CURRENT MISSION

to help others help others

ABOUT ME

i was born on a snowy february morning in 1982, or so my grandma tells me. every year, on my birthday, she tells the story of how she almost didn't get to see me on the day i was born because of a massive snowstorm. i don't remember, but i figure it's a good start even if it is second-hand information.

i spent my childhood in stanfordville, ny with a beautiful lake right outside my front door. i caught my first frog when i was three years old and was wrestling full-grown snapping turtles not long after that. i loved exploring the lake and learning all i could about the different types of fish, reptiles, and amphibians that live there. needless to say, the lake played a large role in nurturing my love of science and nature from a very early age. when i wasn't busy being a complete geek, my friends and i would pass the time with games of home run derby in the backyard, adventures in the woods, endless amounts of pond hockey during the winter, and fishing at every opportunity.

i went to high school at our lady of lourdes in poughkeepsie, ny and graduated in 2000. during my senior year of high school, i began attending marist college, also in poughkeepsie, ny, as part of a high school/college bridge program. i "graduated" from marist college in 2004, but it wasn't until i came to boston the following year that i completed the final credit required for my bachelor of science in biology from marist college at northeastern university.

i've lived in boston, technically brookline, since june of 2005. for my first year or so here, i sold computers at the best buy in landmark center, which could not have ended soon enough, and worked as a math and science tutor and substitute teacher for the public schools of brookline, which i absolutely loved. by mid 2006, i'd found myself working as a contractor for boston.com as a web traffic analyst. that position eventually transitioned into a full-time role with the added responsibility of designing and building odds and ends web pages and taking on some additional analytical work.

i'd known for some time that i wanted to pursue a master's degree in a subject called bioinformatics, which, simply put, is the application of computer science and information technology to biology, chemistry, and physics. it's a pretty wide field that will truly revolutionize science in many ways over the coming years. i'd enjoyed working for boston.com, but it wasn't for me. the challenge of the job wore off quickly, but the people were fun and the pay was good, so i used my time there to position myself, both mentally and financially, for my return to school

in september of 2009, i quit my job at boston.com, returned to my post as a substitute teacher, and enrolled in a bioinformatics course at boston university as a non-degree student. as i'd hoped, i loved the subject and, most importantly, i was good at it. i immediately submitted an application to boston university's bioinformatics graduate program and was accepted three weeks later, just hours before the start of the spring semester.

so, for now, i'm back in the classroom and having a lot of fun, both as a student and as a teacher. i plan to have my master of science in bioinformatics sometime in early 2011.

PHILOSOPHY

“be ashamed to die until you have won some victory for humanity.”

兴趣

activities:
playing ice hockey, ice skating, drumming, being alone, being with friends, fishing, learning, documenting, recycling, gps data logging, donating blood, playing board games, collecting, thinking, going for walks, playing video games, watching movies, beachcombing, exploring, reading, spreadsheeting, solving puzzles, hiking...

interests:
paleontology/dinosaurs, genetics, evolution, fishkeeping, nature/ecology, conservation, physics, math, atoms, time travel, maps, cemeteries, data visualization, taxonomy, computers...

• fish
• reptiles
• amphibians
• running
• technology
• movies
• video games
• board games
• reading
• traveling
• puzzles
• fishing
• hiking
• wrestling
• hockey
• biology
• cartography
• chemistry
• computer science
• ecology
• teaching
• genealogy
• mathematics
• physics
• science

音乐、电影和书籍

movies:
jurassic park, titanic, the shawshank redemption, back to the future, the incredibles, the matrix, the mist, the truman show, rear window, the orphanage, signs, i am legend, frequency, miracle, pleasantville, jumanji, inception, the dark knight, saving private ryan, big fish, happy gilmore, dead poet's society, harry potter and the order of the phoenix, the usual suspects, apollo 13, the sixth sense, what dreams may come, war of the worlds, transformers, my cousin vinny, the time traveler's wife, watchmen, v for vendetta, harry potter and the prisoner of azkaban, cast away, night of the living dead...

television:
the twilight zone, lost, dexter, mythbusters, jeopardy!, the big bang theory, curb your enthusiasm, nova, dirty jobs, heroes, late night with conan o'brien/the tonight show with conan o'brien, penn & teller: bullshit!, futurama, cold case, house...

music:
my rule of thumb is: if you have thoughtful or insightful lyrics, an interesting drummer, or are completely over-the-top ridiculous, i will like your music. that being said...

dave matthews band, red hot chili peppers, led zeppelin, ingrid michaelson, cat stevens, john mayer*, counting crows, matisyahu, prince, martin sexton, foo fighters, jurassic 5, bob marley, ludacris, the roots, jack johnson, deltron 3030, kurt reifler...

*even though john mayer is a huge douchebag and has more than his fair share of lame songs, he is an outstanding guitarist.

video games (which are few and far between):
mega man 1-10 (especially 2-4), nhl '94, mario kart: double dash!!, mario kart ds, mario kart wii, team fortress 2, guitar hero, left 4 dead/left 4 dead 2, zoo tycoon, portal, dinopark tycoon, simlife, jurassic park: operation genesis...

books (fiction):
jurassic park, the lost world, timeline, and others by michael crichton; i am legend, bid time return, and others by richard matheson; the dinotopia series by james gurney; the dexter series by jeff lindsay; the harry potter series by j. k. rowling; the zombie survival guide and world war z by max brooks; the time traveler's wife by audrey niffenegger; the lorax by dr. suess; various stories by stephen king, philip k. dick, h. g. wells and isaac asimov...

books (non-fiction):
time traveler by ronald mallett; how to build a dinosaur by jack horner; your inner fish by neil shubin; arthur c. clarke's mysterious world by arthur c. clarke; a short history of nearly everything by bill bryson; death by black hole by neil degrasse tyson; a brief history of time by stephen hawking; a brief history of time by stephen hawking; the double helix by james d. watson; the black swan by nassim taleb; predictably irrational by dan ariely; mean genes by terry burnham and jay phelan; stumbling on happiness by daniel gilbert; freakonomics by steven levitt and stephen dubner; book on the topics of genetics, time travel, sustainable living, and the quirks of human behavior...

我游览过的国家

Cayman Islands, Costa Rica, France, Honduras, Panama, United Kingdom, United States

我居住过的国家

United States

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