Greetings! My name is Tyler Miller and I am the new gatekeeper of reslifegeek.com – Ryan McRae is off on his adventures in Afghanistan, and I have agreed to look over the “watchtower” while he is gone. I figured I would start with background on who I am. It may get long, but will explain a lot about maybe what I can offer you, the reader.
First of all, I am a spiritual man. I am Jewish, but also believe that Christ is my savior. You won’t be able to put my faith in a box, so don’t even try. This guides my life for the most part. I am not perfect, but on a journey towards something larger than myself. Coolest. Thing. Evar.
I am also a family man. I am approaching my 10 year anniversary with my wonderful wife, Kari. I have concluded that she is NOT a geek although she is an ally. She has attended Comic-Con with me. Twice. She is not obsessive about anything. She (along with my faith) keeps me grounded. I currently have THREE beautiful daughters. Eliana is 4 and a half. Last year while at Comic Con, we had breakfast with an aunt from Florida who was in SD for an adult education conference who gave her $10, she, in turn, bought a light saber. Yeah. She’s cool. Samara just turned 2 in February. Right now she is still discovering her passions, but right now she is really into Super Why and Richard Scary’s Busytown. Oh and Blue’s Clues. Johana is 5 and a half months old. She is really into smiling right now.
I am a geek at heart. My geek passions include (but are not limited to):
- Science Fiction: Star Wars (I do not include Phantom Menace in that Universe. Proper order to watch Star Wars is: New Hope, Empire, Attack of the Clones, Revenge of the Sith, Return of the Jedi). Star Trek (Picard is my favorite captain). Stargate (including SG-1 and Atlantis). Battlestar Galactica (both the original AND the new series). Firefly. I am not a fan of the Whedonverse, per se, but I do love Firefly, Dr. Horrible, etc. I am just not a fan of buffy, primarily because I don’t like Vampires. Deal with it.
- Batman & The DCU: I love love LOVE Bruce Timm’s work. Kevin Conroy IS the voice of Batman. Pretty much all things Batman I get excited about.
- The shows of USA: Psych, Burn Notice, Monk, White Collar
- Fantasy: Lord of the Rings & CS Lewis work
- Saturday morning cartoons of the 80s and 90s: Transformers. GI Joe. Voltron. Spiderman. Superfriends. Heck, I even remember the Shmoo and Banana Splits.
- Pop culture: My wife and I don’t have cable. But I follow TMZ religiously. I love keeping in touch with the newest thing. I live by the adage – when my staff talks about something and I have no clue, my friend Google explains it to me. It helps me know a little about a lot of things.
I am also a Housing professional. Housing is in my blood. One of my staffs, early on in my career (San Raf staff – you feel me?) gave me a license plate that said “Res Life 4 Life.” I even went to boarding school for my Junior and Senior year of High School, so I got my start living on campus before even coming to college. In a nutshell, here is my journey:
- Two years of Boarding school at Westtown Friends HS
- Five years living on campus at UCSB. Go Gauchos. I supported Women’s Basketball at UCSB when only 50 people would go to the games. I was one of the “Gaucho faithful.” By the time I left UCSB, average attendance at Women’s basketball games grew to 2,000. On Senior night that last year, the team gave me an autographed hat that they had all signed. It is STILL in my office today. One of the best nights at UCSB when I got that honor. But I digress. So – at UCSB, I was co-president of my building (San Miguel) my freshman year. My RA was Windy Linden. She, and my RD (Jaime DeJesus) basically saved my life. I applied for the RA position at the end of my first year. The BMW (Building Maintenance Worker) Jack Hutching told me I would never get hired as an RA that year, and I didn’t believe him. I was a leader. When I got REJECTED for the position, my respect for Jack continued until this day. He knew I needed more maturity. Dealing with the rejection, I ran for RHA president. Got elected to President of RHA, and went to my First NACURH conference. When I saw 2000 college students having the time of their lives WITHOUT using alcohol – I was hooked. Our RHA team went on to become the PACURH school of the year, win the Spirit award, and finish as runner up to the NACURH school of the year. That was pretty cool. That’s when I knew I might have leadership potential in my. I then became an RA and then an ARD for two years.
- 8 years in Chico. 4 years as RD in Whitney Hall at Chico State. If you can manage Whitney Hall, you can pretty much do anything. When I got there in 1995, they had squares of toilet paper instead of rolls. They had white walls with spray painted numbers on the doors. It LOOKED like a juvenile detention center. By the time I left, It changed drastically. I loved Whitney and the good folks who bled, sweat, and cried to make it a better place for the residents. I saved quite a few lives, but also had to perform CPR on someone who ended up dying. Probably one of the low moments. I left for a year to teach Jr high – decided quickly I would rather deal with Drunk college students than sober Jr. High kids. Came back and decided to be an ARD. WHAT? Why would I take a step DOWN in position? There was an Assistant Director position available at the time, but I REALLY wanted to work with students. I knew moving forward I was going to lose more and more contact with the students. I didn’t need the money – so I was the ARD for Konkow hall, which was BASICALLY the RD for the building, but I only had 60 residents and 6 staff. While in Konkow, I met my wife. Online. AOL IM. In 1999! After a year in Konkow, I jumped into a Residential Community Coordinator, basically supervising an RD in University Village. I then left for a year while my wife got her degree. SHE worked as an apartment manager while I managed a homeowner’s association. It was a great experience for me seeing the other side of the live in world. Help me empathize with her.
- After Chico – we went to SSU. I worked in Verdot Village as the Residential Life Coordinator. Best job. Evar. It was the people. It was what I learned. Spent three years at SSU working for Chuck Rhodes and Cyndie Morozumi (among others). They forever changed my housing practices. Was there for three years.
- After SSU, I spent 9 months at CSU Stanislaus. I don’t like to talk about it. There were some GREAT people at Stanislaus. That’s all I will say about that.
- With my wife 7 months pregnant with our first born, we moved to Fresno. We have been here for almost five years now. I am the Assistant Director of Housing at Fresno State. I love this job. I am truly content and happy with where I am at. Again, it’s the people. I have the honor of working with some GREAT folks.
So there you have it. I am the guy who had the idea with Ryan to present at Comic-Con. My wife came up with the “geekEd.” thing. It was totally organic. I tell you this not to pat myself on the back, but to let you know where I fit into the Reslifegeek.com thing. I am not as colorful as Ryan is. But I think I have something to offer. Keep an eye out here. Tell your friends. Get ready for the journey! Today I just finished our proposal for a panel at Comic-Con 2012. The ride is just getting started.
Oh – By The Way – if you want to post something here, Please let me know. Where this was Ryan’s blog, with me at the helm, I see this more as a “Super Friends” kinda thing. If you want to be featured in an episode, it doesn’t always have to be about Batman. Or Superman. Or Green Lantern. Until next time Res Life Geeks!
