My name is Dominik Haeflinger. I was born on June 29 in Rochester, Minnesota in the Mayo Clinic Methodist Hospital. I was baptized into the Catholic Church shortly after being born. I lived with my mom, Kristi, who lived with her mom, Grandma Jo, and partner, Grandma Meg. After my mom finished high school, we moved to Wichita, Kansas where she went to college for a few years. My mom met my step-dad, Tanner, while going to Wichita State.
While living with my mom in Wichita, my dad, Kurt, and my step-mom, Gina, had my oldest sister, Alexx. I don't remember much about when she was first born because I was only about a year and a half old. Although, I do remember that she has always been there for me should I need anything, and hopefully, she knows I will always be there for her.
Before Kindergarten, my dad and Gina got married. I don't really remember it but I know that I slept through the whole ceremony. Haha. I didn't get to ride in the limo so I rode with my Grandpa Rick and Grandma Jane (my dad's parents) to the reception. I don't remember any of it. Coincidence?
For a reason that I'm not sure of, we (my mom, Tanner, and I) moved to Minneapolis, KS, where my mom worked across the street at the hospital. I went to Kindergarten there. While there my step-dad taught me how to ride a bike without training wheels. I remember riding out of the garage when my mom came home, to show her that I could do it. We had a room upstairs, it was almost like a tower, that someone mom knew and her daughter lived up there. While there we had 2 dogs and 2 cats. The dogs' names were Shadow and Dakota. The cats' names were Al and Tiggy.
Up until this point, and for the rest of my life (well the life I've lived so far), I have gone to see my dad in Minnesota every few months. He lived in an apartment with Gina and Alexx and a Burmese Python that I loved to play with. Sadly, my dad had to get rid of it when it got bigger than him (6'2").
After Kindergarten, we moved to Belgrade, Montana, where I went to first grade. I don't really remember much. I know that my Uncle Ben lived with us for a while. I thought that was the coolest thing. We had a backyard and we lived mostly underground. It was a lower apartment. We had a cat named Jake instead of Al.
The summer before I attended 2nd grade my dad and Gina had my second sister, Kaytlynn. After that they moved down to Spring Valley, Minnesota where they still live today.
We moved to Bozeman, Montana so that my mom and Tanner could attend Montana State University. We lived in the family apartments first in one set then in 3rd grade we moved to a different set of family apartments because my mom was pregnant with my third sister, Kaya Jo. She was born the summer after my 3rd grade year. Starting in 2nd grade I walked to and from school. Once my mom and Tanner both got their degrees we had to move. I was just finishing up 4th grade when we moved.
We then moved to Three Forks, Montana. I finished up 4th grade in Bozeman then attended 5th grade in Three Forks. That spring my brother, Keegan, was born.
After that, during the summer, we moved to Hiawatha, Kansas where I attended 6th grade and a month of 7th grade. We decided we needed to move to Topeka, where my mom works for KDOT, because she was never home. While in between the house in Hiawatha and the house in Topeka, we lived in a hotel. We lived there for about a month. While there I began attending Northern Hills Junior High and then we bought a house on Hiawatha Pl (wouldn't you know it). That's where they live still.
After going through 7th and 8th grade with less than acceptable grades I was part of the first class to go through the Freshman Center at Seaman High. I didn't apply myself as well as I could and my grades reflected that. I started taking German that year and continued to take German all 4 years. Starting Sophomore year my grades were better. Also, I took Visual Basic, C++ and Web Design. I learned VisualBasic.net, some C++, HTML, and CSS. Then, Junior year, I only took Video Game Design 1. I took Honors Algebra II. Finally, Senior year I took Honors Physics, AP Gov, and I took Independent Study. In Independent Study I taught myself almost all of C++ that we didn't get to during the class.
Junior year was when I figured out that I wanted to be a computer scientist. Kansas State helped me in doing that. While on a Junior Day here at K-State, I went to the Nichols hall to see if I could talk to a Computer Science professor. While there I met Mitchel Neilsen. He gave me a tour of the building and talked to me about the various aspects of the building and of Computer Science field. I was so thoroughly interested that I decided I was going to major in it.
Afterthought: I have been on lots of trips. I've been to Alberta, Canada, New York City twice, and over the past summer I went to Germany and Switzerland.
Now I am 18 and currently a student at Kansas State University pursuing a Bachelor's Degree in Computer Science. I'm living in Marlatt hall and taking even more German and the reason I'm writing a blog: Intro to Computing Science.
