e-mail address:  mmaggi@ji-net.com or find him on Facebook

Residence:  somewhere around the world

Life since high school:

(July, 2001)I am currently working on a construction project in eastern Syria near the Iraq border. I am at the only internet cafe in Deir Ez Zor, Syria, and can only stay on a brief time.

I seldom come back to the US any more, but I recently got back in touch with my family and a couple of friends and will be making a trip sometime at the end of the year.

I just found Claude Halcomb and would love to hear from Mike Brown.

Subsequent messages:
(September, 2001) I just got back to Bangkok and got your newsletters. Many thanks. It looks like I will be of f to Russia for a job but I plan a trip to the US before too long. please publish my email address in a future newsletter to anyone who wishes can email me.  mmaggi@bangkok.com

(December, 2002) I just got back from a week in Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi. Vietnam is a lot of fun to visit. For god-knows-what-reason, the Vietnamese really like Americans. I am starting a company in Vietnam representing US oil, gas, power, and chemical companies who want to develop business in Vietnam. On the side, I buy things from Vietnam to sell on my new web business www.asia-auctions.com (under construction now to be launched next week) and by Barbara, my sister, in a little store we have in Monterey.

(July, 2003) I just finished a job in Russia, 75 miles north of the Arctic Circle, and have returned home to Bangkok. I won't be able to get to the picnic. Russia was interesting, actually it is two countries: Moscow and the countryside. Moscow is a modern European city with all the fashion, attitudes, and lifestyle of Berlin, Paris, or London. The countryside is more like a developing country. The Russians in the countryside are 50 years behind their cities, not just in attitudes, but in things like education, roads, electricity, consumer goods, income, etc.

(July, 2004) I am leaving Bangkok for a job in Libya shortly. Now that the US and UN sanctions are removed from Libya, all the international oil companies are going back for the oil and gas exploration and refining. Libya has the third largest reserves in the world and is hardly developed. The isn't a terrorist threat in Libya and the Libyans are known for their hospitality and friendly spirits.

Good luck on the picnic and regards to all. Someday I'll make it.

(September, 2004)  I forgot to send you an update. I moved on to Azerbaijan to work on a new oil and gas pipeline project. I am in rural Azerbaijan now, a small country next to the Caspian Sea -- how is your high school geography?

Actually that is a trick question since when we were in high school this was just referred to as The Soviet Union. Azerbaijan is one of the little countries that was swallowed up by the USSR that is now independent and struggling to develop its economy

It is interesting because it is a moderate Islamic country with a border with Iran on the south, Russia to the north (Chechnya), Georgia to he north-west, and Armenia to the west. This gives it one foot in eastern europe, asia, and the middle east, if a country can have three foots.

Anyway, it is interesting.

I will be here for the better part of a year, unless a better job comes along.

It takes a lot of work to keep those RVs rolling in the US!

(additional)I just got the newsletter and took at look at the new website. It is very user-friendly and looks great.

You can add this email address for me and I welcome all the email anyone would care to send. If anybody visits Thailand, let me know and I can show people the sights or provide some tips about travel and sightseeing.

My last message for the newsletter was from Azerbaijan where I was working on a new oil and gas pipeline.

I have moved on to a new gas plant in Thailand, about 2 hours from my home in Bangkok.

I work for Samsung Engineering as the only American engineer on the project. It is great working with the Koreans, but unfortunately they work the longest hours of any nationality anywhere! I come in at 7:30 AM and don't leave until 9 PM, and I work less hours than the Koreans. On top of that, I'm salary! Oh well, nothing is perfect.

Actually it is a great job and I love Thailand. I will live here the rest of my life.

(July, 2006) I just finished a job in Shanghai which included the Chinese new year (year of the dog) and I just came back from a vacation in Vietnam. I am off to London for 5 months for a job reviewing engineering designs and then I am off to the Abu Dhabi (UAE) for a couple of years for a oil and gas project. Thanks to all the very generous contributions you all make at the pump, I am having no trouble finding work in my advancing years!

So the count of countries I have worked in stands at lucky 13 (13 is a very lucky number in Asia): USA, Algeria, Azerbaijan, Brazil, China,Libya, Russia (arctic area), Saudi Arabia, Syria, Taiwan, Thailand, UAE, and UK - desert, arctic, and jungle conditions.

(October, 2008)  Now working on a gas pipeline in north-central Yemen for a French company. On site we call it paradise since we get two personal guards armed with automatic rifles wherever we go.

(August, 2010)  See 2010 reunion questionnaire response.

PHOTOS:

Mike sent this picture with the great background. His face is cropped for the top of the page, but the background needs to be seen here!

Once again, Michael has provided us with some great photos of his exotic travels and living areas: