MeThe Crow's Nest Dartmouth

Established: February, 1994

Academics

I graduated from Boise High School in 1987. After completing a double major in Mathematics and Computer Science at Northwest Nazarene College, I was accepted into the Dartmouth College Ph.D. program in Computer Science. I studied Operating Systems under David Kotz, receiving a M.S., though I never completed my Ph.D. thesis.

Politics

I've always been interested in politics. In 2004, I ran for Selectman (essentially the town council), and lost, but it was a good introduction to local politics. The following year I ran for the Planning Board and was elected, and I am now in my third term. I am also the Planning Board's representative to the MetroWest Regional Collaborative, currently serving as Vice Chair.

I've also served on a number of other town committees. I ran an independent Green Ashland Initiative Alliance prior to the forming of the Sustainability Committee (on which I also served), and worked to gain Green Community status for Ashland. I'm currently on the Upper Charles Trail Committee, working to build Ashland's portion of a 30-mile bike and walking trail. I also serve as the chair of the Comprehensive Plan Advisory Group, working to produce Ashland's next 10-year master plan.

Relevant links:

TV and Movies

I mostly watch Science Fiction. And thanks initially to ReplayTV and now MythTV, I watch it when I want to.

Family

I'm very proud of my family. My wife Catherine is a teacher, having taught in public, private, and charter schools. She loves everything Shakespeare. Like a professional athlete, she has retired from teaching at the height of her career to focus on raising our son Mason, who is currently in the half-day kindergarten program in the Ashland Public Schools.

We have been foster parents for several children though DCF. It's an incredibly rewarding experience. Due to privacy rules, I can't say much about the wonderful kids we've had. If you have time and love to share, I highly recommend you consider fostering.

Remember when everyone had their own home pages like this one? I used to link to all my friends here, but now that's mostly moved to Facebook. Perhaps a bit less fun, but a lot more universal.

Computers

On 31 December 1981, with help from my grandparents and older brother, I bought an Atari 800 computer. I still have it, and it still works, though I have save some Atari 8-bit utilities that let me do things like use my Linux box as a file server for it.

I've started a technology blog, Mad Man with a Compiler. Mostly it's posts about C programming, Linux tweaks, and Bash scripting.

Fun and General Interest

I enjoy participating in medieval events with The Society for Creative Anachronism (East Kingdom Barony of Carolingia Canton of Aschehyrst).

I love bicycling, especially with the Ashland Bike Club. The summer after I graduated from college I bicycled across the country from San Francisco to Delaware with Wandering Wheels, and now I can often be found biking to work in Hopkinton when weather permits.

I never outgrew playing with LEGOs ("LEGO(r) bricks" if you're being pedantic). I put together a page with some of my creations from when I had more time: PC's LEGO Empire. I found a group of other like-minded adults in the New England LEGO Users' Group (NELUG). Someday I'll let Mason play with my collection.

I am a member of the Presbyterian Church in Sudbury, where I am a volunteer youth leader with the high school youth group. This summer, we went on a mission trip to The Philippines. We now sponsor a child through Little Children of the Philippines.

Technical WWW

This page is NCSA Mosaic for X enhanced. Download the latest copy.