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About Me

Well, I have to say that I'm glad I never thought of this before but I guess it's about time that I finally write something about myself for any perfect strangers that happen across my pages. I have had a web site at one server or another now for over a year and until now I have never written a bio for myself. At least you could say that I'm not narcissistic!

Although I figure that if you spend any time looking at the things that I thought were important enough to put on my web pages, you will probably know a lot about me already. However, I would like to set the story straight. I wouldn't want anyone to get a false impression of me. I'm much crazier than you already think I am! :)

Here goes. I am six feet tall, have blue eyes and brown hair. I grew up sort of 'on the move' what with my father's job requiring us to move if he didn't want his career to stagnate. (He works for the United Way...now in Nebraska). I was born in Waukegan, Illinois and spent the first remembered years of my life in Buffalo, New York. At age five we moved to Brandon, FL where I attended school in the Hillsborough County school system until the sixth grade. We moved to New Jersey. Nuff said about that. Seventh and eighth grade were spent in said state (in Barnegat actually, south of Toms River in Ocean County). We then moved to Southeastern Connecticut where I attended high school at Ledyard High School. I enjoyed singing in the choirs, especially the Christmas Carolers. We got to wear cool capes and top hats and sing old Victorian music in four part harmony while trudging through the snow for our next glass of warming wassail...well, not really. It was a lot of fun though. I did fairly well in all my classes, when I felt like paying attention and after 3 years of German (the fourth year was pretty much a goof-off year, sorry Frau Fromhein, but I figured you already knew...:) I spoke it well enough to get around pretty well on the trip I took to Germany with my German teacher and some of her other students. I went to college at the University of Connecticut and received a degree last year (it should have been in 1999 but I procrastinated on my last Incomplete...as is typical). It's a B.A. with a dual major in Philosophy and German Studies. Sure, it won't secure me a job like an MBA is supposed to do and it won't make me a highly skilled technician or engineer but I think it's made me capable of doing just about anything.

Which is frustrating.

But I did meet my wonderful wife, Danielle, while I was a freshman and married her when I was almost a junior in August of 1997. We went away to Germany for a year of 'study abroad' and loved our stay in beautiful Freiburg. You can read all about our stay and see pictures of the city on some of the pages on this site. We started dating in March of 1996 after a long struggle on my part to get over my old girlfriend. Once I finally accomplished that and Dani and I started dating, things have just been getting better and better for me. We always loved to spend time together (except when I got into my work moods: I'd kick her out so I could finally get some studying done!) We'd spend the night together almost every night of the week just so we could wake up together. That August we went on a camping trip to the Catskills in New York. We stayed for a whole week in a little state campground that had no facilities more modern than an outhouse and a water tap. We had a wonderful time hiking and exploring the beautiful mountains--and the weather was perfect the entire week! It wasn't long after that that I decided that I wanted to marry this wonderful woman. So in October of that very same year we took a trip to Maine. We were going up just so we could get away from Connecticut and UConn and also to visit some old friends of Dani's. On the Saturday morning when we woke up in Maine, I asked Dani if she'd like to go shopping to find an engagement ring. She was so startled she didn't know what to say except "Let's go!". So we went from jewelry store to jewelry store to antique store. We couldn't find the perfect ring anywhere! Since we were going out to Peaks Island on Casco Bay, and the ferry leaves from Portland, we eventually ended up shopping in Portland's Old Port. Dani's friends were living in a house on the island and we wanted to spend the night with them. At a jewelry store there, we found the perfect ring. Dani loved it, it fit her perfectly and it was in my budget! Fortunately for me, Dani didn't want a diamond engagement ring. She thought the blue topaz that we bought was far more beautiful. So I paid for it and told her to 'forget' what we had been doing. She agreed and I pocketed the ring for the trip out to the island (we took the last ferry because we wanted more time to shop...we barely made it!). So we ate supper and visited with our friends until it was several hours after sunset. Then we decided to 'go for a walk' to find the beach and look at Portland from across the water. Under the full moon, in her beloved home state by the waters she adored I asked my best friend and lover to marry me. I put the ring on her finger and neither of us could find the words to say how much we loved each other. We embraced and sighed and listened to the water washing over the sand. The moonlight shimmered on the water and some deer ran away as we walked back to the house. It was the sort of moment you never forget.

After our stay in Germany, I had one more year to go to finish my degree. When I finished that year I took a job in the campus bookstore selling computers, software and peripherals for the first nine months after I stopped being a full time student. That job was so slow and boring at times that I taught myself how to use software to create web pages. Thus was born the first version of this site (which I think is still viewable at this URL). This page that you are reading I wrote the code for myself...although it's a very simple page and not really anything to brag about. I also spent a lot of time at that job working on recreating and updating their FileMaker Pro databases. I learned to love Apple computers in that store, especially after they came out with the all-powerful G4 computers. That was also the first time I was really spoiled by a high-bandwidth internet connection. Well, in February of 2000 I received a sudden offer of a job as a temporary program assistant (i.e. secretary) for a program I had worked for briefly as a student. The ITA Program was losing its current assistant to another job and they couldn't perform the necessary search in the short time they had before he left. So I took the job since it paid better (though unfortunately without benefits) and promised to be a little more interesting. Well, it too was a slow job but I learned a bit more about designing web pages and how to build and manage an Access database. The web pages I created have kept their design scheme even though I haven't worked on them since July (1999). [This is no longer true, they have changed them a bit since then.] I also ran the office, answered the phone, that kind of thing. Somehow I didn't receive the permanent position even though I applied for it. So my wife Dani and I moved to Maine! Where we both now happily live on the Midcoast. My first job in Maine was doing technical support for a company called EnvisioNet (which has been bought out following Chapter 11 bankruptcy) and Dani worked for the credit card company MBNA for about a year. We both worked answering phones doing customer service of one kind or another and we have dreamed about someday owning a bed and breakfast or running a youth hostel.

In the spring of 2002 we moved on to other things. I started substitute teaching at Morse High School. I intend to take the background requirements I need over the next few years to become a science teacher and then to find a job. I started Chemistry classes in the fall of 2002 at the University of Southern Maine. Dani worked for a while at the WellBeing Center providing child care to the children of instructors and clients. The WellBeing Center was a great new fitness/health center that offered classes in yoga, tai chi, meditation, and similar activities as well as massage. Unfortunately it did not turn into a full time job for her because the center closed.

I took a job in the fall of 2002 as a special education teacher at Morse High School. I loved teaching and you can see some of what I did here. I taught math and study skills and one semester of freshman science. I lost that job at the end of the school year because it was cut from the school budget. I started classes again in the fall of 2003 and as of the spring 2004 semester I am completing a second semester in both physical chemistry and organic chemistry. I hope to take physics this summer so that I can apply to teach science in a school this fall. Right now I am working as an adult education teacher for Merrymeeting Adult Education. I have posted materials I have created for that course here. I also work two days a week as a substitute teacher, when I get called.

Dani started work as a chiropractic assistant at the beginning of 2004 and so far has really enjoyed it. She works with the doctor and the office manager three days each week for ten hours each day. She is learning a lot and by April will be a certified chiropractic assistant. Also, Dani has started working with her good friend Jennifer Nadeau as an office manager for Jai Yoga. She works with Jennifer for about five hours each week in the beautiful studio at Fort Andross in Brunswick, ME.

For those wishing to hire me for my obvious skill and valuable experience, please see my résumé

The autobiography is now three years out of date. I do not have time to write the measly three paragraphs it would require to make it current. Also, if you are a student of mine: get back to your homework!