[Rockhounds] It's Aaron

[John Siebel]

Aaron had written me of-list and I responded with the following...I knew you 
folks would come through. What a great group!

>Aaron wrote:
>How did you and Julie get started in Geology?

Hey Aaron,

That would be a great question to post to the rockhounds list. I'm curious, 
so you if don't, I will!

I grew up in Illinois near Lake Michigan where I would search through the 
sand on the beach for stuff. My first find was a crinoid stem segment that I 
thought was a stone bolt! I looked it up in a fossil book from the library 
(we didn't have Internet back then). After that I was hooked! I read 
everything I could find. I would find fossil shells in the limestone that 
lined the railroad tracks and search for rocks wherever we took a vacation. 
I remember finding a lot of pyrite (fool's gold) and crystals in Colorado on 
one trip. I found some cool stuff in gravel driveways here and there. My Mom 
and Dad took me to museums and I bought a small set of minerals from one. A 
friend of mine traded me for a fern fossil from just south of where I lived 
(search for "Mazon Creek fossils"). I had a small but fun collection back 
then.

I thought that I wanted to be an architect so I studied that at University 
of Illinois for a while, then I transfered to Southern Illinois University 
to major in geology. Unfortunately, I wasn't very good in math and chemistry 
which are pretty important to a geology major, so do your best at those. I 
ended up studying graphic arts and did that for a long time. I met Julie in 
Portland, OR and we moved here to Idaho (The Gem State) some years later. 
There is a garnet mine nearby. When I took Julie there, she was hooked on 
rocks too! We have since collected when and wherever we can.

We've been fortunate to live and visit some great places to collect. We've 
also met a number of folks, both online and in-person, who have helped us to 
expand our knowlege in many ways.

When you are comfortable with it, I would suggest that you introduce 
yourself to the rockhounds list and post some questions there. One that 
comes to mind is, "I want to be a 
geologist/mineralolist/gemologist/paleoentologist or whatever. What should I 
study to prepair myself to get there?"

Keep in touch Aaron. And good luck! - John