Introduction: Derrek Ballard

My name is Derrek Ballard and I'm a Disney addict.  I'm turning 29 later this month but I'll always love Disneyland as if I were still a child.  Family is definitely the most important thing to me so being able to travel with them to Disneyland a few times a year has created a lot of memories.  I proposed to my wife at Disneyland last September and since then we have been three or four times.  My other interests include golfing and cooking (specifically sous vide).  I go golfing with my dad every week as a way to maintain a strong relationship with him and to relieve stress.

My wife & I at our favorite California Adventure show

My wife's name is Kayla, and she's definitely a go-getter.  She graduated from the University of Utah this year at 21 years old so I have a lot of catching up to do!  She's motivating me every chance she gets to get through school so I can find my dream job.  Right now I work at Verizon Wireless as a Solutions Specialist (a sales representative) in Salt Lake, but I would love to get into sports broadcasting or marketing.

We have a dog named Kenna that we rescued from the Humane Society late last year.  My wife told me she was going to just "go look at the dogs"...and you can tell how that went.  She's a great dog, though, and makes our lives a little brighter.  She's a chihuahua/miniature pincer mix so she essentially looks like a chihuahua on steroids.  We also have a hamster that my wife convinced me into letting her buy when we went to the pet store to get Kenna a toy (Do you sense a pattern in my wife's personality/our pet-buying habits?).

I hope to learn a lot from this class.  Kayla is a grammar/spelling/punctuation Nazi and my desired career requires accuracy in these areas, so I'm definitely focusing hard on this class.  I hope to graduate in a year so I have my degree before I'm 30.

Another picture of my wife and I