David was born in Las Cruces, NM but didn't stay there for long. His family moved from place to place quite a bit including Wisconsin, Minnesota, California, New Mexico, Oklahoma, and Texas. He learned to make friends and get along with people after needing to make so many new ones.

As a teenager he was a hopeless geek who was a member of the bridge club and started the computer club. He was involved in various nefarious undertakings in the computer underground and narrowly avoided the Secret Service as they rounded up a few of his friends.

After leaving home at 17 he continued the tradition. He dropped out of high school and lived on the street; "experiencing life". After having enough of real life he joined the Army where he moved about more adding South Carolina and Virginia to his list of locales, ending up back in California, then Minnesota again.

He then married his first wife and followed her to Illinois and back to California. After getting divorced he floundered about for a few years and married again. This time he had 3 beautiful, intelligent children and was a devoted family man for 10 years. He also rediscovered his joy of computers and entered the computer field. Despite a lack of formal education he worked his way up various corporate ladders and consulting firms.

He was then given the opportunity for his dream job: web master of a computer gaming site. (Stomped.com) He ran the site with a team of 20 for 3 years. The site exploded, partnering up with C|Net. Then at the beginning of 2001, like so many web sites, it imploded.

He moved on and is now a freelance web designer who manages to make enough to to pay his child support, his debt, his bills, and feed his computer habit. He is truly an American. He is happy to be roller-blading with his girlfriend when he can and spends too much time on the computer.

Application Essay

I should be chosen for Survivor: Okinawa for two reasons. The main reason is that I will win. It's not a question. It's not a debate. It's a fact. I will not be outmaneuvered. I have lived on the streets, I have gone through military training, I have survived corporate politics. On every front I have outwitted, outplayed, and outlasted.

The second reason is that I will add what people truly crave to the game; politics. Survivor is not a game that you win by yourself. It is also not a game where you can just become a wolf-pack and vote everyone off. Closest to that was first season, and it won't happen again. Look at Marquesas. You have to maneuver, and do it quickly and without burning your bridges. It's quite the balancing act and everyone loves to watch the tightrope artist to see if they are going to fall.

The third reason (yes, I know I said two ;) is I am a half of what could be a very interesting whole. My father also applied. Now there would be something unique and new. Father and Son going at it where only one can win. Now that's a tough political situation I would love to get into because (trust me) it wouldn't be an immediate alliance. That would be far too obvious. Definitely good for the ratings ;)

(Side note, we would *not* cheat. What's the point in playing if you cheat?)

Finalist Essay

What makes me stand out? I'm a survivor. When I was 18-19 years old, I lived on the street with no real home. That didn't stop me. I have been to jail (charges dropped) and in the Army. I've been through marriage and kids. I've been a bouncer and a guardian angel ( http://www.guardianangels.org/ ). I even once built an igloo with a friend at midnight during a Minnesota winter wearing only a ninja suit and stayed there until noon. Don't ask, I don't want to go into the whole Ninja thing :) (but it's true, I swear) I was searched for by the Secret Service, and not found. (I was young and also don't want to go into details, but still true :) I now am a successful computer consultant who survives very well, thank you.

I also stand out because I have never met a person that didn't like me. I've never had an enemy. Even my ex-wife thinks I'm great. I just seem to be a people person. I'm not sure what it is because I'm not an outgoing kind of person, yet I'm not shy. I'm not the clown, yet I am funny. (Well, I laugh at my jokes any way) I am not physically imposing, yet people seem to think I'm tough. Everyone seems to think I should be a lawyer, politician, or psychologist. I'm not sure why.

But most of all, as I said before, you should pick me because I will not only win, I'll make it interesting. Otherwise why bother? I love new things and I hate boring things. I will also find a way to use every little thing I can to my tactical advantage.

Not entirely related, but there were two final comments and a question I had:

1) Are you allowed to give rations to other people? The rules say that the food will be distributed evenly among the tribe, but can I give some or all of mine to other players?

2) Completely not related, but I'm a web developer by trade and hobby ( I used to run a hugely popular gaming site called Stomped, now defunct) and I'd be happy to help with the design of the site. The offer stands if I'm accepted or not. It's a small site and should be fairly quick to whip out.

3) I completely understand why you would be hesitant to bring both my father and I on. There are no hard feelings there, but allow me one more plea to the powers that be since I think it would be great fun to go head-to-head not only with him but to throw that monkey in the works. If you think about it the initial response would be for people to cry "foul!", but then they will be forced to think about it. It puts him and I at a distinct disadvantage. (Similar to Vecepia and Sean in Marquesas) because everyone will assume we'd have an alliance. But what good is a known alliance, especially one that seems like it would be so strong that we'd pick each other for the final two no matter what? Who would want to go in with a tight duo like that? I mean, this would be a known commodity for people to figure in and they'd still have to wonder no matter what we did, is it real? It puts a level of difficulty in getting anyone else to believe what we say about each other and who we'd be loyal to. Not to mention the difficulty of not being in an alliance. Who wants to team up with a father or son who will vote the other out? Can you trust them? Damned if we do, damned if we don't, and no matter how you slice it, even if we did ally, a two person alliance is a short lived alliance. Thanks, just wanted to get my two cents in. I'm highly competitive and would love to beat the old man. Talk about earning respect :)

Here's to crossing my fingers that I make the cut. Thanks for all the effort you have put into this thus far.

-David "Tactic" McDaniel

Post-Game Links (spoilers)

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