I hear you say something in the interview about not really knowing any schools that would teach this kind of stuff. I am taking a course in Game Art and Design, and it sounds like just about everything that a tech artist does is in this course, 3D modeling and advanced classes in it, 3D and 2D animation, there a bunch more in the course but the list of classes in the 4 year course is a bit long.
i loved that homer simpson line-
"i'll kiss your ass and call it ice-cream and if you don't like that i'll change"
go armadillos!