I am an Edison, NJ native and had the benefit of one of the US' better public education systems as the foundation of my education.  Being in the shadow of Rutgers University must have had some effect as my basic education stressed analytics and methodology over rote memorization, an approach from which I still benefit to this day.

My first programming experience was in the summer of 1982 writing BASIC on an Atari 400.  I then spend two years in High School honing those skills on Apple II's.

It was 1997 before I rediscovered my passion for programming from exposure to the Internet.  I purchased a used Windows based PC and taught myself HTML and Web Design.  By 1999 I had outgrown HTML's extremely limited functionality and decided that PHP would be the server programming language I would focus on.  I have been growing with it ever since.

In January 2006 I finally returned to [community] college and am now pursuing a double-major.  One degree is an A.S. in Computer Programming and Analysis whose purpose is to document and expand my skill set, and to serve as the foundation of a B.S. in Information Systems Technology.  The other is an A.A. pre-major in Political Science whose purpose is to feed my intellectual and philosophical needs, and to serve as the foundation of a B.A. in Political Science with a specialization in International Studies.

I am also focused on achieving professional IT certifications and expect the number of branded logos below to grow exponentially throughout 2007. Ultimately, I'm an education addict.