More about me,
Matthew Joseph Squidley Eze Kiel Basa
(AKA: Dirk)

By the tender young age of two, Matthew and the entire Kiel family had moved from South Bend to Elkhart, Indiana and then on to Middlebury, IN, where they currently reside in a Grodesic Dome. Middlebury is known for its Amish communities and the ever-popular dining establishment Das Dutchman Essenhaus. Whose menu consisted of only the finest in Amish cuisine and also offers a variety of crafts and antiquities.

You know, they say that kindergarten is where a child develops a lot of his or her personality. Actually I don't know if anybody said that but I just did, so work with me. I'd also say that that's a pretty fair statement. I know that I did a whole lot of developing during the latter part of my kindergarten year. It had to do with a little thing called cancer. You see, one night I had a lot of trouble getting to sleep because my left thigh was really sore. Mom told me to put a heating blanket on it and try to go back to bed. Well I did. However, the next night the same thing happened again. This deeply troubled my parents because I rarely ever complained about pain. When I came back upstairs to my folks that night, in tears, they became very concerned. It hurt really bad. So we headed off to the emergency room. I can still remember my first blood test. That was the only thing that was able to take my mind off of my leg. "Don't worry," they said, "it'll just be a little pinch." Whatever! It was more like someone was shoving two inches of surgical stainless steel up my arm! But I was a good little trooper and worked through the pain.

About two weeks later I was on the chopping block at the Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minnesota. It seems that I had somehow formed a malignant tumor in my left femur. This type of bone marrow cancer was called Ewings Sarcoma. It managed to develop inside the bone, grow, and break the bone. Splinter it really. That was what was causing the pain. I had a busted leg. First and only one so far and I didn't even get to have a cast or nothing. But I did get a really long vacation in Minnesota. After all the tests, shots, and amputations of course. I had what was called a hemipelvictomy, or hip disarticulation performed. In Layman's terms, I got the ball of my femur ripped out of the socket of my pelvis. But it was necessary to make sure all the cancer was taken care of. I went through chemotherapy for about two years after that. And I had regular check-ups at Mayo's. Eventually they got spread out more and more and now I don't have to go anymore. Theysay, and this time I know someone did, that after 10 years with no recurrence you are pretty much clear from risk. And has been 15 years this past May 4. I remember so well because at the time it was my girlfriend's birthday. As therapy for me after returning home, I rode horses at LoveWay Therapeutic Horseback Riding. It was really neat. Every Tuesday or Thursday I'd go in and ride around. It always lifted my spirits. I guess that was the therapy. And eventually I did some vaulting, that's kind of like gymnastics on horseback. That was fun. But life of an adolescent got in the way and I left that behind me. But I did a lot of roller skating in the meantime. I loved to climb trees, and still do very much. And there were later athletic adventures you will discover if you keep reading. :)

I attended Middlebury Elementary School in my early years. We were known as the Middlebury Middies. Ooh. What an awe inspiring name, I know, but I didn't think of it. That is where I met most of my lifelong friends. They are or will all be listed in my Friends and Family page. It is also where I started playing soccer in the Middlebury Youth League. They made a special exception in the rules so that I could play with my crutches. It seems that for some odd reason you're really not supposed to play with foreign objects on the field. My crutches weren't foreign to me but they didn't care anyway. After about 5 years, the competition started heating up. The older guys started getting upset when I would steal the ball by planting a stick in front of it. Go figure. Their incessant whining helped me to decide to quit. It just isn't any fun when people complain. Or want to win so bad they forget about having fun. Oh well. I went to Middlebury Elementary for six years, including my aforementioned Kindergarten, and then went on to bigger and better things... middle school.

For the sixth through eighth grades I attended Heritage Middle School. That's where I made some more friends and started my career in managing. I began as the Track manager in sixth grade. I also tried out for the Wrestling team but had to quit due to some other medical circumstances. Those being that I had developed Osteo Chondritis Disicens. (sp?) That meant that I had a hair line fracture in my knee cap caused from a little chip of cartilage that was hitting it. I was supposed ot stay off that knee (the only one at the time) for a while to let it heal. Luckily it took care of itself and I didn't need orthriscopic surgery. After three years I felt ready to venture forth into sophisticated world of high school.

One of the strange things, now that I think about it, was that all my friends that I grew up with seemed to become members in the band. At least we all started in the band together. A few of us dropped out after a couple of years but still remained loyal supporters of our buddies so lovingly nicknamed "Band Nerds." Good ole Northridge High School . I remember it so fondly. Now there were some great teachers: Mr. Lanctot, Mr. Noble, Frau Comeford(Ms. Bird to me. Long story) , and Mr. Schultz just to name a few. And the staff was so caring. Connie Schultz, the entire kitchen staff and guidance office. My guidance counsellor Mr. Rhodes always had time to sit and chat, maybe about future plans or even the Red Green Show. What a guy! Big Jim Lichtenburger, the principal, was tough but fair. That goes without saying.

On the recomendation of Coach Willems from the Heritage Track team, I was asked to be the manager of the high school team. That was quite an honor as I saw it. So I managed Track in the spring of my freshman year. But that was after my illustrious swimming career. Somehow I dog-paddled my way through an entire season of Varsity Swimming, attaining my very first Varsity Letter ever. But once again, due to further medical reasons pertaining to my shoulders, that was my only season on the team. As you might of noticed, I have had a lot of medical problems. Most of them aren't actually caused by my operation and subsequent asymmetry, but they sure don't help the matter.

After spending so much time in the Training Room with Mrs. Kaminskis (Mrs. K) I decided I learned enough to try to be an Athletic Trainer. Which I did. That was my second letter. Finally there was Track, my third. The next athletic season was fall of my sophomore year. That was football. Which I managed for two years.

Then came Soccer. Soccer, back then, was in the spring, so there goes Track. But it wasn't too much of a sacrifice. I already had a great love for the game but had to wait until my sophomore year to help out. That's because the team was started in 1992. Coach Woodworth, or Woody as he preferred, was a great coach. Another one of those equally tough but fair guys. If you ask me, which you didn't, I'd say this world needs a lot more like them. That was a really fun time in my life. I enjoyed being so close to the sport. Coach Woody even let me scrimmage a couple of times with the team when they were a man down. That made me feel real good. More like a part of the team rather than just a supporter.

I managed to graduate with pretty good grades by my own standards. I guess that may be why Rose-Hulman let me in. For the last four years I have attended Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, who happens to be so graciously allowing me the use of their internet access. I graduated in the class of '98 as a Mechanical Engineering student after already have finishing four pseudo years of German attaining a Technical Translation Certificate on the side. (I've already gotten a minor in German) I am very active in many organizations on campus and also a few off campus. I served as the Vice President (IMC) of my Fraternity, Pi Kappa Alpha, Iota Delta chapter, after being the Community Service Chairman my sophomore year. In the capacity of IMC I was also a representative for Pike to the Inter-Fraternity Council here on campus, the legislative body for greek activities. Close to the end of my term as representative I was elected as the Vice President to the IFC executive board. This past summer i was the housing manager for the Pike house. That means i took care of the house and the grounds while everyone was gone.

I was the secretary and consecutively the president/chair for our student chapter of ASME as well as the regional representative for region VI to the Student Sections Committee (SSC) at national meetings. I ended my term as SSC Rep the summer of 97 at the Summer Annual Meeting (SAM) in June.

I tried to participate in the Student Activities Board (SAB) when I could. I helped with promotions.

And of course I managed the Soccer Team and then worked in the fieldhouse during the off-season.

Last, and certainly not least, in fact probably the the greatest. I became more and more active in the Inter-Varsity Christian Fellowship (IVFC, IV for short) here on campus. At the end of February, 1998 we went on a missions trip in the city of Paraiso which is in the province of Cartago, Costa Rica. We worked with CHRIST for the Cities International. I was really excited about the opportunity to witness like this and hope I may get another chance soon. We were gone for 10 days all together.

I have been working at SAGIAN Operations, a division of Beckman Coulter, Inc. , in Indianapolis, Indiana since i graduated from Rose. I design robotic lab equipment and other various automated systems which are used in the chemical, biological, medical and pharmecuticl industry. I spent a short while in California at our headquarters location in Fullerton. It's close to Las Angeles. I was on 'assignment' from SAGIAN for a 6-month stint. I came back at the end of 1999, just in time to spend New Years ringing in the next millenium with my hunny-bunny Casey Nicole "Soon-2-B-Kiel" Kizer! The love of my life!

The Present

Our Future, as I see it

When I grow up, I still want to design and build robots. (which i'm doing now anyway, sorta) Not the slave labor kind mind you. But big industrial and construction robots. The kind that can pick up a tree with one hand, or demolish a building with a swift kick, or dig through a mountain in a few hours. Actually my real dream is something similar but yet quite different at the same time. I'd like to get into prosthetics. (that's aritificial limbs to you bipeds) I'd love to be the one to develop the first fully functional surgically attached artificial limb! :) Look out 6-Million Dollar Man, here i come!
I would also like to have my 2.8 children, live in my house which I designed (a few geodesic domes up in the mountains of South Dakota or something) and maybe be a youth pastor at my local church in my spare time.
For the rest of my future plans look at the web page that Casey and i have at Hammersmith Hills.

thanks for reading and being patient. I don't know how often i'll be able to update this page at this sight anymore.

stay tuned, to be continued...

To e-mail me at home (kielmj@juno.com) click the icon.