Editor's Note: 10 Things You Don't Know About Me is a new series from AVNetwork where we'll up-close and personal with #AVTweeps. We'll discover fun facts we never knew and encourage social conversation with our AV friends.
In this week's 10 Things You Don't Know About Me, we get to know Dave Labuskes, CEO of AVIXA. Dave can be found on Twitter at @DavidLabuskes.
1. I grew up in a small town outside of Pittsburgh called Penn Hills and graduated with nearly 1,200 kids in my class.
2. My first job was at the age of six working at Labuskes & Sons Jewelers—my dad and uncle were the sons. Dad “fired” me at 16 to go get a real job...and I got two. One as a dish boy at Penn Center Cafeteria and the other as a bellman at Marriott.
3. My first concert was Billy Joel’s 52nd Street Tour.
4. The best theatrical experience I’ve ever had was Hamilton on Broadway with the original cast for the first show after they won 11 Tony Awards.
5. I am an avid (yet terrible) photographer struggling to get better with each shutter click.
6. I dropped out of college with 11 credits to go in my fifth year at Penn State. It took me six years to finish my degree after that, to include convincing the Dean of the School of Physical Education to let me take a phys-ed credit correspondence—I played racquetball five times a week and logged my progress.
7. If I had a super-power, I’d wish that I could speak and understand all languages. I’m slightly on my way as I’m remarkably good at “whale talk.”
8. I cry at almost every sappy scene in a movie (and almost every Hallmark commercial).
9. My wife and I are the one couple left that watch network television dramas (my current favorite is Madam Secretary) and read the Sunday paper together.
10. When I retire, I’m going to either develop a career in projection mapping or open “Dave’s Bait, Beer and Blooms” at the end of a fishing pier on the Atlantic somewhere with my wife, kids, grandkids, a dog, and a chess set. Yup…another sappy scene to cry at!
