Two years ago, I opened my third restaurant (Spruce Pond Creamery). We are making organic wood oven pizza (called Franklin Flatbreads), calzones, soups, specialty pastas and homemade ice cream. This year for the sixth time, I won best homemade ice cream in Rhode Island, where I have two stores.

Before opening my own business, I was fortunate enough to be apart of a startup company in the late '7Os. The company was a designer, developer and an importer of athletic footwear from Asia. I was in charge of the financial and administrative operations of the company, which started with three employees and by the time I left in 1985 was well over 125 employees on three continents. I was also responsible for overseas financial activities, which meant that I was in Asia, and Europe six or seven times a year. While this sounds glamorous, the long trips and the time away from home began to wear, even for a bachelor.

In the middle '70s, I worked developing a Health Systems Agency for Southeastern Massachusetts, Cape Cod and the Islands. Health Systems Agency's were quasi-public, nonprofit corporations designed to set up an interaction between consumers and health professionals. It was the job of these HSA's to complete an inventory of all hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and outreach facilities, etc. in their area and to try and avoid duplication of services. The salary wasn't great but I had the opportunity to contribute to a worthwhile endeavor. Especially after avoiding Vietnam by luckily getting number 276 in the draft lottery. The draft board had been watching me closely especially after I didn't sign up for the draft when I was 18. It was my first act of civil disobedience.

From 1970 to 1975, I spent most of my time on the road traveling through the United States, Europe and Asia only coming home long enough to work for a few months in order to be able to leave again. I went to many beautiful places and met some incredible people. I also went to a few really ugly places but even those had some redeeming quality.

The Sixties after graduation from high school were spent at Northeastern University. I graduated with a degree in finance and accounting. As I'm sure as it was with many of us, it was during this period of the '60s, we came to look at the world with different eyes. It was a time of great awakening as the world was changing around us and we began to change with it.

It may sound trite, but I've always believed in that bumper sticker think globally act locally. I am a member of the Finance Committee for the town of Sharon up as well as the Capital Outlay Committee. While the town has changed considerably, it is still basically the town that many of you left so many years ago.

So I guess I could sum everything up by saying; the 6O's were Experimentation, the 7O's, Exploration, the 8O's, Accumulation, the 9O's, Domestication and the Millennium, well who knows? But as Spock said: "May we all live long and prosper ."