About Me

I was born in New York state, and moved to Virginia when I was seven.  I consider McLean, Virginia, my "home town."  Some people have noticed that I pronounce some words, such as "embarrassed," "coffee," and "Laura," with an odd combination of New Yorker and southern twang as a result of this move.

 I was terrible at math in elementary school: I was the last 2nd-grader to learn to carry, the last 3rd-grader to learn to borrow, and the last 4th-grader to learn to do my multiplication tables and long division.  Somehow in fifth grade, I caught on to how fractions work, and a huge thrill for me was when another student, Tricia Banks, actually wanted to copy my fractions test!  I had never had that experience before, as everyone knew up until that time that my answers were probably wrong.

 I graduated from Langley High School, just down the road from the CIA headquarters.  If you see movies with aerial shots of the CIA, you can sometimes spot Langley High School nearby. (It appears as a gigantic square with a courtyard).

 I attended the University of Virginia after applying for early admission.  I majored in Electrical Engineering and chose to pursue a graduate degree in Electrical Engineering from Stanford University, so I moved to Palo Alto, California when I was 21.

 I was able to pay for my Stanford tuition by being a Teaching Assistant, an experience which convinced me to pursue teaching full-time.  Immediately after earning my M.S. in Electrical Engineering, I changed majors to Education and enrolled in Stanford's teacher education program.  Within a year, I had completed my student teaching/internship and earned my M.A. in Education.

 I taught full-time at Capuchino High School in San Bruno, CA from 1989 until 2007, with a one-year leave of absence to teach at Palo Alto High School during the 2001-2002 school year, where I was encouraged to earn my National Board Certification.

My favorite activities are running, trying to make money in the stock market, watching movies with a bowl of popcorn, and playing Sudoku.  I love to sit at Starbucks drinking a grande soy latte while reading the newspaper.  I like to go camping with my kids and ride bikes with my family.  

Something few people know about me is that I bicycled across the continental United States (Virginia to Oregon) when I was 18.  I got hit by a car in Colorado, and had to hitchhike about 130 miles to Colorado Springs to get my bike fixed.

 I live in Littleton with my wife Melanie, my 16-year-old daughter Kate, my 14-year-old son Ashton, and our two dogs, Farley and Indiana, both of whom were rescued from Denver Dumb Friends League.