Bicycle Racing

Since 1988, I have thoroughly enjoyed the sport of bicycle racing. Mostly a category 4/5/citizen racer, I was fortunate enough to win a citizen’s race in 1993 in Cheektowaga, New York. I have also placed 2nd, 3rd & 4th in my divisions in several other races throughout the northeast.

In 1997, I moved to Watertown, New York and began my career for Champlain Valley Educational Services. Due to my new travel schedule and absence of suitable roads for winter riding, I was not able to continue in this hobby.

For the next nine years, I was highly inactive. In 2006, I took up riding again, hoping to lose some weight and again become competitive. However, I did too much too soon and experienced an inflamation of the ligaments and/or tendons in my ankle. Unable to walk for a week, I have currently recuperated enough to walk without the aid of crutches and only with a slight limp. I hope to strengthen my leg muscles and begin riding once more.

Macintosh Computers

Since middle school, I have used Apple computers. Beginning in 1981, I was exposed to the Apple I computer: 5-1/4″ floppy disks, operating-systems-on-a-floppy, basic programming, APL, 2400 baud modems—the whole bit.

After high school, my mother purchased an Apple IIc computer for me to use at college. Reflecting my youth and lack of direction, I didn’t use nearly enough. I ended up selling it to my room-mate for a couple hundred dollars.

Prior to graduation from college, I purchased a (then) brand new Power Macintosh 8500/120. It was awesome! I have since owned and upgraded two other 8500s and my current beast: a Gigabit Ethernet G4 running OS X on dual 500MHz CPUs. At some point, I do plan on upgrading the processors’ speed when I can afford it (unless the Intel dual-core Macs tempt me away!). eBay all the way!

Web & Graphic Design

While in college, I self-taught myself basics of graphic design and used a new-fangled tool known as the Web. In 1993 (the beginning of the world wide web), I worked first-hand with Mosaic and its killer: Netscape.

After graduation, I even went so far as to begin a part-time sole-proprietorship offering marketing design services to business and organizations in my community.

Photography

Just recently, I invested in a Nikon D50 digital SLR camera. It’s the first excellent-quality camera my wife and I have owned. I am currently teaching myself how to take pictures, but would like to at some point take a class.