I was born Raymond Dorsie Nichols III, on December 28th, 1970 in Ruston, LA. My mothers name is Suzanne (Stephens Nichols) Johnson and my fathers is Raymond Dorsie Nichols. My parents already had one child, so after I was born I had a big sister. Her name is Teresa Lynne Nichols.
I lived in Louisiana for only a year or so before moving to Texas and then moving back to Louisiana after my mom and dad divorced. When my mom got remarried, we moved to Lawrence, Kansas until just after my little brother, Stephen was born. The only thing I remember about Lawrence, Kansas is me pushing a girl into the pool outside of our apartment. She was wearing a yellow flower bikini top with cut-off jean shorts with shoulder length, blonde curly hair. We had a dog in Lawrence too. Her name was Brandy and was a beautiful Irish Setter.

Not long after that, we moved to Hays, Kansas, bringing one of Brandy's puppies with us. We named her Sabrina. I was only just a little kid of about 3 or 4. We lived in a trailer park for my first couple of years in Hays, where my mom and stepfather, Fred Johnson, had my baby brother Stephen. Just after that I we moved to 1508 Haney Drive. Can you believe I moved right next door to one of my best friends at the time, Greg Stremel. We are still friends of course, but at that age you don't have a lot of friends. We were going to Roosevelt Elementary School for Kindergarten through 5th grade. I had my first kiss out on the playground outside the school when I was in third grade. She was a 1st grader and her name was Lori Blovins. She lived down the block from me and was the prettiest girl I think I had ever seen. I wonder what happened to her. I hung out with a few bad apples here and there and got into some good old fashion trouble, but I made it through all the trouble unscathed.

For middle school I went on to Pete Felton Middle School for 6th, 7th and 8th grade. I played football for the school in 8th grade. I couldn't believe my mom let me play football in 7th and 8th grade. In 7th grade I played right guard on offense and linebacker on defense. In 8th grade I played right end on offense and safety for defense. Skating and the skate rink was the bomb and we loved it when they had all night skate when you could go skating at 7pm and be picked up at 7 am in the morning. Blankets and pillows were a must. It's a furniture store now. (More to come).

For my high school years I went to Hays High School. We were the Hays High Indians. I played football on the freshman team and never went on to further my career as a football player due to the head coach. Coach Cross was the name and he was horrible. There was no way I was going to play football under him. I once saw him through a friend of mine down the bleachers because he wouldn't stand up during a pep assembly. The main thing we did in High school was dragging Main Street. The route was from 13th Street to the Varsity just across the street from the municipal pool. Every Friday and Saturday night we would drag main in our friends’ hot rods. Which car was the most fun to drive in you ask? Well, that would be Brian Kuhn's car. He drove a black 1970 Chevy Chevelle with a 454 Chevy big block with 450hp stock and a 6-71 blower bolted to the top of it. Estimated at 750hp with the blower. It would rattle the windows when he pulled up to the house and would leave a duel strip of rubber on the ground as long as you kept your foot on the gas. Sure you could start out slow and not spin the tires but how much fun can that really be? Have you ever heard the whine of a blower as it goes barreling down the street at 2 in the morning? Just ask my mom.

The party's were great. If there was a party it was most likely out at Airport Park or Swinging Bridge. I have discovered in my ventures back to Hays that they have torn down the old swinging bridge to install a new solid frame bridge. Have you ever seen Dazed and Confused? That is what we did and just how we did it. We did party at our friends’ parents’ houses when they were out of town. We'd get as many kegs as we could and drink more beer than you should ever drink at that age. Of course I wasn't able to drink legally but did that stop me? Shit, I could go to the liquor store at 16 or 17 and be able to get the store clerk to help me carry all the alcohol to the counter. Thank you sir may I have another. I graduated in 1989 with 198 other students that year. During my years in High school we got two other dogs named Chuey and Sukie. Although Sukie was my brother's dog, my mother took care of her after all the kids moved out. I stayed in Hays for a semester where I finished my vo-tech courses in auto mechanics.

A semester out of high school, I moved to Bradenton, FL in January 21st, 1990. I lived with my aunt and uncle and 3 cousins for about 2 months until I found a job, an apartment and a car. It was a white 1966 Comet Caliente. I lowered the car 2 inches in the front and put air shocks on the rear of it. I bought a set of Cragers from my uncles for the car. It was an awesome. I worked for a small mechanic shop in Sarasota, Florida where I got to learn a lot about working on cars for practically nothing for pay, a whopping $5 an hour.

I was in Florida for about 10 1/2 months when I decided to call Bob Massey up in Tennessee that I grew up with in Hays, Kansas. I asked him if he was busy this coming Saturday, it was Wednesday when I called. He said he wasn't and so I proceeded to talk him into driving down to Florida with his truck and pick me up. I wanted to move and this was the best thing I could come up with. So I loaded up his truck and I moved to Tennessee. I lived with Bob and his roommate Jim for about 5 months until I decided to move somewhere else to find work.

April of 1991 when, after 5 months of not being able to find work I called my dad and he suggested moving to Delaware for a few months to make some money and then I would go back to Tennessee. One week later I found a job working at a small mechanic shop called SAC Tire. There I worked my way up to Sunday Manager where I ran the whole shop by myself. After working there for about 9 months I decided being a mechanic wasn't all it was cut out for. You smelled of gas and grease and oil all the time and I just didn't like being so dirty all the time. This, all before I discovered Mechanix Gloves. So, what I did was to decide to go back to school. My dad teaches at the University of Delaware where I was living with he and my stepmother, Jill. He suggested that I maybe quit my job and go back to school. I would intern with him and his business while in college for extra money and I would go to classes to learn to become an art director. I took Photo I class that winter session, 1992, where I met some really nice people. Rob Jennings was in that class with me. Once spring session started I took the mandatory art courses drawing/design I/II. In the fall semester of 1992, I started Visual Communications (VC). Having made the cut from freshman year to sophomore year VC was a great achievement. Not everyone makes it in. Even when your dad is the professor. In these classes, is where you were taught to think outside the box. After making the cut from sophomore to junior year, I started narrowing my field down to the program I wanted to pursue. Senior year I went into Advertising with my father as my professor and a group of 6 other students. What a year that was. Staying up all hours of the night. Going to Taco Bell at 4 am because you are starving from not eating since lunch the day before. Good times Fred Schuster. The Ski trips were KILLER!!! Snowboarding in CO is way cool though.

Once out of school, I moved to New York City June 23rd, 1995 with my sister and her boyfriend at the time. I found my own place and got my own job in September of that year. I worked as an Art Director and Production Artist at The Cox Group for 3 1/2 years where I learned a lot of how the business was run. After working for Bob I thought it was time to move on and gain some new experience. Having freelanced for Deutsch Inc. since the summer of 1995, it was easy to accept a job working for them. I went to work as their in-house hi-end digital photo retoucher where I worked in Photoshop all day. My first two years at Deutsch were great. We got Adweek Agency of the Year two years in a row. I got to take a few courses with Dan Margulis, a color correction specialist and learned a lot of exciting things. Things were good and the people were even better. I met some of my best friends there. To see pictures of the going away parties I had with all of my friends, click the place. January 4th was at the Q and Jan 7th was at the Hog Pit.

I was let go on September 3rd of 2002 and have since moved to Colorado where I am currently a freelance renaissance man looking to find my place in work. I have done a number of web sites and have been enjoying the sights and visiting the mountains. I recently worked for Research Design Specialists on a project involving trucks and it was great.

I'm looking forward to snowboarding a lot this year. I have purchased my Colorado Pass for 5 mountains nearby, Keystone, A basin and Breckinridge w/ 10 days at Vail and Beaver Creek. I have been Snowboarding twice so far this season. I went Thanksgiving day and on December 26th with Wendy Meller when she came to visit over Christmas. It was a great time. I plan on going more often after February 1st. It only costs me about $15 to pay for gas.

I sold the corvette on November 27th and bought a 1985 Toyota 4Runner and it is such a great vehicle. It has gotten me snowboarding and does great in 4WD. All the things I needed in a car.

So here I am, 1 Year later. It's December 13th, and I am updating my bio. A lot has happened in the last year. I have worked at many different agencies and I have done many moving jobs. I have meet a lot of nice people and have been having a blast. I worked for The Integer Group in Denver, CO in Early 2004 and since have been freelancing at Street Source, also in Denver. It has been a lot of fun and I am having a blast working there. Some things I have worked on include POS for Coors Light and Rémy Martin.

I have been up snowboarding once this year so far. It was early in the season, only a couple of weeks ago, and the base was only 15 inches. Now, all of the slopes are recording over 30" of base. It has been snowing a lot and I look forward to getting up there for a day or two soon. i will likely be going over christmas break.

Early October was my HHS 15 year high school reunion in Hays, KS. It will be an awesome time and wish it could last a day or two longer. Everyone was great. I took a lot of pictures at the reunion. You can see them here or goto the reunion site at http://hhs1989reunion.org. Friday night we all got together for the parade and then the Q that night. It wa a blast, drank Jack and Cokes all night, had a wonderful time, dispite the fact that I had locked my keys in my truck before I went in. After a while Miki schmidt and I decided to head out to go get some food over at the Taco Shop. A place we ate many of nights while in high school. They were closed of all things so we drove over to Taco Grande on Vine Street. We drove down the street and as we drove by a house i recognized, Miki said that it was Buffy's old house. I had told her how much that I was in love with her all through school. The childhood crush comes out. :) I asked how Buffy was and asked her to say hi the next time she talked to her.

I am still currently working freelance for Street Source Marketing & Communications in Denver, Colorado.