While still in high school, he enlisted in the Armed Services and went through his basic training during the summer of 1987, between his junior and senior years in high school.  Brian graduated from high school in 1988 as an art and business major and spent several years serving in the U.S. Army Quartermaster Corp.  Some of the military bases he was assigned to were Fort Dix New Jersey, Fort Lee Virginia and Fort Sill Oklahoma.

Brian married young right out of high school in February 1989.  The marriage produced one daughter but lasted only two years.  He spent the next few years working odd jobs, until in 1993 he met the love of his life, Amanda.  They married in 1995 at a little log cabin chapel in Gatlinburg, TN in the Great Smokey Mountains.  They had three more children, a girl born in 1996, and two boys born in 1998 and 1999. 

In 1999, after nearly 5 years traveling 160 miles round trip per day to work, he took a job closer to home working at a local tractor-trailer axle manufacturing facility.  On September 18, 2001, the company announced they were closing their doors and in November 2001 they moved their operation to Mexico.  Having received trade readjustment assistance, he returned to school in the spring of 2002 for a career in computers.  Upon completing his training in 2003, Brian was unable to find work in this field, so he chose to work as a nursing aid in a local nursing home to help pay the bills.  While here, he discovered that he was a natural at caring for other people.  It was here, with the encouragement of his supervisors and co-workers that a decision was made to pursue a career in nursing.  This is where he also began to dabble with painting genie bottles. 

Brian had always been fascinated and captivated by that little purple bottle from I Dream of Jeannie.  At the age of 6 he had his first encounter with a "Jeannie bottle".  He still remembers the encounter vividly after nearly 30 years.  Thus began a quest to find his own bottle.  Flea markets, craft shows, garage sales, county fairs and festivals ... Brian went to them all heading straight for where ever the glass section was.  In 2003, after having signed up for an eBay account, he tried to think of something he'd always wanted, but was never able to find, and so he began his search.  BINGO, within seconds he was staring at a list of bottles he never thought he would find.  He bought one, and waited on pins and needles for it to arrive.  After two weeks of finally having a bottle, now it was time to get a painted one.   After checking out the prices for painted bottles, all ranging from $300 - $600, he decided that with the help of a painting guide and some internet research, he could paint one himself ... an so he did.  This started his obsession.  The first bottle was horrible compared to what they look like now, but Brian never gave up on perfecting his techniques and his artistry.  Constantly striving to capture the beauty and mystique of that purple bottle on TV.

In March of 2004, Brian took the plunge by attending nursing school.  Using his bottle painting talents to help fund his education and support his family, he began training to become a Licensed Practical Nurse.  During this time, he perfected his painting skills, studying photographs, watching episode after episode of I Dream of Jeannie, trying more and more to bring his bottles closer and closer to that elusive bottle on television. 

In June of 2005 he graduated from nursing school and on November 15, 2005 he finally sat for his state board nursing exam and he passed!  Brian is now a fully licensed nurse and gainfully employed taking care of elderly residents of a local nursing facility.  He now intends to return to school to pursue his RN, and of course, continue to develop his artistry and bring top quality hand painted bottles at reasonable prices.

Here I am with my wife posing for pictures with Barbara Eden and Larry Hagman after their play "Love Letters" in Staten Island, NY on March 25, 2006.  Barbara is holding the TV reunion movie bottle I painted for her, and Larry has the Golden Vines bottle with the 1956 replica stopper that I created for him.

May 10, 2007 - WLIO NBC Lima Interview - (2.95 MB - wmv format)

Here is a photograph of me with Barbara Eden after seeing her perform in the Love Letters play at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center on May 13t, 2007. This meeting was a private meeting with myself and several members of the I Dream of Jeannie Fans' website.  Since it was on Mother's Day, I brought my mother along with me for the performance and to meet Barbara as well. The play was superb (of course) and the entire day was a completely magical experience, one I'll treasure forever.