Chapter 1: My Parents and Me
Overview of me. Legally my name is David Michael Janisse. I have always preferred being called Dave. I found David too formal and hated being called Davey. I'll explain later, but at 18 I found out that I have a half-brother named David so if you call me anything but Dave, I will assume you are talking to someone else. I am 5' 10" and usually weigh around 170 pounds. Before ALS forced me to retire early, I was Director of Incentive Advertising for GMC and Buick, North America at Leo Burnett. I loved my career.
My biggest passions in life are learning, music, concerts, traveling, helping others, science, and challenging myself to grow. I often combined these passions. For example, traveling to concerts was something I did quite frequently. I loved driving convertibles, relaxing in hammocks, hanging out with my dogs, learning how things worked, and fixing things. I created hockey and volleyball groups that were very special; we even held our own tournaments and events. I enjoyed so much great media and was surrounded by so many great movies, TV shows, music videos, video games, and books that heavily influenced my life. I have been in the basement of Alcatraz, SCUBA diving with sharks, and skydiving, but none of these were part of my several close calls with death or other super weird things that happened to me. During my travels I learned so much, especially about the culture of fear. I guess science, education and traveling were very influential in shaping my spiritual views, or lack thereof. A motto of mine has been 'if I think next year what I think today, I haven't challenged myself to grow. '
I earned a Master of Business Administration degree from Walsh College at 29. I paid off my house and became totally debt free at 42. I was diagnosed with ALS at 44. After 40 years of figuring myself out, I became totally comfortable with who I am and reached true happiness in life. We'll talk about all this and more. Let's start with a few of my favorite things.
