 About me, Carl Strohmeyer of Grants Pass Oregon
*My current occupation at American Aquarium Products. |
|
About me, Carl Strohmeyer of Grants Pass Oregon
*My current occupation at American Aquarium Products. |
Spouse: Jodie (Joanne Middleton, Bishop Amat class of 1982)  For More Grants Pass Information, events, pictures, geography and morePlease click here (Updated 8-25-08) The above picture is the Grants Pass street display for Christmas (2007) on 6th St. The pictures below (reading left to right, top to bottom) are from the Boatnik Festival, Memorial Weekend 2008 Grants Pass Oregon. Danielle and Timothy were with Wayne Owen Karate in the parade. The third is me is the family (plus a friend of Michelle’s; Katie) at Artist Point in the Grand Canyon of the Yellowstone (August 2008). The forth is from a camping trip in the summer of 2008 by a Geyser in the Fountain Paint Pots area of Yellowstone The fifth is from the Winter 2008 with Jodie, Danielle and Timothy waiting for the School bus. The sixth is my son Timothy and his NEW K-nex which he got for his 10th B-Day and he loves very much. The sixth is Michelle with her 8th Grade Graduation Certificate and other awards. The seventh is Danielle in front of Ocean World from her 5th grade graduation field trip. (Click Pictures below to enlarge)        There are MORE Grants Pass, Oregon Boatnik Pictures at Grants Pass Information, pictures & more including a video. I also have a new pictures page (that will be added to) with MANY more pictures from vacations and more: My Pictures    I Live in Southern Oregon, and have been in the Aquarium and Pet related business since 1977. I owned a Pet store and aquarium maintenance and design business in the Los Angeles area from 1978 until 2002 when we move here. I designed some of my own equipment such as the 15 watt UV Sterilizer and Medicated Wonder Shells I sell here. I have done contract maintenance for Disney, The Bahooka Restaurant (over 100 aquariums, mostly larger than 100 gallons), Coaster Co. (the largest furniture importer in North America, also based in the Los Angeles area), and many more. I also have made great business contacts over the years (especially in Asia) to purchase my products at great prices.  I went to high school at Los Altos High in Hacienda Heights, CA. and College at Cal Poly University, Pomona.I was in the class of 1977 at Los Altos High School (Hacienda Heights). I went to Hillgrove Elementary (which I hated my years there due to horrible teacher I had for 4th and 6th grade and affected me the rest of my school years), and Orange Grove Jr. High. I have owned aquariums since I was 9 years old (1968), and at one time had a room with nothing but aquariums on racks two aquariums high, in addition to this I had literally 100s of aquariums in my care in my maintenance business as well. In 1989 following a divorce from Tris and the sale of my first LFS (I still had my maintenance business and as well, my brother in law Gregg continued with me and we are still friends to this day and he owns my old service business to this day), I started training for a career that was my other passion (besides aquatics) and that was flying. I did well mostly due to management skills which I applied to cockpit management (at least my examiners and instructors told me this about my abilities, despite what rumors in Grants Pass say about these abilities). I got as far as my Multi-Engine license ($35,000 later) and was working on my commercial certificate when the loss of income due to my canceling my largest account due to sexual comments directed at my employees coupled with my first child being born with neural-sensory dysfunction (this began a very difficult slide down hill for my wife with more problems to come that so many did not see) forced me to drop out of flight school to take care of my children and spouse. I still miss flying sooo much. We moved to So. Oregon to be near my sister Jan (who also graduated from Los Altos High, Hacienda Heights; class of 1974) and to escape bad influences that took advantage of Jodie’s Mental and Postpartum depression to steal and incur $80,000 (of which we still owe $30,000 of this as the sale of our LA home could not pay off all this debt and I did not declare bankruptcy so as to protect my credit and other personal reasons), and for more help with our special needs children, myself and wife. What was so sad is that I said little (and still do) as to how much time I generally have to invest in taking care of my family as my wife was/is simply not able to (her family over time even realized this), yet others especially at our old Church choose to not look below the surface as I never said a peep as to Jodie’s difficulties and constantly “picked up the pieces” so as to not drag her name through the gutter, they choose only to listen to untruths and half-truths that I did not do enough despite the fact that I fed, bought groceries, did ALL medical care of Timothy and in general performed 75% of most home care of my family all the while working long hours including recycling on the side to help pay for the constant bills that she and the bad influence ran up (so as to appease her depression). In most cases any other man would have taken the kids and left (of which I sought legal help that showed I could gain full custody), but this was and is not good enough for others that stood in judgment of me. My son was very sick (Viral Meningitis, gastro-intestinal problems and more), now he has autism (which has caused us much rejection, even from our previous Church in West Covina, CA), and my daughter Michelle still suffers from depression, much due to what happened in LA (she is improving). Jan has been a blessing beyond words in helping them and us including my wife Jodie who is also doing much better at coping with life and her family has also aided in this recovery as well. Despite the ongoing difficulties, another light here in Grants Pass (besides my sister) has been my Church: Bethany Presbyterian , they have prayed, mentored, and helped with our children (especially Michelle).  I went to work at Cary’s of Oregon English toffee and gift baskets as the production manager for about 3 years before re-starting my aquarium business on the side which I now run full time after realizing that one of the investors at the Candy Factory had absolutely no clue how to manage a business, not to mention realizing this was the most soul sucking job I ever had, especially since I REALLY cared about making a difference there and realized I could not as this guys lack of integrity made this impossible for me and others who also cared before they too were jaded by his and others incompetence. It is hard to work in an environment where your best talents are cut down while upper management is clueless as to the effects of their actions.My wife Jodie (Joanne) currently works at Bi-Mart in Grants Pass (a Northwest only Department store similar to Wal-Mart, but much smaller). It has been difficult making a living here; I set up this internet business based on my experience in the Aquarium maintenance& design business (as well as all the research and tests I performed over the years) with some initial help from Rachel Owen (before she got sucked into the rumor mill here), and now even MUCH more help from Tommy Butler (who has helped me both professionally and with just being there as a friend), although though it is growing, the income is still somewhat marginal at less than $500 per month (partly because I sell products I know work, not just what have great mark ups). Selling my products and experience here in this community and on the internet does not seem to count as much and is not nearly as easy as in LA where customer service, product knowledge, and research counted for something. But I am still trying by writing articles and blogs (although this has been a very depressing and thankless task considering the 100s of hours spent in real research and regular updates, not to mention the hours each day spent answering others aquatic questions with little to show for this time spent). As of May 2008 business is finally showing some signs true profitability (although sales are up, the bottom line needs much more of my attention and I hope to have up by Sept. of ‘08), in part due to increased search engine visibility for both products and information sites, but also due to my spending less time where I am not wanted in certain forums (including locally) and more time in forums (such as Everything Aquatic) and simply blogging a web site design improvements. We are also concentrating on more profitable items such as our UV Sterilizer and replacement bulb lines, although some aquarium lights such as T2s are slow to catch on in the anecdotal aquarium hobby even though they are popular elsewhere. Hopefully as I will be better able to utilize my time better so as to “squeeze” some profit out of the higher gross sales numbers (which as noted earlier I am cutting back on forums, and trying to answer emails and phone calls more efficiently without being rude). I currently only have a few aquariums (as compared to the literally hundreds under my care and the room of personal aquariums at my previous residence), however if space can be made (such as replacing my 60 year old rotting shed), and more income/time becomes available, I will add more (first I need to get out from this upside down mortgage). Before I set up more aquariums, I need to improve our also 60 year old 900 sq. ft. “fire trap” home (no insulation, faulty wiring, and more), not to mention the needs of my 3 special needs children. I also have set up a few local ponds for friends here in Grants Pass. My health has also been an issue, as I have a recurring staph infection that has seemed to cause problems in my Heart and other areas. I am trying organic treatments since antibiotics are resistant. This has also caused a lot of weight loss as I am now under 120 lbs (I am 5’8”). Early in May 2008, the infection returned resulting in Sepsis and my having many problems including more loss of hearing and numbness in my left side, after a short stint in the ER (by ambulance). Late July saw another downturn, but I am using an organic treatment (Circulegs) which seems to be helping I do however find time (and money) to go camping, often with the Holy Rovers of Bethany Presbyterian. Besides my perennial favorites such as Yellowstone and much of Utah, I enjoy several spots here in Oregon including: Crater Lake, Newberry Volcanic Park, Wallowa State Park (one of my favorites), Diamond Lake, Indian Mary and Gold Beach, just to name a few. Timothy still struggles in school especially socially however he takes great joy in such thing as his Knex of which he is quite the “Master Builder”. Danielle is Dyslexic and has trouble learning, however she is very loving and charismatic, and often senses when others such as myself or Timmy are depressed and is quite the loving comforter. Michelle is still often very withdrawn and will not communicate fully what is wrong or what happened in LA (although she has mentioned about some things the Monster who harmed her stated), however her artistic talents are awesome and hopefully this will be her outlet and strength. Me and Jodie are doing much better (on a personal level) as well, in part with real loving help (not the misguided or downright Evil help that would not look below the surface or was more interested in stealing $80,000 from us). In part by learning to accept each others faults and realize each others strengths as well. Of coarse family members have also played a role in helping as well, including Judy (Jodie’s sister) who has been a blessing financially and also been much more supportive of me and Jodie and realized how best to respond to Jodie and be a caring sister (not that she did not care before). And finally being in a truly supportive environment has helped much as well where me, Jodie and the kids have received truly loving and understanding help, not surface judgments or Judas like impersonators. I now have my friend and an honest employee; Steven Wright working with me. Steven is now helping me with shipping and blogging. Misti also has worked with me, however she is had other issues come up. Tommy Butler deserves the credit for our more professional logo and many professional suggestions and tech advice (he is still currently working on improvements even though he already has a VERY business work schedule). My thanks to Paul of Globel of UK (home of Man and Mollusc, Free Counter uk, and Webpage Graphical Hit counter) for his tutorials and help. I am getting better at Web Site Optimization (from staying up late reading and going to SEO groups on the Web and asking and learning) and have achieved front page on many search engines for my keywords (who knows, maybe I will be able to make enough money to have outside hobbies again like skiing, fishing (I would love to go Salmon fishing in Alaska), watching sports such as NCAA football, & maybe someday flying again.  For the Los Altos 1977 Class Reunion (Class of ’77; Saturday, October 13, 2007)Powered by:  For Interesting Animal (Aquatic too) Videos; Click Here! VACATION VIDEO from August 2007 LUCIA MICARELLI - STYX; FOOLING YOURSELF JOURNEY; OPEN ARMS (New 2008) For the Los Altos Band playing Conquistadores click here  
| Pet_Videos | Music | Music-2 | Grants-Pass | My-Pictures | | Return Home | Downloads | Shipping and Return Policy | Contact Us | Great Links | Aquarium_Information | |
||