Zach Boley

Hey everyone! And by everyone I mean whoever grades this page, because frankly, I can't imagine that any of my engineering classmates give a damn about who I am and what my life is like, but I'll play this little game, mostly because I hate failing. My name is Zachary Boley. I'm a freshman engineering student here at the University of Pittsburgh (obviously, or else I wouldn't be creating the webpage you are currently enjoying). I live up at Sutherland West, and its location has left me with what I consider a completely rational hatred of hills.

Its history time boys and girls! I was born in Red Bank, New Jersey on December 5, 1989. Luckily for me, I didn't have to stay there long (that's right, I just burned a whole state!) I moved down to Baltimore, Maryland before my first birthday and and I lived there for six years. (Fun fact: Baltimore is my favorite city. Ever.) I then moved to Kennett Square, PA. I spent my entire life in the Kennett Consolidated School District (Go Blue Demons!) and graduated from Kennett High School in 2008. I have two brothers, one is a sophomore at Susquehanna University, and the other is a freshman at Kennett.

I'm on the Pitt crew team (that's rowing for those of you who dont know). And between that and engineering, my days are pretty much full. But on those rare days when I do have spare time, I like watching TV and movies, listening to music and watching sports. My favorite movie is The Boondock Saints (they're making the sequel as we speak, I can't wait), my favorite band is The Offspring, and my favorite teams are the Sixers, Phillies (World Champs! I called it!), Flyers and Redskins. How'd that last one get in there? I started watching football in DC with my grandpa when I was like four or five.

Lets see... more stuff... oh, here's one. My ankles hate me. I first found this out playing rugby. For those of you who are not familiar with rugby, the object of the game is get the ball into the try zone, thus scoring points. To do this, you need to carry the ball past 15 huge men who want to make you die as a direct result of their actions. Whilst dodging a couple of these men who wished to end my existence, my ankle decided it would be fun to not rotate with the rest of my leg. So it rotated about 90 degrees relative to the rest of my leg. After I said some inappropriate words, I found out it was only sprained, but it still hurt like a mother.

The next year, the same ankle decided it would be fun to pull the same trick as I landed in the sand pit while I was triple jumping (triple jumping is a track event where you run down the runway hopping like a wounded bird. The object is to look as ridiculous as possible for farther than anyone else). This time, I sprained my Achilles Tendon. The Achillies Tendon is that big one in the back of your ankle, named for the time during the Trojan War when Hector stole Achillies's ankle tendon and used it to strangle no fewer than 200 Greeks. I don't know if you've ever injured it, but it hurts really really bad. Like have you ever woken up and discovered that your face was on fire? It didn't hurt like that at all. It was more like getting hit with a sack full of kittens. And then spraining your Achillies Tendon while triple jumping. That's what it hurt like. So that kept me out until spring track when, at my third meet of the season, I warmed up, measured out my steps, sprinted down the runway, and promptly fractured my other ankle. And that ended my high school track career because by the time it healed, the season was over. There you have it. My ankles are plotting against me, but I'm going to get them first.

Zach Boley
University of Pittsburgh
3725 Sutherland Dr.
Sutherland West Room 510
Pittsburgh, PA 15213
zcb2@pitt.edu