Eric R Chatham

« Eric Robert Chatham »
« Ói tírn óirch thán Huíl, fórechadh - dta í ber loírain »
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About Me

Handle: Treíkayan
Penname: F. Cheetham
("Cheetham," was the original surname of our family)
Born: October 13, 1973
Place: Wilmington NC
Birth town: Southport NC
Current Residence: Cleveland OH
Alma Mater: Maple Heights OH

Eyes/Hair: Brown
Height: 6'2"
Weight: 260#
Marital Status: Single
Ethnicity: Irish, Scottish, English, Scandanavian, Welsh and French Canadian

Favorite Albums: Chapter One 4-Him, Heaven's Bright Sun Iona, Clannad and U2
Favorite Female Artists: Enya, Máire Brennan and Stevie Nicks.
Favorite Male Artists: Howard Jones, Paul Simon and Billy Joel.
Favorite Books: The Lord of the Rings, The Silmarillion, Dune (series), Michael Ende's Die unendliche Geschichte.
Favorite Movies: Braveheart, Clue, The Lord of the Rings, Star Wars and Star Trek
Favorite Sitcom: NBC's Newsradio, Dead Like Me, Big Bang Theory
Favorite Actor: Harrison Ford
Favorite Actress: Catherine Zeta-Jones, Yvette Rachelle

"Set it and forget it!"
The ultimate goal to my job...

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My Name is Eric.

My name is Eric, and I currently live in Medina County, south of Cleveland OH. I’ve been a naturalized citizen of Ohio since 1977. I was born in Wilmington NC. I don’t remember living there though. I was probably too young to remember it. My Dad was in the Service so we were frequently moving. I’ve lived in various places since then, growing up most of my life in Ohio. I’ve lived in Chicago, and Wisconsin for a period of time. I am a graduate of Maple Heights High School in Maple Heights OH, class of 1992. For the duration of my High School years I was interested in Architecture and took several classes that would prepare me for the career, like Mr. Raiff’s Mechanical Drawing classes and Graphic Arts. However, as I graduated, I wasn’t sure that is what I wanted to do with my life. I was all ready to go to Kent State for the career, but backed out. I didn’t want to do Architecture.

As a family, we did various things together. Many of our cherished times as a family involved camping with the Maple Heights Campers Club and for my brothers and I, Cub Scouts and Boy Scouts. Also, my childhood street, Lewis Drive, was famous for its yearly block parties during the summer. At one of those block parties, I was exposed to D&D for the first time. And, there my imagination was conceived for sci/fi fantasy adventures, writing and the game itself.

I spent a good portion of my years after High School deciding on what I wanted to do for a career. My Dad, who had worked for IBM for years, was heavily into Electronics, HAM Radio, Heathkit and Computers. My younger brother also endeavored in the IT field as well. So, after re-evaluating my life, I decided to attend ITT Technical Institute to learn a career in Information Systems and Programming. I had been exposed to electronics, radios, and computers for most of my life. I really saw this as my decision to begin the field. On top of the imagination and affinity towards sci/fi fantasy literature, I was also excessively starting to write stories as well.

My Heathkit Alarm Clock from 13th Birthday.

In my youth, I was very selective with who my friends were. I was never popular in School nor am I to this day. Being selective with my friends never made me stand out and my friends tended to be “outcast” type of friends, kids who were always bullied or picked on. I had three cool friends growing up: Rich Trigg, Chris Wood and Dave Trigg. We were generally “keep to yourself” type of people and never part of the “in” crowd. This part of life has carried into the present as I am still very selective with who I hang out with or a friend to. I believe my love life is the same way; the woman I settle down with must be compatible on every layer. With the divorce rate skyrocketing, I have made it my goal to make sure I find the right one FIRST before deciding on marriage. She has not come into my life yet. I am good friends though with some women as well

Dave Trigg, Rich Trigg, Chris Wood and Eric Chatham – Maple Heights OH, 1991.

New Year’s Eve at my place 2010. Amy Waters, Crystal Bogdan and Jack.

Playing Lord of the Rings Monopoly at my place: Adam Jones, Linda Huvalchik and John Waters

In between the time I decided to go to ITT Tech and to present day, I was employed at Ponderosa Steakhouse in Brunswick OH. For 7 years, I was with them. I began there as a simple Dishwasher and moved up the ranks beyond IST and RTC to Shift Coordinator. Befriending many of the managers and company associates, it really felt like home for me. Ponderosa was the longest job I've held (14 Feb 1994 - 26 May 2002), so in a way, it's like I'm still apart of Ponderosa wherever I go. The Chronicles of Tristan: A Revelation is dedicated to the "hardworking crew of #629 Ponderosa, Brunswick, Ohio." Although, most unfortunate and most recently, the Ponderosa building in Brunswick has been condemned. What remains of the ruins are the tiled floors and the markings where the walls used to stand.

Brunswick Ponderosa, as it stood in 1996.

I graduated ITT Tech in June 2006. That year, I was holding three jobs and finishing school. I was placed as a Help Desk Technician at LifeBanc by ITT Tech in January, working at Tony Roma’s (since May 2005) and that same year in July I joined Broadvox, where I currently work as a Systems Administrator today. That year was like a convergence of my life for me where I moved away from Restaurant type work and into my career.

I currently work at Broadvox which is in the Halle Building of Downtown Cleveland. It’s the same Building seen in the Closing Credits of the Drew Carey Show, and the same fictional location of Winfred/Lauder.

Innerbelt Bridge to Downtown Cleveland, I-90 Eastbound

Broadvox has taken up much of life since 2008 where my responsibilities as System Administrator climaxed. From managing physical systems (Windows and Linux environmants), virtual systems through ESX/ESXi (VMWare environment), programming, scripting and project management, my time has been devoted to Information Systems. In early 2011, Broadvox merged with Cypress Communications of Atlanta GA. Life is busier now. Several things, including my hobbies, friends and dating have been impacted by this. Lots of reading Tech manuals, working on projects from home and even getting calls from the NOC on the weekend pretty much have taken over. To put in another way: “Kernel Panic.”

My Desk

My Desktop

Kernel Panic!

Life is still good though!!! I still have good friends, a good family, read leisurely on occasion, write stories when I have the time, and try to enjoy life as much as I can. You only have ONE to live. I am also blessed to have a “family” away from home too while working at Broadvox. These are some of my ongoing projects with work.

Byte Calculator

C# - DSTool Active Directory Tool

Microsoft Exchange, Namespace sharing

Debugging Code

For those who know me, I’m a Honda guy, so I recently just bought a 2010 Honda Fit, 5 speed manual transmission. It gets me about 34 mpg and with gas prices going up more and more, sometimes it’s still easier to carpool.

2010, Honda Fit

On September 13, 1992, I gave my heart to Jesus Christ at the Gospel House Church in Bedford OH, and on February 7, 1993 I testified to the internal transformation through Baptism. Since then, it's been a trying but persevering time, and it has been the first time Someone has done something special for me. Jesus died on the Cross for our sins. By association, we are guilty of First Degree Murder when Jesus died, but He died to save us from the "Fiery Pit," where the fire is never quenched. There have been times where I've doubted God, but He truly does listen to us! To this day, my favorite holiday is Good Friday and Resurrection Sunday. Sometimes we must believe before we can see.

I am currently going back to my writings and working on the “Wind of Change” segments of the Book of the Morning, a period of time before the Black Sleep and where the Northern Elves are wiped out by the wrath of Princess Iluíra. The official beginning of this cataclysmic time of the Black Sleep begins with Queen Saskia being imprisoned in the Mirror Sea by Princess Iluíra. It ends 7 years later with the cleansing of Óurias Noíragga and the omnivivacious light of the Queen of Arden.

For the past couple years, I’ve been dieting and exercising more. I’ve cut out Fast Food, Pizza, Soda, all sorts of greasy foods, processed foods and foods with high cholesterol and fat. Since November 2009 when I started the diet, I’ve lost over 100#. In 2009, I weighed in at almost 500#. I have a Bowflex and use it 3x a week. I jog at least 4 times a week after work. My blood pressure has come never been a problem, but my cholesterol is improving. I hope to stick this regiment for a long time.

Nautilus, Bowflex Xtreme 2 SE

Through my Dad's side of the family, which would've been Cheetham before the 1900's, my great-grandfather lived in Nottingham, England near Sherwood Forest. Family anecdotes insist that my great-Grandfather actually played in Sherwood Forest as a boy. Other family anecdotes survive from the time when Robert, the Bruce fought to free Scotland at the Battle of Bannockburn in 1304. One of the Scottish Clans which came down out of the Scottish Highlands was Clan Gillicattan, the "clan of the cat." This was one of the many Highland clans that hailed to Robert, the Bruce during his battle to free Scotland. Legend has it that this is the origin of the names, Cheetham and Chatham. According to a family historian, our roots originate in Clan Gillicattan. The name was later anglicized and became Cheetham, possibly to conceal the family identity of being Scots. Another possibility is that when the Scottish Highlands were cleared out in the 1800's, the family surname was anglicized to Cheetham.

Lastly, I have an ancestor who fought the Spanish Armada in 1588 with the British. His name was John Shrive (or, "Sheriff" possibly) and he was captain of the Cygnet, an English fire ship. As for my mother's side, I'm afraid not too much is known, but it is fact that her national origins are Irish.

Currently, we have a few family historians who would appreciate any information regarding the family. If anyone reading this site has any information regarding Family Anecdotes or Information for Taylor, Vincent (hard names to trace unfortunately), Shrive, or Cheetham, please send an e-mail to the appropriate link. The Taylor's possibly immigrated to the Cleveland, Ohio area in the late 1800's from Co. Dublin, Eire. The Vincents immigrated to Cleveland from Montreal, Quebec. The Shrives came over from England, settled in Marlborough, New York (then Cleveland), and the Chatham's came to Cleveland, Ohio from England in the late 1800's.

"Baen nhu osha, nharcíl pharagnain ohsa lá fhaaluír gra an eggoínaid, taebí aluín loád oleagh, í cHeam mharg inghaid go pleficadh oshan. I treffae lím olgcash bhuíl an go nuiman ber oshann - go líam Iósamh da Bhíbeseàdh, Hríaddar í Failte."

Front Left, Around Back to Front Right:
Mary Chatham (cousin), Eric Chatham (me), Daniel Chatham (cousin)
Kim Kukoleck (uncle), Diana Chatham (aunt), Gregory Chatham (uncle), Linda Kukoleck (aunt), Mollie Chatham (mom).

My two brothers: Wayne and Kevin.

My cousin and Me

Left to Right: Daniel Chatham and Eric Chatham.

§ Thank you for not nicking my material §