7-15-2008
The Latest Craze Family was started on June 5th, 1993 when Gary married the cutest, smartest, most wonderful and understanding lady in the world, Susan.
The Craze family expanded when Alyssa was born in October of 1997 and Shelby in April of 2000. See the latest pictures at: Alyssa Marie and Shelby Therese.
Susan is a Family Practice doctor and has her practice (Village Family Practice) with a group of partners here in Houston. Susan is a Chicago girl by birth and went to Rice University here in Houston for her undergrad and grad work, and later Family Practice Residency at the Baylor College of Medicine after a brief four-year return to Illinois for medical school. Many thanks to our good friend Terri Dougherty for putting the two of us together!
Gary worked at HP (formerly Compaq Computer Corp.) in Houston from 1988 to 2002. Gary now works for a software company, Allegro Development, that provides energy trading and risk management solutions to the energy industry.
In early '94, we bought our first house. It had lots of room and a swimming pool.
However, a lack of a backyard for the girls to play in and other considerations led to our decision in the beginning of 2002 to begin building our dream home. Click here to see the progress.
Gary went back for his MBA at the Executive MBA program at Texas A&M University and graduated in May 2002.
Gary’s hobby is aviation. He received his private pilot's license in May of '96 and currently holds an Instrument Pilot's license.
Click here to read all about Gary's flight training.
Although Gary put most of his other hobbies on the back burner, Gary also enjoys bass fishing and scuba diving. He has been diving for over 17 years and holds a Rescue Diver certification. He has been to Cozumel (more times than he can count), Belize, St. Thomas, St. Croix, Grand Cayman, Hawaii, Cabo San Lucas, St. Maarten as well as some great Texas diving off the coast at the Flower Gardens and rigs, in addition to some central Texas lakes like Travis and Canyon.
Working for Compaq has allowed Gary to travel to many destinations around the U.S. and World. Some international destinations he has been to include Japan, England, France, Germany, The Netherlands, Portugal, and Finland.
Last, the miscellaneous stuff: Though he doesn’t get out on the greens nearly as much as he'd like to, he does enjoy a good game of golf. If Gary had to eat only one kind of food for the rest of his life, it would be Tex-Mex, although chicken-fried steak is his all time favorite dish.
"As splendid and noble as barbecue and Tex-Mex are, both pale before the Great God Beef dish, chicken-fried steak. No single food better defines the Texas character; it has, in fact, become a kind of nutritive metaphor for the romanticized, prairie-hardened personality of Texas." -- Jerry Flemmons, Plowboys, Cowboys and Slanted Pigs