Well, let’s see. I grew up in Allentown, PA, and moved to Pittsburgh over twenty years ago, to take a job with Carnegie Mellon University. I’ve been in the information technology field since 2000, doing web development, business analysis, systems administration, and IT management. Today, I work for a shortline railroad company as their Chief Information Officer. If that’s at all interesting to you, you’re welcome to visit my resume over on linkedin.
I joke that through Carnegie Mellon, I not only got a paycheck for thirteen years, but I also got a masters degree, and met my wife Leah. We have four daughters, ranging from college to elementary school.
In my free time, I tend to rotate hobbies. I play alto and soprano sax. I started out playing jazz occasionally with Donna Bailey and Jason Hollar. Later, I joined Bad Buddha, a Pittsburgh original rock band, and then enjoyed a couple years with The Sun Kings, a reggae/rock band featuring outstanding musicianship.
Fundamentally, though, I’m someone who never grew out of a childhood love of trains (and never will). As a kid I loved HO scale model trains, and grew increasingly interested in the “real thing”. My lovely wife tolerates this intense “train thing”, as evidenced by our engagement (on a train), and wedding venue (at Horseshoe Curve). This interest drove me into related hobbies, like photography, electronics, and computer programming. The latter interests developed into my career choice, which came full circle in 2014 when I joined a Pittsburgh-area shortline railroad company. Over the last ten years, my photography interest has grown considerably. I took four semesters of darkroom photography at Pittsburgh Filmmakers, enjoyed several commercial railroad photography assignments, and have, on occasion, photographed weddings and portraits for family and friends.
Since moving into our lovely home in 2011, the realization that we had some unused basement space led me back into the fun of HO Scale model railroading.