my job worthwhile!
How much do you earn
a year?
None of your friggin' business!
I'm truly amazed at how many people have asked me that
question. I was always taught that this question was
taboo in polite society. Let's just say that I'm
solid middle class.
What are your
hobbies?
I LOVE to travel. To date, I've
been to every state in the union except Alaska, North
Dakota, and Montana. I've visited Spain, France,
Ireland, Italy, Austria, the Czech Republic, Poland,
Germany, Denmark, Holland, the Bahamas, Cuba, Saudi
Arabia, Bah Rain, Egypt, Scotland, England, Switzerland,
Mexico, Canada, and Egypt. In fact, the reason that
I have to boat is not so much for the love of sailing as
it is the places I'll be able to go! I could spend
the rest of my life traveling from country to
country!
Are you married?
No, I'm not. I'm still looking for
that right woman to share this experience with.
Unfortunately, I've discovered that gals initially love
the idea of living on a boat...until that first storm
is encountered. Then, they generally want stability,
land, a house, etc. I haven't given up hope.
I'm just waiting for the right one to come along.
When did you learn to
sail?
This may surprise you, but I didn't
learn to sail until I was in college. As a computer
science major, we had to take two electives. I chose
photography. I had a very, very, flippant attitude
towards this class. Most people would spend hours
and hours in the darkroom, trying to get their photos just
right. Me? I'd just take a bunch of pictures,
develop all of them, pick out the best print, and turn it
in. For whatever reason, the professor liked my
cavalier attitude. He asked me to join the
university's sailing club, for which he was the Commodore.
So, a group of us went sailing on the
St. John's River in Jacksonville several times.
Later that year, we went on a cruise from Key West to the
Dry Tortugas and back. I instantly fell in love with
the whole concept of sailing. The water, open air,
traveling in a boat from point A to point B with nothing
but the wind. I knew then that I would one day live
on a sailboat. Thank you, David Porter (my old
photography professor).
What is your goal
with sailing?
OK, this is a cliché. But it's
not like you haven't read other clichés on this Web
site. My goal is to complete a circumnavigation
before I turn 40 years of age.
What vices do you
have?
None.
Please
drop me a line at:
robert@sleepingwithoars.com
©
2007 by Robert Doty
