me
i was born an army brat and haven't stopped moving since, moving 19 times in my 27 years of life. my loving family currently resides in Texas and somehow i ended up here in Champaign at Wolfram Research. i began as a technical support engineer, then moved on to writing and maintaining the software that converts Mathematica notebooks into web pages. in other words, i wrote code that makes these sites possible. true to my nature, i kept moving and somehow ended up as Database Developer. i am currently the lead DBA for Wolfram, managing databases and developing applications for MySQL and Oracle. i also do Mathematica consulting on the side.
before coming to Wolfram, i graduated with honors in 2001 with a double major in Physics and Mathematics from Rose-Hulman Institute of Technology, located in the bustling metropolis of Terre Haute, Indiana. unlike most people that enrolled in Rose Poly in the late nineties, i decided to apply because they had chalk boards in the toilet stalls when i went to visit (not to mention their Rube Goldberg and lego recruiting brochures...).
during my studies at Rose, i somehow became enamored with the Japanese language and culture. i promptly applied for and received an NSEP scholarship that helped me study for one year at the University of Tsukuba, where i concentrated on studying technical Japanese.
since i enjoyed myself so much in Japan, i turned down offers of graduate research and lucrative employment for a year long internship that I received through the JETRO Internship program. this time i worked in a semiconductor company developing a novel micromotor based on silicon processing. i had a wonderful time, spending most of my free time climbing or traveling with friends. if you're so inclined, you might like to read about some exploits, as told in the weekly steves.
of course, when that was done, i didn't want the adventure to end. so...i spent 3 months living and working on a small potato farm in Hokkaido, one of the most rewarding experiences of my life. when most of my work for the harvest was done, i spent the remaining month working in a yakitoriya, serving drinks and food, and yelling 'irrashaimase!' to all the surprised customers (there were only two foreigners in this farming town...)
so that's about all the interesting points. currently, my main hobbies are rock climbing and getting lost in the intracacies of unix/linux systems. i also enjoy most outdoor sports, including mountain/road biking, soccer, volleyball, and when resources (natural and monetary) allow, snowboarding and skiing. i also love making and listening to music. i play piano, standup and electric bass, and love any music that moves me. oh, and i like honey nut cheerios.