"Not only is nice to be here, its nice to be anywhere..."

Hi all. It's Dave Snyder. It's at this point in life that I'm beginning to use Rodney Dangerfield's line, which goes something like…"Not only is nice to be here, its nice to be anywhere (and alive)."

My hat is off to Larry, Don and the rest of the reunion team for amazingly keeping the class of '65 spirit alive. Great job. I'm looking forward to seeing my classmates again.

Life's pretty intense but fun, most of the time. I've been married to Laurel for 21 years, have a 15 year old, computer game-loving, son Jason, a great kid who consistently achieves honor roll, and a 6 year old, athletic daughter, Chloe, who is currently running on the independent ticket for mayor of the town. They keep me going, which I attribute to why I still have relatively decent attention, adroitness, and attitude. My goal is to spend as much time with them as possible. Since they are young, I no doubt will be spending many more years working, which is fine. I've always had a long distance type of perspective (although a couple of times going the distance in the NY Marathon made me think twice about that perspective). Luckily, I invested my twenties and early thirties exploring a variety of opportunities and traveling. That was retirement.

My work life consists of two businesses: I've headed up the business development and account management side for an interactive multimedia communications firm for the last 8 years. We do the snazzy web, animation, e-communication and presentation work of all kinds for pharmaceuticals, medical device, financial and other corporations and agencies in the area. I enjoy the process of the "hunt" and building the relationship. They are a talented bunch of 'youngins' who win lots of awards. It's always interesting. I've also consulted non-profits about branding, grant development, and fund raising for the last 15 years. It's another amazingly competitive "marketplace".

Prior to that I teamed up for several years with a co-worker to develop and manage a media production center that became a revenue generating stream for the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey. Prior to that I worked as a producer/writer for media production companies in the area, wrote lots of scripts, proposals and pitches for projects in New York City, where I spent a good deal of time. I met my wife there, an actress for 13 years, definitely a tough gig in which she did well. She's now a public speaking coach who works with a variety of clients, but most often with a team of specialists who travel everywhere to train physician speakers to present to other physicians for pharmaceutical clients. My first job was as a Peace Corps volunteer for 2 years in the southlands of rural Venezuela. I lived on my motorcycle, traveled much of the country and South America, and loved sleeping in hammocks. I'm still in contact with a crew from the 23 of us, starting with 68, who ended up going the distance for 2 years.

My family enjoys traveling, biking, and swimming and for some strange reason, charades and pictionary. Go figure. I'm forever doing something to the house, or having someone do something to the house. I worry about things many of you have already gone through, like the cost of college for my kids, if I will have grand kids, if will they use me as a bowling bowl by the time I have them, if they'll learn how to throw a ball correctly, etc.