Take A Peek At My Life!

Hey There!

For those of you who don't know me, my name is Chuck Schouwerwou. Most of my internet friends, however, know me Chasm. I am an openly gay male living in Canada's National Capital - the beautiful city of Ottawa, Ontario.

PROUD CANADIAN!
I am 38 years old and I was born on February 27, 1960. My height is about 5'7" and I usually weigh in at 160 lbs (+/- 10 lbs - boy do I swing!). I have cropped dark blond hair and intensely bue eyes.

Family And Growing Up (NOT!)
I have a great set of parents and three sisters, all who live in Mississauga, Ontario. My parents immigrated to Canada from Holland after WWII (If geneology interests you and you can handle the Dutch language, click here visit the Schouwerwou geneology site). I grew up in North York (Toronto), Ontario, where I graduated from grade 13 from Earl Haig Secondary School. After taking a year off to work and think I moved to St. Catharines, Ontario, to attend Brock University. I graduated in 1984 with a 4 Year Honours degree in Psychology. After that I spent spent a few months in Hamilton before finally settling in Ottawa.

Love Strikes!
It was in Ottawa where I met my spouse Bill. Bill is a datalab manager with Seismology Canada, is 51 and was born April 22, 1947. He is originally from Sumerland, British Columbia. We met on November 1, 1987, and became engaged on February 21, 1988. On May 6, 1989, we were joined together in a public ceremony called a "Holy Union". The ceremony was performed by the Late Rev. Ron Bergeron of the Metropolitan Community Church of Ottawa. We live in the west end of Ottawa with our Cat Natasha (Pooky). Check out my Gallery to see pics of us all!

My Spiritual Side
I am a deeply spiritual person - based in Christianity, but accepting all faiths. It was just before I met Bill that I began my training to become a clergy person with the Universal Fellowship of Metropolitan Community Churches (UFMCC). After completing that training I made the decision to leave that denomination - and all organized forms of religion - for more reasons then I have space to type here. I still continue to provide pastoral care services, working with those living with AIDS, and officiating over commitment ceremonies, funerals - in other words, providing for the needs of those who also, like me, do not choose to associate with organized religion. My hope is to one day to find a new church home - one devoid of the hypocracy and judgement I have seen in most.

Back To School We Go!
After meeting Bill I went back to school. I attended Algonquin College where I graduated with a three year Business Administration Diploma, with specialization in Human Resource Management. At graduation I received the Dr. H.H.J. Nesbitt Award, 1991, which is awarded by the Algonquin College Board of Governors to the student graduating with the highest overall academic standing.

He Works Hard For The Money!
I am a professional meeting planner who owns and operates his own meeting planning firm called ConferSense Planners Inc. My company offers general conference, meeting and event planning services, and specializes in health, medical, scientific and government meetings. Meeting planning services are offered locally, regionally, nationally and internationally. ConferSense Planners Inc. benefits clients by planning thier events based on the objectives of their meetings and the budget available for them, by taking advantage of our extensive long term relationships with our preferred suppliers, by minimizing clients' staff hours spent on organizing meetings, and by offering them the service quality of certified meeting professionals.

Click Here To Visit ConferSense Planners' Website

Previous to this I worked for the Division of Immunization, Health Canada. I organized the Canadian National Immunization Conference, which draws approximately 600 delegates, and a variety of smaller national consensus conferences (50 to 100 delegates). These conferences all dealt with childhood immunization and vaccine-preventable diseases. I also administered a variety of national working groups and advisory committees to government (eg., the Working Group on Polio Eradication (WGPE), the Working Group on Measles Elimination in Canada (WGMEC) and the Advisory Committee on Causality Assesment of Adverse Events (ACCA). For both the conferences and the committees, I handled all aspects of the meeting from start to finish.

He Gets Certified and Even Picks Up A Few Awards!
As part of that new occupation I joined my professional association, Meeting Professionals International (MPI), and then went on to get my internationally recognized designation as a Certified Meeting Professional (CMP). I have won three awards to date from the association: the 1996 MPI Canadian Council Professional Development Scholarship, the 1997 Planner Of The Year Award (MPI Ottawa chapter), and the 1998 Outstanding Member Of The Year Award (MPI Ottawa Chapter). I was also a nominee for the 1998 Tomorrow's Leaders of MPI Award. For more about my work and professional association, visit my page dedicated to that stuff.

In My Spare Time!
Well, what else can I say? My hobbies include wine making (and drinking LOL), cooking (I read cookbooks like novels and have over 100 in my collection) and surfing the net. I also love chatting with all my net buddies on ICQ or the Ottawa Chat Room on the International Floor at www.gay.com. I am very physically active and do aerobics and step classes up to five times a week.

Take Me Back To The Main Menu Please!

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