About Me
Well then, where to start with the story of Jamie Harrell… I guess there’s only one fitting place, and that’s at the beginning. So lets begin there.
I was born on January 26th, 1979, in Bremerton, Washington at Harrison Hospital. From the stories my mother tells me, it was a very late birth, and I should have been born about a month prior. However, that would only be a fitting beginning to what would become my rather stubborn life, but more on that later. I was the first child, and only son, of Edith Finney and Terry Harrell. My name was chosen (again, from the stories I’m told) because my father liked the way that the name Jamie looked on the television. Where would he see it? That’s right folks, Klinger, the dress wearing soldier off of the hit series M.A.S.H. was played by none other than Jamie Farr, and that’s where the first name came from (according to what I’ve been told). So yea, life progressed for just over 2 years when my sister, Kelly Harrell, was born on February 24th, 1981. This would be the second, and last child my parents would ever have. My sister became my best friend quickly, and became someone I could enjoy time playing with and getting in trouble with. But again, more on that later.
For the next bit, we skip ahead another 2 years, to 1983. This year (while still very early in my life) saw a major change in the family structure. Namely, my parents divorce. Do I blame them? No. Do I think it was the right thing? I’m not the one to judge either way, but they both seem to have done well for themselves after the fact, so in that regard, I can’t say it was a horrifying thing. At the time? Sure, things were weird, hell I had just “lost” my dad (though he remained in the same city, and we saw him regularly until the end of High School). But hey, life moves on, people grow from experiences, and we all made the best of the situation. It’s one of those things that simply happens, and you’ll never find me laying on some psychologists bench saying that “oh yes, it repressed part of my life, and I never could get over it”, hell, I was 4 years old at the time! If I had dropped my lollipop it would have most likely had a similar effect on me. So yea, it happened, and honestly I can’t say that I’m any worse for wear because of it.
Moving forward again, we jump to my first memories of school… Oye, now there’s something I don’t lament bringing up. For those who don’t know by now, I have red hair, and not just “red highlights”, no, it’s the full on “carrot top” Irishman red hair. Needless to say, kids can be cruel, and as I sit here thinking about it, most of the time they were early on. I’m very much not athletic either, so I was one of those “picked last for dodge ball” type kids as well. Yay! Double trouble. Oh well, I made friends who really mattered, and I built up relationships that would come back to show standing years later. Three in particular stick out in my mind… Ethan, Jason, and Sean. I had met these people early on in my schooling (elementary grade levels) and then due to a move by my family to another part of the same area (school district change however), I lost contact with them. Later on in years? I met up with each of them again, only to share in the good times, and laugh at the past. I wonder how many of those “jocks” ever had the same thing happen to them, or if everything was just a move from one “cool thing” to another. The world may never know.
So yea, I mentioned my family moved. In fact, we moved from Bremerton, to Silverdale. Now, for those not familiar with the area, that’s not exactly a “major move” by any means. We’re talking a 20 minute drive on the outside to get from one house to the other. But Silverdale was more centrally located to the places we were going for things, and it provided us with a chance “restart” our lives as it were. No old ties, no nothing, just a fresh start with all new people. And in fact, that’s exactly what it was. Sitting here now, I think about my first days going into a new school, and remembering my troubles with past schools only to think to myself “god, not another couple of years trying to figure out who I am in amongst this crowd of strangers”. But I went there, got the “MCHammer” baggy pants phase out of my system, and moved on to bigger and better things once Junior High hit. Ahh yes, 7th grade. No longer were you sitting in the same class the whole time, no no, you moved every single hour and you learned quickly that some teachers you loved, and some, you HATED with a passion. However, one thing that it did help me with was building up a friend base that would eventually stand the test of time itself.
Jet forward to High School. Ahhh yes, Olympic High School, home of the Trojans (and yes, we had many many condom jokes in my time there too). It was here that the friendships of the past really started to gel together and grow into something special that I still remember well to this day. I was active in the Band, Computer Sciences, and whatever other fields required my attention towards graduation. I would never say I was a stellar student, but I did what I needed to do, and I got it done. Of the things I loved, the music and computer parts of my high school classes stick out in my mind as my most favorite at the time. But now that I sit down to really think about it a lot, I actually think the class I enjoyed the most oddly enough was some of my English classes. Strange too, cause I’m one of those people who typically hates to sit down and be forced to write anything. But I was fortunate enough to get into 2 classes taught my Mr. Collins, who would forever change my outlook on writing. He taught us that writing wasn’t some chore we did simply for a grade assignment, but was something we could actually grow by doing. To that, I give him most of the credit for my published works on this website and elsewhere today.
But oh the friends… How could I ever forget our lunch time gang which kept growing as time went on, and only ever had a couple bad apples in amongst us. People like Nichole, Erin, Melissa, Ben, Ken, Jason, Nolan, Nick, Rob, Kory, Megan, and many many more. I didn’t quite realize it then, but these were the people who really helped me out, and I look back on and miss my friendships with. They made me laugh, they made me love, they made me cry, and I would give anything to do it all over again with each and every one of them. To each of you that I knew and friended in high school, I say… Thank you folks, and I miss you more than I would allow myself to realize for a long time.
As much as I’d love to continue, forward we must move, to College. OIT (in Klamath Falls, Oregon) was my choice for college going, and my degree of choice was Computer Software Engineering. This probably comes as no real surprise to a lot of people who have ever known me, but hey, it’s a passion I still maintain to this day. I got down to college, and within days, I started meeting people that would again, change my life as I knew it. My roommate for example, Chuck, was from Alaska and initially came to college with a Macintosh for his development. To say that a lot of people didn’t give him crap for that would be a complete lie, heck, I even took a jab or two there. But in the end? Chuck was and is a wonderful person.
Heck, over my time at OIT, I met a great many wonderful people that I feel at this point I need to give some credit to. Brenda, Nick, Travis, Ryan, Chuck, Chad, Doug and many more. You all helped me at various times with things that meant a lot more than I probably gave you credit for. And to each and every one of you, I thank you and wish you the best in your lives.
Then of course, there was the day I met Stephanie. My entire high school career, I never really had a girlfriend (not to say I wasn’t a victim of the infamous blind date, but yea…), and so I went to college expecting to simply do my thing, and leave. Boy did that change. We were playing a game out in the dark with a bunch of people from the Dorms, and I got left behind by the group I was with. So I simply started walking around, looking at the college at night, and then a group came up to me and offered to let me join them. So sure, I’ll join up, and off we went proceeding with the “game” (though, it was more simply walking around and talking). There was this girl in the group… Long brown hair, in these little itty bitty granny boots with heels, and wouldn’t you know it, she actually talked to me. “God she is beautiful” was one of those things that went barreling thru my head, and at the conclusion of the game, I left to go to my room thinking that entire night “wow, I really want to get to know her better.” Next day, there was a “coffee night” down in the commons, and wouldn’t you know it, there she was, sitting and talking with the people at the coffee counter. I came up, reintroduced myself, and sat down to chat with her. And chat we did, for quite a while, until they were about ready to start closing up shop. We left, and then went for a drive in her car around. Simply talking, nothing really more, but damn did it feel good just enjoying someone else’s company. I found out she was the same natural night owl I am, I found out we shared many of the same goals and ambitions in life, and low and behold, she was interesting and caring! I couldn’t believe it. The nights progressed, and we took walks out at night, simply talking, laying down on the high jump pit, getting rained on as the sprinklers for the field came on, and simply enjoying life. Then wouldn’t you know it, but she turned to me one day and asked me something I’ll never forget. “What’s going on between us?” You know, I still to this day don’t know a good way to answer that question, but I think my response was something along the lines of “You know, I’m not sure”… Yea, way to go Romeo there! Anyway, fortunately things actually DID work out, and we became a “couple”. Yup, I finally had a girlfriend, and wow was she something special. Even the scary things brought me a great sense of joy when it came to her… The FIRST day of college, she goes to toast a bagel for breakfast, and what does she do? Cuts her finger with the bagel knife she had just bought. Boy that should have been a sign of things to come (yup, NEVER give her a brand knew knife that hasn’t drawn blood. Cause she’ll cut either herself or someone around her by accident.). But yea, I was complete struck down by love. Something that maintains to this day…
After our second year of college, we moved out into a place of our own, and boy let me tell you this place was a place I think everyone has experienced at least once in their life. We took some pictures of the place as we were moving out, and let me tell you, that place remains the worst building I have ever called home. We think the house was built sometime around the turn of the century given some of the architecture inside the building. There were push-button light switches, a built-in curio for dishes/etc, a breakfast nook in both the dining room and the kitchen (though both had been stripped). The floors slanted down towards the center of the house, and guess what? That’s where the heater was! So ya, the house was cold most of the time, and we weathered a winter living there. But you know what? At the time we needed a place to live and it was available, so we made due. We had our very own thanksgiving and Christmas together in that house, and it brings back memories that somehow make the state of the house seem not all that important. But I guess that’s what living is all about, you remember the good times, forget the bad, and move on with your life towards a better and brighter future. We did finally get our of that house, and moved to another location in Klamath Falls where we would remain for duration of our college time. It was a quiet little space, nicely setup, and easy to call home.
After graduation from college, we both moved to Post Falls, Idaho, and moved into an apartment which was in the same complex as the one my sister lived in. For the first time in 5 years, I was going to live near my sister again! Boy was that different. My entire time in college, I made trips to Bremerton to visit family and what not, but rarely was my sister anywhere near. She lived in California during most of my time in college, and it was only just before graduation that she moved to Idaho. Stephanie and I decided to move up there as the economy looked good, and the cost of living was manageable even on a starting wage. So yea, we moved into the apartment, and started applying for jobs around the area… Well, the apartment was nice, but the jobs? Not so plentiful.
It was later that same year, after talking with Nonny & Bappa (Stephanie’s Grandparents), that we decided start our own business. And thus, BNC Computer Solutions was born. We were both computer engineers and had the papers to back us up, we figured it was a good plan at the time, and we did some advertising. Low and behold, within a very short while of our first ad being run, we got our first customer! Wow did that make us feel happy. Slowly, the business started getting more people, but it came into light that the business wasn’t growing enough to support us… Sad really, I still hold out hope of rebuilding it one day into something that can support everything we’d need. But at this time, it’s more of a side project, keeping the computers of those whom we know up and running.
This space in my life intentionally left blank, for reasons I can’t say right now, but eventually yes, I’ll fill this in.
On to my current life, I live with 5 wonderful cats (Bishop, Cleo, Katin, Tommy, and Gidget) who are a source of great joy in my life. I’ll sit down at night, watch a show on TV, or a movie on the DVD player, and inevitably, a cat will curl up in my lap for the duration. Let me tell you folks, that right there is a form of love you need to experience at least once in your life. It has the power to sweep away the worries of the day for me, and let me truly relax and unwind.
So if you’re still with me, there’s a pretty basic summary to all of this dribble that I’ve been spewing out in god knows how many words on this page… I am very much a person who is influenced by the people around him. The purpose for the place I am at a time has far less meaning to me as the people who I’m there sharing the experience with. As anti-social as I may seem at times, I am very much a person who needs that social interaction in order to function properly. I don’t make friends easily, but the ones I do make have a very deep seeded care that I hold for each and every one of them. The bits of my life that are spread thru these pages are something more than just the story of a man, they’re the story of a man and the people around him. To that end, they’re the story of a time and place. I hope you can one day be a part of it.
“I walk a lonely road, The only one that I have ever known.
Don’t know where it goes, But it’s home to me and I walk alone.” - Green Day, Boulevard Of Broken Dreams