Bio in Brief

Born in Cambridge, Massachusetts, May 19, 1957.

Lived in Wrentham, Massachusetts until I was 8.

Moved to Saudi Arabia in 1965. My father worked for the American Oil Company (ARAMCO), so we picked up and lived in Abqaiq (and later Ras Tanura), on Saudi Arabia's east coast. Living in Arabia was like living on an army base: we went to mostly-American schools, we ate mostly-American foods, we watched mostly-American movies. Outside of not having television, it was a mostly ideal sort of life, I guess. Moved back to the states in 1972.

Survived high school.

Went off to Dartmouth College, which, if you don't know, is located way out in the sticks of New Hampshire. Spent four years mostly having fun, shivering, and studying. Paid bills along the way by waiting tables, bartending, and teaching karate. Graduated with no clue What I Wanted To Be When I Grew Up.

Moved to Boston to go to law school, thereby postponing any meaningful decision about finding a job. Spent three years in law school mostly studying, shivering, and having fun. (The reordering of activities is intentional - law school was a LOT tougher than college).

Tended bar at a jazz club in Cambridge on weekends to pay bills and meet refined young ladies of taste and breeding. Graduated from law school, still clueless about WIWTBWIGU. Took the Massachusetts Bar.

While waiting for the results (I passed, for all the good it's done me), hitchhiked to South Carolina to attend the wedding of my college roommate. Talked to people who gave me rides about what they did for a living and why. By the time I came back to Boston, had concluded that I didn't want to be an attorney. Was admitted to the Mass Bar and immediately retired.

Helped found a doomed-from-the-start software company in Boston selling accounting software to lawyers. Discovered that I hated sales, liked programming and user interface design, and enjoyed writing manuals.

Met Bonnie at aforementioned jazz club and coaxed her into marrying me a year later. (Acquired my step-son, Brooks, then 5, in the deal.)

When doomed software company finally folded, went to Ireland for deferred honeymoon. Upon return, took writing job at Cullinet, which developed database and applications software for IBM mainframes. Learned a lot about tech writing. Learned I hated IBM mainframes.

Bought a rustic house in the middle of an oak forest in Rehoboth, Massachusetts. Spent my weekends cutting wood, hauling wood, and stacking wood.

Had small role in the birth of my daughter, Caitlin.
Enrolled in an MBA program that I may actually complete some day.

Developed an almost-religious fascination with the Macintosh.

Quit Cullinet when they refused to go Mac and started the doc department for Cayman Systems, a small Mac network developer in Cambridge.

Left there five years later to start the doc department at Wildfire Communications, a startup developing a very cool phone-based electronic assistant. (Call 1.800.WILDFIRE for demo.)

Left Wildfire a year later to work at Sun Microsystems. Settled in happily after adjusting to the radically different corporate culture. (Startups are typically cash-poor and driven by deadlines, which makes for a frantic do everything with very little mentality. By contrast, working at Sun was like attending a large, well-appointed university: lots of bright people working on leisurely think-projects, lots of money to throw at problems, lots of amenities like free T-shirts, on-campus fitness centers and company-subsidized cafeterias.) Spent my time reading email, surfing the web, and writing books about TCP/IP network software and data encryption technologies.