me

Well now that 1998 is 2/3 of the way over I've decided to update and improve my web page. It now even has capital letters! As always it remains lynx friendly, and please feel free to email me any reports to the contrary. Interesting note, blind people appreciate alt text (which lynx friendly html tends to have), so writing standard html is not only browser friendly, but person friendly too.

To the right you'll see a picture O'Connell St. Bridge in Dublin that Deborah snagged for me. The hilighted blue smudge is me.

I just finished reading "Fermat's last Theorem," by Simon Singh, and loved it. In particular, this quote stood out [Carl Gauss's response upon learning that the brilliant "Monsieur Le Blanc" was actually Sophie Germain]:

"But how to describe to you my admiration and astonishment at seeing my esteemed correspondent Monsieur Le Blanc metamorphose himself into this illustrious personage who gives such a brilliant example of what I would find it difficult to believe. A taste for the abstract sciences in general and above all the mysteries of numbers is excessively rare: one is not astonished at it: the enchanting charms of this sublime science reveal themselves only to those who have the courage to go deeply into it. But when a person of a sex which, according to customs and prejudices, must encounter infinitely more difficulties than men to familiarize herself with these thorny researches, succeeds nevertheless in surmounting these obstacles and penetrating the most obscure parts of them, then without doubt she must have the nobelest courage, quite extraordinary talents and superior genius. Indeed nothing could prove to me in so flattering and less equivocal manner that the attractions of this science, which has enriched my life with so many joys, are not chimerical, as the prediliction with which you have honoured it."

Pretty insightful for a guy at the beginning of the 19th century. The book goes on to mention Germain's contributions to the more practical portions of science (Fermat's last theorem is important, but her contributions to physics have more obvious applications).

who, what, where

Well, after almost 5 years in Boston I decided to move to a better climate. Then on a whim I moved to Dublin. Actually the weather here isn't as bad as people make out. It's been sunny several days in my first month here. I'm still a software engineer, but I'm now at DreTec's Irish office (and we're hiring).

outside of work

Moving to a new place, you get to meet new people and do new things. But move to another country, and you run into a few Cultural Deltas. After work I've been doing research into Irish culture. I haven't been able to play volleyball lately, but I have a field behind the house that seems pretty open to the idea. I enjoy travelling, and obviously have some more pictures to put up along those lines. For now I just have my Buffalo/Tampa trip and the day trip to Howth I took the other day. I'll put more here, but I'm a bit lazy at the moment.

history, or "how did this all happen?"

In case anyone I knew long ago happens by this page, I marched forth in Brooklyn, NY. Of course, if you remember me from there, pardon if I've forgotten since I moved away at three. I lived in Salina, Kansas (and before anyone asks, Toto ran off and is living with a cat in Amsterdam) and went to Lowell Elementary school. I then moved to Huntington, Long Island (and even picked up an accent though I've thankfully lost it) where I went to Huntington High School. After that it was off to school at SUNY at Buffalo where I majored in computer science (never would have guessed, eh?) and then moved to Boston. I've been in Dublin for just over a month now (August, 1998)