I grew up in a Navy family, and like most service families, we traveled a lot and moved a lot. I grew up on both coasts and in the suburbs of Washington, D.C., in Rockville, Maryland, and have had a great time doing it.
I flew fighters for the Navy in San Diego for three years, went and did my post-graduate education, and then I was a test pilot in Patuxent River, Maryland, for a few years. I was back in the fleet in the Navy when I was selected to come back here to NASA to become an astronaut.
I moved to Seattle when I was two or three years old. Had my early education there, and would spend summers on the farm in Maryland. Then I went to boarding school in New Hampshire, to St. Paul's School. From there, I moved to London.
I went to high school in Ellicott City, Maryland, and I felt pretty ambivalent about the whole thing. It just took time away from my doing things on the Internet - like creating clans in Quake II or starting a Web design nonprofit. In school, I was just a kid. Online, I had authority.
Now, a recent study from cardiologists at the University of Maryland, has shown that laughter may have a beneficial effect on the heart.
Many counties in Maryland are above the average unemployment rate for both Maryland and the United States. We need representation in Congress who will make creating jobs the No. 1 priority so the people of Maryland can get back to work.
Maryland needs someone in Congress who will fight to create jobs, stop out-of-control government spending and defend small businesses.
I went to Goucher College in Maryland for the best possible reasons - to learn - but then I dropped out at 19 for the best possible reasons - to become a writer.
President Clinton, I sang at his post-inauguration party out in Maryland.
I grew up in Maryland on the East Coast - you know, close to D.C. but sort of in the suburban, rural area - and Nashville felt very, very homey to me.
