User Profile

I was born in Santa Barbara, California. We moved to Santa Maria, about an hour north, when I was seven. I was a DARE role model, but I don't believe DARE keeps kids away from drugs. That said, I never did them.

Junior high wasn't very fun for me, and high school wasn't much better. Don't get me wrong, there were good times, but it was tough for me to figure out who I wanted to be. I moved about an hour north to go to college. I think everyone was expecting me to go farther away - or, at least, I was expecting me to go farther away. I majored in mechanical engineering, because I've always taken things apart. I don't like the design portion or mechanical engineering as much as I like the scientific critical thinking aspect of it. That was a problem, because Cal Poly stresses the design element pretty heavily. It worked out okay in the end, though.

I worked for a software company for a long time, and then I ran away and joined the Engineering Circus one day. No one knew. It was crazy. I lived in Seattle that summer and I loved it, so I came back the next summer, and it was even better, so I decided to move here. Seattle gave me the opportunity to start fresh - an opportunity I never got in college, because I went to college with a lot of my old high school friends. Maybe I just needed some time to breathe.

I don't talk specifics about work too much, because there isn't much I can say without getting myself in trouble. I am a nerdy nerdy engineer and I enjoy my job. I make excel spreadsheets in my spare time.

I used to love cars and motorcycles, and I still like them. My first car was stolen. It was a Saturn. Who steals a 1994 Saturn? In 2005? I still know enough about cars to know a lot of cars I'd rather steal. I rode a 1989 Kawasaki EX-500 for a while, but I sold it. Now I share two cars with my husband - a 2005 Honda Civic hybrid and a 1995 Mercury Sable, although that one doesn't get much mileage now that we carpool.

You might hear about these people:

Mom - Very short. Owns her own nursery business and doesn't like to spend money on clothing. An excellent cook. Nuts, but usually in a good way.
Pa - The best barbeque-er I know. Retired from the post office in October 2005. Reads good books, usually likes good music. Also nuts, but also usually in a good way. Loves wine.
Becca - My sister. Aquarius. Married Adam in May 2004 and moved to Washington, DC. Dorky in a different way than me, but definitely still dorky. Loves Harry Potter (no really, LOVES), and calls me Lemonhead. Turns into a pumpkin when tired. We're very different, but I can always trust her for honest advice. Even when I don't want it.
Adam - Brother-in-law. Likes the pooches. Knows lots about sports (especially baseball and football), electronics and finances.
Brian - Boyfriend Fiancé Husband. Not quite as crazy as the family. Works for the same company as I do. He went to college in North Dakota. We did not meet on the internet. He's a great golfer, a great softball player, and a lot smarter than me. He cooks for me when I'm sick. I like him.

Grandma - My grandmother died February 7th, 2009. I always wanted to take her to StoryCorps, and I didn't, and I'm sorry I didn't.

I like reading, especially Pat Conroy, Richard Adams, Orson Scott Card, Jane Austen, Neal Stephenson, Oscar Wilde, and pretty much everything else. I love Richard Feynman. I like Vonnegut's earlier work, especially Sirens of Titan and Breakfast of Champions. I own a copy of Venus on the Half Shell by Kilgore Trout. I've been reading a lot of books about cooking lately. One of the most interesting things I've ever read was the Columbia Accident Investigation Board's final report.

I'm becoming neater as I get older. I arrange my books in alphabetical order by author's last name. My closet is arranged by increasing sleeve length and then by color. I played classical piano and violin for years. I wish I hadn't quit. I like all these short sentences. I feel like Hemingway.


(Rain/violin by nebulaean for the interests meme.)

I make friends-only posts occasionally.
I edit my friends list often.
I love new friends.
I love intelligent discussion.
My contact information is here.

"I would rather be ashes than dust!
I would rather that my spark should burn out
in a brilliant blaze than it should be stifled by dry-rot.
I would rather be a superb meteor, every atom
of me in magnificent glow, than a sleepy and permanent planet.
The function of man is to live, not to exist.
I shall not waste my days trying to prolong them.
I shall use my time."

- Jack London's Credo

One of my wishes is that those dark trees,
So old and firm they scarcely show the breeze,
Were not, as ’twere, the merest mask of gloom,
But stretched away unto the edge of doom.

I should not be withheld but that some day
Into their vastness I should steal away,
Fearless of ever finding open land,
Or highway where the slow wheel pours the sand.

I do not see why I should e’er turn back,
Or those should not set forth upon my track
To overtake me, who should miss me here
And long to know if still I held them dear.

They would not find me changed from him they knew—
Only more sure of all I thought was true.

- Into My Own, Robert Frost

DISCLAIMER: This journal is my own and does not necessarily represent positions, strategies or opinions of the company with whom I am employed.

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