I was born in Clairton, PA, which for many years was the "pollution capitol of the world". I have a PhD degree in physics from Carnegie-Mellon University and worked for a little under ten years for U. S. Steel Research in Monroeville, PA, followed by 21 years as a programmer/systems analyst/hardware trouble-shooter for Computer Sciences Corporation (contracter to NASA GSFC) in Maryland. I retired in April of 1999. I currently reside in Glenn Dale, MD. I'm a very bad housekeeper but a pretty good cook. The picture to the right shows me preparing some cabbage soup. (Click to enlarge) 

Here are two cats that have lived with me the past decade or so. The "torbie" is Dangle and the "standard issue orange" is Nardov. Dangle and Nardov were both rescues from the wild. Nardov died the day before Thanksgiving in 2007, exactly fifteen years after I got him. Click on Nardov and Dangle to see more of them.

I used to take several cave exploration trips a year but a lot of the caves that were once accessable have now been closed by the owners. It's the frequently occurring modern theme of people suing others for their own stupidity. "Oooops, I got lost in your cave and fell into a pit - fork over a million bucks please". These are a couple of my caving buddies, Pete and Don, after a trip to Casparis, a very pretty cave in SW Pennsylvania. (Click to enlarge)   (The little waterfall on the center right issues from the cave entrance.)

I have been an amateur ("ham") radio operator since I was thirteen years old. I currently hold an Extra Class license. I've always enjoyed building equipment and experimenting more than operating but I've had my share of contacts around the world. With the advent of microminiturization and everything-on-a-chip devices my electronics play has been rechanneled more into computers and robotics. My friend Wendy has had several amateur radio related cartoons published in the Montgomery Amateur Radio Club Newsletter. This is one of them (Click to enlarge). 

Even when I was only six or seven years old I liked to take long walks in the woods and along the back roads in Pennsylvania. I am still an avid hiker and backpacker. In 1981 I hiked the Appalachian Trail from end to end. I repeated the trek in 2001. Every year for the last five years I have attempted the Sierra Club's "one day hike" - a single day walk from Washington, D.C. to Harper's Ferry, WV (100 kilometers or 62.14 miles). In 2004 I got as far as White's Ferry. I completed it successfully in years 2005 through 2008. Now how often do you have to worry about being eaten while hiking? This photo was taken on the Appalachian Trail in northern Virginia. Click on the picture to read my trail journals from both 1981 and 2001 and to read about my 100k (62 mile) one-day-hike experience.

I enjoy playing MIDI music on my computer and occasionally write a composition of my own. My music peripherals and software include dual MIDI ports, MidiSoft Studio Version 3 sequencer, a Roland Sound Canvas Synthesizer, Roland ep-7 digital piano/keyboard, Pyle 50-watt stereo amplifier and an Advent stereo speaker system. 

My favorite computer games are the "adventure" type rather than the acrcade style action/strategy shoot-em-up games. I've played many of the early DOS-based games and have worked through many of the more modern games including the Zork series, several of the Leisure Suit Larry series, Day of the Tentacles, Sam n' Max Hit the Road, the immensly popular Myst, and the sequels to Myst: Riven, Exile, Revelation, and Uru. The picture to the right is of my coffee-stained notes taken while playing "Zork Nemesis". Click on it to see comments on some of the games that I've played.

I bought a Cannon "Digital Rebel" digital SLR camera a couple of years ago and often carry it with me when I go out.   Click on the picture to see some interesting snapshots that I have taken with it.