The quick summary: I'm a middle-aged (yeah, yeah, middle-aged if I expect to live past 100 -- well, why not?), married, father of three, living in Rhode Island.
I'm originally from New York State: grew up in the mid-Hudson Valley, lived in the Binghamton area for around twenty-five years, relocated to Rhode Island late in 1995.
Nancy and I married in 1979. We have two children: Jennifer, now in high school, is an athlete (especially track & cross-country) and a web page builder; Sean, now in sixth grade, plays soccer and enjoys computer games. Both enjoy art and writing. Nancy is a systems analyst, currently working for a major bank. (Jennifer and Sean are not their real names; they requested that I not use their real names and, although I often tell them that the primary goal of parents is to embarrass their children, I am following their wishes in this.) I also have a son, Adam, who is a professional photographer living in the Big Apple.
My professional background is in information systems, but my current (since Oct. '95) job involves teaching, not programming. (My actual job title is something like senior courseware developer and training consultant.) I work for a small division of a large blue computer company (yeah, the one known by its initials) and my job involves developing courses to train people in the use of our software and also teaching those courses. My students may be new-hires in my division or employees from other parts of this world-wide big blue company or programmer/analysts from companies that have purchased our software. (This software is not shrink-wrapped retail software; it is major industrial strength stuff whose price tag contains many digits.)
Education? B.A. in English, graduate study in education, graduate study in literature, M.S. in Systems Science (Nancy & I co-authored our thesis: Human Factors Engineering and the Design of Online Computer Application Systems), also graduate study in information resource management. Oh, and I am currently taking a grad course in the design & planning of adult learning systems.
Hobbies & interests? Well, this kind of stuff, obviously. I'm also sort of a runner. Not as fast as I used to be, but I wasn't all that fast then... but I do enjoy running. Jennifer & I have been entering 5k races together since she was ten. I sometimes enter longer races, 15k, 20k, once did a half marathon ('fraid my knees do not want to do a full marathon). Longest race this year was the Narragansett Blessing of the Fleet 10 Mile Run. How fast? Hmmm, let's just say it's a good thing my watch has a calendar feature as well as a stop watch function. I enjoy doing things with my family... going to the beach, going for walks, all kinds of family outings: museums, youth soccer & softball, etc. Also enjoy reading, especially science fiction & private eye stuff, but I don't seem to have any where near as much time for reading as I used to. Hanging out with family & friends, talking, sharing good times. I like to cook, which is a good thing because I am the primary preparer of meals in this family; unfortunately, these days speed of preparation has to take precedence over gourmet considerations.