About Me

I started out as an environmental scientist, writing reports on streams and lakes. The stream work took me out of the office, to collect water samples from blackberry-entangled waterways. In the evenings I taught college courses in introductory biology and environmental science. The teaching and course design was very satisfying work, communicating science and tackling writing with freshman-level liberal arts students.

I continued teaching when I went overseas for a couple of years, at a language center in Amman, Jordan. There I taught English grammar, conversation, and writing. When I returned to the US I wanted to focus more on language and writing, partly to continue some work from Jordan as a writing instructor for an environmental group.

Today I'm a technical writer, a transplant from the environmental industry to the information technology industry. I'm a relatively late entrant to the business of software and the Internet, however I can lay claim to a pretty early toehold--my first computer programming course was in 1978. We had a line printer on loan to our high school from the University of Wisconsin, which was intended for a course in BASIC. Unfortunately, the line printer arrived so late in the term that we spent most of the course "programming" on paper and the chalkboard, and didn't switch over even when the printer arrived.

If you would like to see details of my work history, please take a look at my RESUMÉ.

When we're not working, my wife Sierra and I love to backpack in the Cascade and Olympic Mountains, not far from our home in Seattle. We also travel when we get a chance, around the US and overseas. My main hobby in the past has been remodeling our house. That's been on hold since we moved in 2001, but is likely to pick up again when our design plans are complete. Nothing like wrestling with some drain pipes, drywall, or tile to take your mind off the deskwork!

If you would like to see more of what Sierra and I have been up to, please take a look at our personal web site.