Here is some information about my background, friends & family.
If you are interested in educational background, please refer to my research link.
I was born in Malmö, Sweden, on April 10th, 1976. I have lived in Malmö most of my life, but I moved to a small town called Skurup when I was 13 to live with my father. I finished middle school there, but due to the size of the town, I had to commute to my high school, Österportskolan, which is located in Ystad, Sweden.
When I was 19 years old, I enrolled in the Swedish military education at A3, which is located in Hässleholm. I worked as a communications specialist for the artillery. After 10 months of hell, I finally graduated with the lowest passing grades possible. It is safe to say that the army did not suit me very well.
At 20 years of age I decided to go to the United States of America. I wanted to play football (American, of course) on its home turf. Coach Dale Carlson of the Tri-State Thunder football team was kind enough to let me walk on. Another reason for going to America was to experience school in a different country. With no intention of staying, I partied and played football most of the time. However, during my sophomore/junior year, I became more serious about my education, and hence, put it as a priority.
I have always loved sports. In addition to playing football for 12 years, I also enjoyed soccer for 10 years, and was a thrower on the Tri-State's Track and Field team during my junior and senior years. I currently am learning to play golf. I love the game, but man, it is hard and frustrating..... .
I moved to Muncie, Indiana in 2000 and attended Ball State University from where I graduated in May of 2002. I began my PhD studies at Kent State University in the fall of 2002 and expect to graduate in August 2007. I am currently attending my one-year APA-approved psychology internship in Toronto, Ontario, Canada, where I reside with my wife, Jessica.
My wonderful wife, Jessica, is a 25 year old nurse from Canton, Ohio. She currently works in the Coronary Internsive Care Unit at Toronto General Hospital. She graduated from Kent State in May of 2003. She is an avid runner and completed the Cleveland Marathon in April 2003. When she does not run, she enjoys swimming, skiing, and arts. Jessica's future aspirations include a Master's degree and moving away from Ohio... :-). Below is a picture of Jessica by the 5 mile long Oresund's Bridge that connects Malmö, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark.
My father past away in 1998. He grew up in Sundsvall, Sweden, a northern city in which my two aunts still reside. He was in charge of technical operations at PLM (now Rexam), a producer of aluminum cans. He was an avid sports fan (I guess I must have got it from somewhere....) and seldom missed a hockey game on TV. He was also the one to teach me the rules of football while watching the 49ers beat the Broncos in the SuperBowl. I found it so fascinating that I started playing a year later.
My mother is Ylva
Kajander. She is 63 years old and lives in Lessebo, Sweden in her new house with
her husband, Evert. I have a younger
brother, Ulf Sellbom, who is 27 years old. He
is currently works in a video store but plans to return to school shortly. He
has aspirations to become a high school teacher. He is a huge
fan of heavy metal music and movies. He has a collection of over 1,000 DVDs. I suggested that he opens
his own video store. He lives with his girlfriend, Lizette, in Malmö. See the picture of Uffe below.
The rest of my family are spread out throughout the country. My uncle and aunt, Bertil ''Jocke'' and Ulla Sellbom live in Vaxholm, Sweden, which is located outside Stockholm. Jocke works for a charter buss agency, while Ulla works for the fire department. Jocke is a major Djurgarden fan (both soccer and hockey).
I have several friends, and though I may not mention everybody, it does not mean they are less important. I just use some names as examples.
I have friends
in different parts of the world and who do many different things. In Malmö
Chistoffer Bergman and Christoffer Hedgate work in the computer science
field. Another person is a chemical engineer (Peter Håkansson) and
lives with his wife (Sandra) and their two sons, Adrian and Liam. In another part of Malmö,
the infamous Rosengård, lives Richard and Annika, who are my two
''metal friends''. Richard is currently studying computer programming and
Annika works on the aforementioned Oresund's bridge.
My friend Francis Mårtensson used to live "down under" in Australia. He has lived in both
Sydney and
on the Gold Coast
(more recently) and has acquired a Master's degree in Sports Marketing from
Griffith University. He currently lives in Gothenburg, Sweden, with his
wife Mary Rose and their son Filip.
My friend, P-A, with whom I attended college at Tri-State has moved back to North America after a 6 year tenure back in Sweden. He currently lives in Missisauga, Ontario, Canada with his wife Charlotte and their son Albin. We have started a Sunday football tradition where we regularly get together to watch the game.
In the ''Land of the Free'' I have over a ten year tenure made several good friends. At Tri-State University, I had Jamie Pippin as my roommate for two years. I also participated with him on the Track Team. Jamie is a championship caliber thrower in Hammer, Shot Put, and the javelin. He is interested in working with the mentally ill. Brian Meier, who used to attend Ball State with me, but decided to abandon us all and go back to North Dakota where he got his PhD in Social Psychology from North Dakota State University. He now teaches at Gettysburg College in Pennsylvania.
At Kent State University, I have made a good friend in Dustin Wygant. He is a Cincinnati native, loves the Bengals (poor Dustin), and aspires to become a forensic psychologist. He recently got married to his wonderful wife Jenny, who is an investment banker and manager. They live in Stow, Ohio, and Dustin currently attends his APA psychology internship at Summit Psychological Associates in Akron, Ohio.