You’ve found me. Marz. The World Famous Marz. This is my new webpage all about me. Here you will find my personal blog, Whuddup, pages about my passions and interests – both current and past. Take a look around. This will be a work in progress for a little while as I figure out the editor here on Squarespace.
So who is Marz? My name is Inigo Montoya. You killed my father. Prepare to die….. Ok, seriously, I’m Mark Fusco. I’ve been Marz since 1986 when a friend of mine decided that Mars wasn’t cool enough. We were on a pirate BBS (remember those days?) and asked me for a login name. He automatically typed Marz instead of Mars. When I mentioned that error, he let me know that it was cooler with a ‘z’ rather than an ‘s’.
I was born in New Jersey, the Durty Jerz. However I left when I was 4 years old when my family moved to San Antonio. I spent my childhood in S.A. until I graduated High School. I then went to Austin to attend the University of Texas. My first two years were spent trying to become the next Carl Sagan (i.e. an Astronomer). However things changed and I switched to one of my other passions, Music.
I obtained my B.A. in Music from UT and stayed in Austin for a couple years working at the Austin American-Statesman (where I had worked all through college). I then moved to Houston to work for TV Guide where I was responsible for the distribution of TV Guide and 70+ other magazines in most of East Texas.
While in Houston, I discovered the joys of Blackjack at Dave & Buster’s “Just For Fun” Casino. No, you couldn’t win money, a stuffed animal, a t-shirt, or anything. It was just playing the game. And I got very good at it. The bug bit me and I endedup working for them part time as a dealer.
Eventually on the promise of being a manager in a short couple of months I quit TV Guide and went full time there. That didn’t quite happen as planned, but a few months later I was given the opportunity to open the Cincinnati D&B as the Pit Boss. It didn’t hurt that my Pit Boss was the Corporate Trainer.
I moved there in 1997 and I like to call that 4 years of my life hell. No offense to the fine people that live there. I had a great time the first six months I lived there. But eventually I became bored just like my friend from BattleTech Wildside said I would. As luck would have it, I transferred to Chicago (home of Virtual World and BattleTech) to work at the downtown D&B (aka Goldcoast).
I lived in Chicago for 7 years and had a great time there. I eventually left D&B after 10 years of service for ESPN Zone. A great place for sports fans. I became the Arena/Retail manager for them and loved every minute of it. However, that came to an end in 2008 when due to personal and family reasons I moved back to San Antonio – a move, by the way, that I had wanted to do for years. Back in San Antonio, I was reunited with a couple old D&B colleagues from Chicago to work at Champps Americana.
So that’s my brief history of where I’ve been, who I’ve worked for, education, and a couple interests. In other words, my resumé. But who AM I?
Besides all the professional things, I’m a person with a very strong interest and connection with technology. My first computer was a Vic-20. From that I went to the Commodore Amiga. Once my Amiga 2000 finally couldn’t keep up anymore, i got a hand-me-down Power Mac 7200 in 2002. I’ve been a Mac guy ever since. Currently I use an iMac. So I’m pretty well-versed in computer OSes.
Growing up, music was a big part of my life. I started out taking piano lessons. I also picked up the violin. I was never a virtuoso on either, but I was pretty good. So when I realized that as much as I loved Astromomy but was having a hard time with it, I switched to music in college. I specialized in Electronic Music – the kind that academics like, not the general public.
Other main interests over the years have included the video games BattleTech and Red Planet (the world famous Marz), blackjack, karaoke, XBox, video editing, etc.
I’ve also taken an interest in wine. I’ve even studied for the Sommelier exam on and off over the past couple years. I’m a Vayniac and watch Winelibrary.tv religiously.
And a growing interest in politics. I’m neither a Republican, nor a Democrat. I’m best described as Independent as many of the alternative tags don’t exactly fit. I’d say the closest is Libertarian, but even that tag doesn’t completely describe my politics.
So now that you know me better, please explore the rest of the site. As of this writing (3/25/09) it’s not much. Some of the pages are direct imports of my old website, and an import of my blog. Over the next few weeks I hope to “pretty up” the place some more and include more tidbits. Eventually earn a little extra cash via ads too.
Thanks for stopping by,
Marz