Who Is DataDude? A Little About Myself

DataDude

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I figured after being chosen as Captain of Team Hackers for the Morgan Cup last night everyone might be a little curious about me and who I am so hear you go.

My name is Daniel Tatum. I was born in Manchester, KY and raised in London, KY. That's in Eastern Kentucky in the heart of Appalachia. I left London in 1998 after graduating high school and moved to Louisville, KY to attend the University Of Louisville. I partied a lot and failed out of school after 2 years and started working at UPS as a package handler and at Rafferty's Bar and Grill as a server. It took about 3 months at Rafferty's to make as much money on a weekend night as I did for an entire week at UPS so I quit UPS after working there for 6 months. That 6 months made me realize I did not want to do physical labor my whole life and motivated me to go back to school. I started back at a local school Indiana University Southeast in January of 2001 and graduated with a Bachelor Of Science in Economics in December of 2004 while serving and bartending to pay my way and fund a lot of fun.

I lived with 3 buddies throughout most of that time of my life and we all worked at Rafferty's so we were constantly having people over, going out, going to concerts, etc. During this time I got all of them started playing golf and 6 of my friends from this time are still my golfing buddies and best friends to this day. They all go on our annual golf trip we started in 2007 along with several others we have met along the way.

I met my wife Wendi in August of 2003 when she moved to Louisville after graduating from Western Kentucky University. She had worked at Rafferty's in Bowling Green and gotten a job teaching at Clarksville High School in Clarksville Indiana. She moved to Louisville a month before starting and was just working at Rafferty's to span that month before she started teaching. I saw her the first day she came in, but I was coming in for the night shift and she was leaving from the morning shift. She caught my eye and I asked one of the other ladies who worked that morning about her. Lucky for me my next shift we were both scheduled to open so introduced myself then. After talking for a bit we realized her apartment was right across the street from my apartment in Old Louisville (a section fo town where a lot of U of L students live). After this discovery she states we would have to go grab some lunch sometime. As dense as I can be at times I did not miss this invitation and I asked her out right then and there. We got married a year later. Why so fast? Well I proposed in May of 2004 and literally a week after proposing we found out she was pregnant with our son Saul so we just got married at the end of that summer.

Saul was born in February of 2005 and our daughter Josie was born in 2008. Both of them are amazing. Saul plays basketball and tennis with some mild interest in golf. Josie sings in the school choir and cheerleads. Josie has to prodded along in school (takes after her dad) while Saul is a people pleaser and takes care of everything without being asked (like my wife).

I work for Humana in Louisville and have been here since January of 2014. My career took a few twists and turns after graduating. A degree in economics doesn't really prepare you for anything so it was hard to find a job out of college. I ended up working in sales which I am just not geared for. I sold exporting and importing services for Expeditors International for a year and then sold flooring for 2 years until the housing crisis in 2008. My largest builder went bankrupt and I went from making about $40,000 a year to making about $16,000. I ended up back at Rafferty's working 2 jobs for a year or so before landing at Allstate as a claims adjuster. I did that for 3-1/2 years but it was an absolutely miserable job. If you want to lose your faith in humanity then adjust auto accidents. There is so much fraud on the injury side of that business that it is almost unimaginable. I had to have a change so I studied mathematics at the University Of Louisville for 3 semesters to get the background to become an actuary. I took 47 hours in 3 semesters, passed 2 actuarial exams, and networked like crazy to finally get a job I enjoyed at Humana. Once working there I found I had a real propensity for coding and working with data so after passing 2 more actuarial exams I decided I did not want to devote any more time to that and I transitioned to Business Intelligence Engineering in the company. I lead a team of 2 folks now and I could not be happier with my career.

My golf life started around 12 years old. My dad got promoted to the CFO position of Cumberland Valley National Bank in London, KY and a membership to the local country club was included. Dad didn't golf, but I knew several of my friends from our neighborhood were members and spent a lot of time at the pool during the summer so that's what I did too. I had mom drop me off at the pool at 9 when it opened every day and pick me up on her way home from work. Mid summer there was a golf camp everyone went to so I got a set of old clubs dad had in our basement and cleaned all the cobwebs off them and went to this golf camp. I was hooked from there. I got my first set of my own clubs when I was 13 and dad bought me a used set of PowerBuilt TPS from the pro shop. I also got a King Cobra driver (fitting right) with the pinch on the top that year for Christmas. Later I got a Callaway War Bird 3+ and 5 wood and a Cleveland 56* wedge to round out my set. At 15 I started working in the pros shop and stayed there till I was 19. After my first summer home from college I never went back to London again. My summers from that point on were golfing whichever part of the day I wasn't working and working the other half. I also spent some time hitting on the girls that lifeguarded at the pool of course.

As far as my life now I am also a part time volunteer pastor at a local church. My wife got involved in FCA when she taught and the guy who led that had started a church in his house. When Wendi met him they were meeting at the elementary school gym. We gave that a shot after an invitation in 2006 and 15 years later I help lead the church. We also have a building now and Andy (the lead pastor) is one of my best friends. He worked at Office Depot for years and 5 years ago we were finally able to pay him to be a full time pastor at the church. He is so passionate about ministry I think helping the church pay him full time is one of my proudest moments.

Aside from all that we bought a house directly on a golf course 2-1/2 years ago so I play a few holes a day almost every day. I love golf and I love THP. I put a picture of my family below as well.


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Awesome write and cool idea to let a lot of us in!
 
Rafferty's sounds like a magical place
 
Might have to change the thread title, that was a lot about you!! But well done! Always enjoy getting to know captains and members of these teams. Best of luck, and cant wait to follow you on this amazing journey!!
 
Great read! You will kill it as a captain!
 
Appreciate letting THP into the life of @DataDude great read man & nice looking family!
 
Manchester, KY and London, KY. I'm from Leeds, UK and London, UK.

Great read. Thanks for sharing.
 
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Great read and a great story. Seems after a few twists and turns you are now on a path you enjoy!
 
I thought you were from Huma, AZ and didn’t require glasses!
 
Love it - always good to hear from a fellow golfing actuary! Can't wait to follow your journey to the Morgan Cup!
 
Nice meeting you Daniel! You and I have very similar stories and reading how yours worked out for you gave me a little extra motivation today!
 
I feel like I really know you now! 😅 you seem like a great guy and a perfect captain for this years Morgan Cup!
 
Thanks for the background. Will be a lot of fun watching Team Hackers come into form throughout 2021!
 
Great write up and I'm glad you landed in a career that you love! Congrats on being Captain at the Morgan Cup!!
 
Nice intro. Welcome to Team Hackers Captain Datadude!!
 
Enjoyed that read Daniel. Look forward to the progress of the MC with you as a captain ⛳
 
After reading your bio, DataDude is quite an appropriate moniker. Good luck with your captain journey.
 
Also my teammate @HarlettoScara will definitely be able to tell the UK's influence in Kentucky. I am from London and my wife is from Glasgow, but neither of us have ever been across the Atlantic :p
 
Interesting dee five there my man! Thanks!
 
Thanks for the intro and again congrats! You will do great as Captain!
 
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