Douglas Woolley
Douglas Woolley
About Douglas Ernest Woolley
I was born in New York and had a wonderful childhood living in Croton-on-Hudson. After my father took early retirement when I was 10, my family moved to southern Florida where I excelled in sports and academics. In middle school, I was named as the "Most Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year." As a senior in high school, I was ranked number one in Florida in both mathematics and computer programming. It was during these teenage years that I entered into a personal relationship with Jesus and started to grow spiritually. Since then, I have grown exponentially in the Lord and in the Word of God (the Bible). I graduated from University of South Florida with an Engineering degree in Computer Science, and now work for Verizon as a Systems Engineer. In the new field of Cloud Computing, I recently achieved two associate level certifications in Amazon Web Services (AWS). I met my wife Marsha at the end of 1998, and we've been married since June 3, 2000.
You may skip to a particular section on this page by selecting a sub-title:
- Personality:
- Birth Date & Place:
- Early Childhood:
- Middle School Years:
- High School Years:
- College Years:
- Working Years:
- Married Years:
Personality: Some words that would describe my personality are happy, joyful, content, confident, god-fearing, devoted, generous, frugal, introvert, people-person, clean, thinker, logical, analytical, problem-solver, studious, precise, tough-minded, tolerant, goal-oriented, focused, organized, determined, competitive, energetic, dependable, reliable, consistent, responsible, and stable.
Almost always I have a smile on my face, reflecting the joy and happiness that is in my heart and my contentment with life. I rely upon God who directs and inspires my life, and thus I exude confidence. I am devoted to God and to those that He has entrusted to my care. Realizing that God has given so much to me, I am generous with my finances, talents, and time. Although I do enjoy nice things, I am also frugal at times to be able to afford nice things and to be generous. Although by nature I am more of an introvert, treasuring my alone time, I often get motivated to be with people to get to know them or care for them or teach them or to exchange life with them. As a “people-person,” I enjoy meeting new people and re-establishing contact with friends. Unless I am leading a group discussion (which I enjoy), I prefer one-on-one interaction more than participating within a group of people. My environment and my appearance are clean, and I dress appropriately and nicely for gatherings, yet I am not particular about my clothing—I don’t need a new outfit every month, just nice clean clothes that fit.
Having been “gifted” with a high IQ, I often think much about topics of interest to me. Having excelled in mathematics and computers in high school and college, I often think very logically and analytically in relation to daily life as well. I enjoy solving problems when they arise. I have been very studious throughout my school years, and I continue to be ever-learning and studious in my religious studies, work, and extra-curricula projects. I am very precise in my calculations, thoughts, and words and base my conclusions on solid facts, observations, and research of reliable sources. As a result, I often become tough-minded in my views, having become certain about them after much thought and research. Over the years I have learned to be more tolerant of those that have different opinions, yet I am always open to a friendly discussion or debate.
I am very goal-oriented and focused on accomplishing my goals on a daily basis. Coupled with good organizing and planning skills, I have determination to accomplish the tasks on my list and to reach my long-range goals, derived from my perceived purpose in life. I have been competitive in the past in both school and sports, and I still exhibit competitiveness but more in a fashion of doing the best that I can, while encouraging others who are in the “same race.” I exude energy to work toward my goals, and I take pleasure in every small task that gets accomplished. I am very dependable and reliable in my relationships and in the tasks with which I am entrusted. In fact, at my job I have been consistently on-time and available for work everyday (without needing a “sick day”) for years. (Perhaps I was late once by a few minutes for a good reason). Regardless of the events going on in my life, I am responsible to fulfill the obligations that are required of me, and thus I am very stable.
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| Birth Date:
October 16, 1966 at 5:56 p.m. Birth Place:
Hospital: Parents:
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Early Childhood: I grew-up in the village of Croton-on-Hudson, NY in a nice two story house with a large pool, both of which my father physically built with some help. The home resided on a quarter acre of property with part of it in the woods that I enjoyed exploring. As I graduated from Carrie E. Tompkins Elementary School in June of 1977, my father took early retirement and moved our family to Coral Springs, Florida (just north of Fort Lauderdale). My parents loved each other and their 3 children. Some of my favorite memories as a child with my family include: going to Playland amusement park (and other amusement parks), going to the beach, going to Tante Hilde's Foodstand that had a huge pool owned by her relatives, filling our own pool with water in the summer and then swimming in it, building a club house in our backyard, exploring the woods in our rural area, celebrating Christmas, playing in the snow, having birthday parties, playing baseball, and playing with my friends. As time permitted, I also enjoyed watching my favorite TV shows. What a wonderful childhood!
I received my first
Polaroid instant camera for my 7th birthday!
I was excited to take some pictures:
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My loving parents:
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My mom putting
together a jigsaw puzzle |
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My Aunt Dotty (my
father's sister) and |
The Woolley kids
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Christmas Eve
was the most special time of the year for us!
For as long as I can remember, our family always
celebrated Christmas on Christmas Eve.
We usually had our favorite relatives over for this
joyous event: Uncle Charlie, Aunt Hilde, and Cousin
Rick. For most of our early childhood, we
actually thought that it was Santa Claus that
brought us many of the gifts, and we always went
searching for him and his sleigh in my father's car.
When we returned home, we realized that he had come
and we somehow missed him in our pursuit. Although
we did attend Sunday School regularly, looking back
I wish we would have incorporated more of the true
Christmas story into our family traditions. I do
value the effort that our relatives made to join us
for Christmas Eve celebration and the opening of the
gifts. These are values and traditions that we still
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Chris Williams
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Christmas Eve of
1979 with the family: |
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You may view pictures of my hometown of Croton-on-Hudson, NY that I recently visited.
Although there were many advantages to living in Florida, at 11 years of age I missed my friends and my club house that I had built in my backyard woods in New York. To overcome this disappointment, I invited my best friend, Chris, to come and visit me at my new home in Coral Springs for a few days. Approximately a year later, I traveled to New York to visit my friends and see my old stomping grounds. After that, I realized that I had it even better in Coral Springs and I no longer desired to visit Croton-on-Hudson, at least not until I graduated from High School.
Middle School Years:
Attended Coral Springs Middle School for 6th, 7th, and 8th
grades.
The weather in Florida was great! We could play sports
outside all year! First, I joined the Cross Country
team where the guys ran 1¼ miles at our meets. I learned to play soccer which was
extremely popular in the city and in our school. I
also played baseball in the city league and ran track at
school. You may view some
pictures of my first soccer and baseball teams in 1977.
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One of my best
athletic accomplishments was running
the Orange Bowl Marathon (26.2 miles) non-stop at
the
age of 12. I finished the race in 3 hours
57 minutes (averaging 9 minutes/mile). Due to the
massive number of people running, it took over 1
minute just to get to the starting line after the
gun went off. My friend Greg Dudra ran with me
during the whole race. He was a year older than me
and we tied at the finish line. Overall, I placed
582nd out of 1264 finishers. Hours
later I played a full soccer game. At the age of 14, I ran the Orange Bowl Marathon in 3 hours 39 minutes. |
At the end of my 6th grade school year, there was an awards ceremony for those that had participated on the school athletic teams. A male and female eight grader would be named as the "Most Outstanding Athlete of the Year." Steve Eveker was the faster long-distance runner in the school and played soccer and volleyball. He received this prestigious award. He was my hero. I wanted to be like him, so I spent time with him and learned from him. Two years later, I was the fastest long-distance runner in the school and played well in volleyball and softball. A dream and a prayer came true for me as I was named the "Most Outstanding Male Athlete of the Year" on June 3, 1980. Out of gratitude for this answered prayer, I committed my life to Jesus Christ on that same night. By attending weekly confirmation classes during the previous year at Lutheran Ministry in Christ, in Coral Springs, Florida, my faith and knowledge of God grew, and I realized that He would forgive me of my sins as a result of trusting that Jesus (the Son of God) died on the cross for my sins. I continued to grow in my relationship with Christ and attend church regularly.
I became fascinated with collecting coins as a hobby. When I made a few extra dollars, I would visit the coin store and view the rare pennies and nickels for hours before I would make a purchase. Pressing a button would cause the glass case machine to display a new set of coins for viewing. Other times I would obtain hundreds of pennies from the bank and search for a few rare "wheat pennies" (prior to 1959) that have wheat stalks on the back instead of the Lincoln Memorial. The most desired penny of all time is the 1909 S VDB. The "S" means that it was minted in San Francisco, and VDB is the initials of the architect (Victor D. Brenner) who designed the new Lincoln penny in 1909 and appears on the back side of some of these pennies in that year only. In excellent condition, this rare penny is worth over $400. I never did own one, but I had fun collecting the less expensive rare coins and the not-so-rare coins.
Academically, I had done well in school and was an above average student that excelled in mathematics and struggled a little in English and History courses. I was motivated to do my homework on my own and enjoyed doing well in school and developed a passion for math and eventually computer programming. After completing a math course in Algebra in 8th grade, I decided to go to summer school at Coral Springs High School and take Geometry so that I would be ahead when my regular freshman year began in the fall.
High School Years: Coral
Springs High School, 9th - 12th grades, (1980 - 1984).
In 9th grade, I was taking Advanced Algebra II (the only 9th
grader to do so). One day in-between classes, I heard
my math teacher (Mr. Bacon) talking to a school
administrator/former math teacher (Mr. Larry Insul)
about a student that Larry had 10 years prior to this.
This student had worked-out every math problem on a
difficult yearly nationwide math contest since the contest
started in 1950. As a result, he placed #1 in Florida
as a senior in High School on this nationwide math contest.
I thought, "wow! I'm a freshman now and have 3 years until I
am a senior. Maybe if I work out all these nationwide
math contest problems (and I had 10 extra years of problems
to workout), perhaps I could be #1 in Florida on this
nationwide math contest by my senior year." I had a
vision--to be #1 in math in Florida. I had a plan--to
work out all these difficult math problems on these contests
and learn from them. I now had to take action--and
actually work on solving these problems and learning from
them. Over the years I have realized the truth of this
formula:
A VISION - A PLAN - ACTION = DREAM, but
A VISION + A PLAN + ACTION = REALITY
There are many dreamers that have a vision but don't have a plan, or if they do they don't take action to make their vision become a reality. I thank the Lord--with His help, I worked hard for the next three years while in high school and solved every algebra, geometry, algebra II, trigonometry, and calculus problem that had ever been given on a nationwide or statewide math contest. As a result, I had placed first in the state of Florida on the nationwide math contest (1984 American High School Mathematics Examination). Additionally, I was also ranked #1 in the state in computer science.
The state of Florida has had a very strong high school mathematics program since the late 1970s. I am thankful for dedicated support of many wonderful teachers that established and grew the Florida Mu Alpha Theta organization! Ms. Barbara Nunn and Mrs. Fran McCreary were two of those teachers who served as my coaches during my years at Coral Springs High School.
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On the state and national level, our school had one of the strongest programs for math, computers, and science. The teachers were dedicated and spent extra time outside of their paid-work schedule to help the students to excel in these areas and to compete with other schools. Math and Computer competitions were my all-time favorite activities during high school, though I also enjoyed running on the Cross Country team every year and playing soccer in the city league. |
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In the picture on the side (I am on the far left), I ran in a 24-hour relay where each member of our 10 man team ran 1 mile approximately every hour and then handed the baton to the next person on the team. On the right of me is Chris Novak and Paul Doughty, two sensational runners that were among the best in the state. Prior to this relay race, I had two marathons (26.2 miles) non-stop at the age of 12 and 14. |
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As a math team, our school placed first in the state in several advanced mathematics contests. Each person contributed toward making the team a success. One of the members of our team became a close friend of mine over the years: Hong Wing Pun. He was also one of the top mathematics students in the state of Florida and an excellent student. The first time that I heard about him was when he was named as Coral Springs Middle School's Student of the Year. Although we have been out of high school for about 20 years, we have (on occasions) kept in touch. You may view Hong Wing's wedding pictures from November, 2002. |
In my 10th grade biology
class, we had to come up with a science fair project that
was a part of our grade for the class. I nervously
thought about some possibilities: mutating flies, dissecting
a frog, mutating plants, etc. None of these really
appealed to me. Then one day, I came up with an
astounding idea! I had just learned BASIC computer
programming over the summer prior to 10th grade and now I
was taking the next course "Computer Math II". At this
time in November of 1980, the
Rubik's
Cube was extremely popular all over the country and the
world. I had also seen people take a mixed-up Rubik's
cube and solve it using a pre-determined algorithm, though I
had never touched it. I theorized that if a person
could solve the Rubik's Cube using a pre-determined
algorithm, surely a computer could be programmed to solve it
too. I shared my theory with my biology teacher
and she wondered if it could be possible (especially since
it was due in two months), but she said that if I could do
it I would definitely get an "A" for the project. I
was excited that the idea was approved, and now I thought
for many days and nights how to tell the computer how to
solve the Rubik's Cube. Then one morning, I woke up
with the key to the solution (which I believe came by Divine
inspiration). I began to relentlessly write pages of
BASIC code that would simulate the movements of the puzzle
and allow the computer to know what the puzzle looks like
after the move has been made. After approximately 100
hours of programming, testing, and debugging, I finally had
a program that could graphically solve the Rubik's Cube
after a user enters into the program the colors of each
square of the cube. Not only did I receive an "A" on
my project, but I also placed 2nd in the Broward County
Science Fair in the category of Mathematics & Computers.
You may view my 37 page document entitled Computer Oriented Solutions to the Rubik's Cube, which I produced in college for my senior project. Building from my high school project, I coded the solution in Turbo Pascal. You may view the HTML version or the PDF version of the User's Guide. You may also view the complete Pascal program listing in HTML format. (Recently, in 2012, I wrote a web-enabled, computer program to solve the Rubik's Cube in the newer technologies of ASP.NET 3.5 / C#.)
During
11th grade, I included graphical solutions to various other
mathematical puzzles such as Rubik's Pocket Cube, the
Pyraminx, Whip-It, the Missing Link, the Magic Ball, and the
Picture Cube. Additionally, the project included some
mathematical Group Theory to explain how the algorithms are
developed that solve these puzzles. As a senior in
High School, my project and an intensive academic/scientific
background/aptitude were submitted to the Westinghouse
Science Talent Search, the most prestigious national science
contest. To the joy of many, my project and the
project of a fellow-class mate (Jennifer Fisher) had both
been named into the Honors Group (top 300), thus we were
each named as one of the top 300 high school scientists in
the nation.
In
12th grade, God had blessed me with many honors. One
of the most prestigious contents was held each year by the
State Board of Education in Florida for four subjects:
English, Social Studies, Science, and Mathematics.
It is called the Program to Recognize Initiative and
Distinction in Education (PRIDE). Coral Springs
High School chose me to be their representative in the
Broward County mathematics contest. After winning
that, I competed at the district level and won. At this
point, my family was given an all-expense trip to
Tallahassee where I competed against each of the 5 other
district winners in Florida. I had tough competition,
including Barry Lia from Riverdale High School who had
placed 9th in the nation in 11th grade at the National Mu
Alpha Theta Convention in New Orleans. I did very well
on the written math contest (9.5 out of 10), which was worth
67% of our overall score. On this test there was
trigonometry, calculus, logarithms, and theorems that needed
to be proven. The other 33% of our score was taken
from our essay and
presentation
on the topic of Infinity. It was one of the
first times that I ever presented a topic to a group of
people, and there were 5 Florida University professors that
I had to discuss and interact with concerning my project.
I thought that I had done poorly on the project, but the
professors told me afterwards that they really liked the
project and especially Woolley's Paradox that showed that
2 is equal to 4 by the use of parallel equations and the
concept of infinity. They said it was very interesting
and unique, and none of them knew
how to disprove it at that time, though they all knew that 2
is not equal to 4. When the award ceremony came, I
thought that I might be runner up to Barry or someone else
who might have had an excellent essay and posters to
describe their topic. I was amazed when I was named as
the top math student in Florida by the State Board of
Education! I called my math teacher Mrs. Fran
McCreary in Coral Springs to share the news, and she
told me it was the best birthday present she ever received!
(Pictured to the side is Mrs. Fran McCreary with me)
As a team of 4, our school placed first at the Florida High
School Computer Contest in 1984. We had solved all the
computer program problems within the 3 hour time limit.
We were the only school in the history of Florida (both
before and since) to have accomplished such a feat.
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After graduating High School with honors, members of my school went to New Orleans to compete at the national Mu Alpha Theta convention for top honors in math and computers. The previous year I had placed 42nd on the advanced math test, and I was hoping to do a little better this time. To my surprise, I had placed 3rd on the individual math test! The contest for which I had prepared all summer was the computer programming contest. My genius friend, Aaron Wallack, and I competed against some of the top 3-person teams in the country. Although 2nd place was within our reach, we had to settled for 5th which is not bad at all. |
Even to this day, I enjoy solving mathematical and logical problems that stimulate the intellect. You may view Doug's Mathematics Page that contains miscellaneous mathematical discoveries and problems. Although my first love was (and is) mathematics, my second love (computer programming) would provide me with a greater career, thus I primarily pursued Computer Science in college and only secondarily pursued mathematics. One of my recent hobbies (as of March 2006) has been creating a computer program to solve the Sudoku puzzle using Microsoft's Visual Basic .NET and now C#.
College Years: University of
South Florida, Tampa, FL, (1984 - 1989).
Graduated with a Bachelors of Science in Computer Science
(Engineering Department).
Was one class short of having a minor in mathematics
(missing Advanced Calculus II).
Dr. Andria Troutman, the director for the Florida Center for Instructional Computing (FCIC) at USF, had sponsored the computer contest in 1984 that my team had won. As the captain, I was offered by Dr. Troutman a position working for her at her company and managed to get me even more scholarship money to matriculate at USF instead of Florida Atlantic University (where I was headed). During the next 5 years, I had grown with the company and written many programs for instructional purposes, while at the same time attending classes at USF. During the first two summers, I was given the task of creating a Database Management System that would be used by Highland County Schools. Dr. Troutman asked me to choose one person to come on board to assist me with this immense project. I could think of no one better than my friend Hong Wing Pun who was attending the University of Miami. Each summer he came to Tampa to code and debug the multi-program Database Management System. The system was sold for about a quarter of a million dollars.
By the age of 20, I had become a co-author of a college text book that taught teachers how to utilize computers in the classroom. As the programmer, I received royalties for the IBM and Apple versions for several years. I was thankful to Dr. Troutman for such an opportunity to partner with her and Dr. James White (and with Frank Bright on the Apple version). The text was called: The Micro Goes to School.
Now that I was working for the company that partnered with USF and the State Board of Education in producing the Florida High School Computer Contest, I was given the opportunity to be the author and chief judge of this famous contest. Developing fresh contest problems and their solutions usually took about 100 hours of my time each year. I put my heart into every program. The contest continued until 1996 and was phased out the following year. Accumulating all my contest problems, judging criteria, BASIC solutions, and Pascal solutions from 1985 to 1994, I created a large book that was then sold by the University of South Florida to interested High Schools. The book was endorsed by prominent individuals such as the Chairman of Kodak and the President of GTE Data Services. It was sold to every High School in Hillsborough County. Profits were split between USF and myself for several years. You may view the cover of the book and some of its contents by clicking the title:
College years were some of the best years for my spiritual growth. You may view my page that describes my spiritual background.
During my college years, I would spend at least an hour a day in prayer to God and another hour each day studying the Bible. Sometimes I would read and study the Bible for longer periods of time. I was hungry to grow as a Christian. With the wonderful change that Jesus made in my life, I wanted to share it with others.
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Since many international
students lived at my dormitory, I became their favorite
American friend. I would practice English with
them, play sports with them, take them to Disney World,
invite them to church, and sometimes even teach the Bible to
them or just talk about spiritual things.
(Click on pictures to see them enlarged)
Two
of my favorite roommates were Salah and Ali,
pictured on the side. Both came from Lebanon along
with 70 others in 1985 to learn English at USF and then
study at a university in the U.S. Salah was
(and is) a devout and peaceful Muslim and was a great
friend. Of the 15 roommates that I had, 5 of them (who
were not previously Christian) gave their lives to Jesus
Christ either during their time as my roommate or soon
thereafter!
I enjoyed spending time with my friends in social gatherings, athletics, and church related activities.
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Two of my closest
friends during college were Steve Faucette
and Rob Nickel, shown on the left. Rob
invited me to a Bible Study and a charismatic church
that helped me to grow spiritually. |
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 I
enjoyed playing tennis, soccer, volleyball, and
running while in college.Pictured with me (on the left) are some more of my closest friends in college: Amy, David, and Patty. David and I became best of friends. (Click on picture to see it enlarged) |
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NCNB (now Bank of America) as a computer programmer
(1989-1991), being trained for technical management
positions along with a group of others hired for this
particular "MAPS" (Management Association Program). I
was chosen by the group to be the main speaker to
formally present our year-end project to executive
officers in North Carolina. Soon after receiving my
first promotion, it was announced from upper management
that our entire department in Tampa was being relocated
to North Carolina and we had one month to decide if we
were going to move with the company. It was a tough
decision, since I had no concept of leaving a company
and working elsewhere. I felt impressed to stay in Tampa
and I believe that God guided me to . . . .
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GTE Data Services (and now Verizon Data Services) as a systems engineer (1991- present)
You may view a page that describes my career and my work life at Verizon and another page that describes my involvement with the Full Gospel Business Men's Fellowship International (FGBMFI).
Having already earned an
Engineering degree, I completed a second degree in Theology
(officially called Interdisciplinary Studies) at
North Central University, graduating Summa Cum Laude
in May, 2007. Building off of good grades, I was
awarded a Presidential Scholarship to study at Southwestern
Assemblies of God University (SAGU), where I graduated with
a 4.0 GPA with a
Masters degree in Theology/Bible. I have a great desire to
learn about the Bible and to live a life that is pleasing to
God and to share the good news of what Jesus Christ has
done. Systematic study of God's Word has helped to reinforce
these desires. You may view many of my essays for these
classes by visiting my
Theology Corner page, or you may listen to some of my
sermons by visiting my
Audio
Sermons Library page. I have enjoyed teaching the Bible
to eager students over the years, especially in formal
college settings such as with the
One Accord School of Ministry.
Here are some pictures of my preaching adventures in
Venezuela. My Pastor (Ed Russo) prayed for
me and gave me some checks from our church in the U.S. to
bless other church ministries that I had already become
involved with while in Venezuela. Roll over a small
picture to see its description and click the picture to see
it enlarged.
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While in Lisbon, Portugal, the Lord also opened up doors for me to preach in an Assemblies of God church. Often I would come to the church to simply participate and then the pastor would surprise me as I sat in worship and asked if I would deliver the sermon. I would quickly consult with the Lord and He would give me a topic to preach on as I quickly jotted down some Scripture references as a basis for my message. Other times I knew a week in advance that I would be their speaker for the Sunday evening meeting. I really enjoyed being used of the Lord in this way! I have a great sense of fulfillment when I am using the gifts and talents that God has given me to help others in their spiritual and personal growth.
Married Years: with Marsha
Ann Lovick (now Woolley) (June 3, 2000 - present)
You may view our
wedding page
or
pictures from the honeymoon or
anniversary pictures.
Working
for Verizon gave me opportunities to travel to Venezuela and
to Portugal for business, and I managed to have an abundance
of fun. In the last year of my travels to Venezuela
(2000), my family was able to accompany me and we had a
great time climbing up Mount Avila. Here we are
(on the right) rejoicing after we made it to our destination
in spite of some rain. These adventures knit us
together as a family!
Having
somewhat recently celebrated my 39th birthday at Disney
World's Hawaiian Luau at the Polynesian Hotel with my
wife, mother, and brother Brad, I am still a relatively
young man (yet feeling older as the days go by). I
still have many more years to go, Lord willing. I
desire to live it dynamically and enthusiastically for the
glory of God. I still have many goals to accomplish
and dreams to fulfill. As I daily walk with the Lord,
I know that he will guide me and lead me in the work and
service that He has for me. (Proverbs 3:5-6)
I am thrilled to now be competing in
international
computer contests.
Doug's Books
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