Frederick Russell Kappel Boak

I suppose I will start by saying yes, that is my real, full name. I was named after my grandfather (my mom's father), Frederick Russell Kappel, and I got my dad's last name stuck on the end. It's not all that bad, having two middle names, but it does create a small problem when applying for credit cards. I usually try to switch off between the two, just to keep things a little (though not very) interesting.

Basically, I'm just this guy. Really. I'm a computer programmer and manager at a small software company in Watertown, MA called WordStock. We create inventory control software for retail stores, primarily bookstores. I've been there a very long time, since 1985. You can get a little more detail in my resume (though like I say on the front page of this site, I'm really very happy where I am. Unless you're ready to make me an offer that I just can't refuse, please don't bother contacting me).

I live in beautiful Harwich, MA with my even more beautiful wife Maia and our two adorable cats Fox and Cosmo. We've lived on Cape Cod since March, 2000, when we bought a house there.

In a nutshell, that's who I am. If you're interested in finding out a little more about me, g'head ... knock yourself out ... keep reading!

I was born on June 18, 1962, at New York Hospital in New York, NY, the first (and only) son of Carolyn (Elaine) Kappel Boak and William Newman Boak. My father was an assistant pastor at Brick Presbyterian Church in New York, NY. We lived in an apartment owned by the church, right around the corner from the Guggenheim Museum. My mother tells of taking me there in my stroller and of me staring up at Rodin's Burghers of Calais, which was in the museum's sculpture garden at the time.

When I was 2 1/2 years old, around Thanksgiving, 1964, my father was selected as the new pastor at the Freedom Plains Presbyterian Church and our family moved to LaGrange, NY, a town just outside of Poughkeepsie, NY. We lived in the church manse, across the street from the cemetary located behind the church. Our nearest neighbors were about 1/4 mile away.
When I was young it was a little confusing to me just where we lived. The church where my dad worked (across the street from our house) was Freedom Plains; the Town of LaGrange town hall was just down the street from our house; we had a Poughkeepsie telephone extension; our mailing address was Pleasant Valley; and we were part of the Arlington school district. Go figger!

When I was 3, I went to nursery school at the Jewish Community Center in Poughkeepie. This is where I learned about the Easter Bunny, much to the dismay of my parents! When I was 4, I went to nursery school at my father's church.
I spent kindergarden through 3rd grade at the Poughkeepsie Day School, a local private school. That's probably the first school that I remember. My best friend was a boy who rode the same bus as me. His name was (still is, I suppose) Barnaby Rockwell and he is Norman Rockwell's grandson. His father, Thomas Rockwell, is the author of several children's books and his mother, Gail, illustrated several of those books.
When I reached 4th grade, a new local public elementary school opened and my parents decided to pull me out of PDS and to send me to this new school, Noxon Road Elementary School. My mom says that one reason was because the yearly tuition at PDS had grown to be more than tuition and room & board had been for her at Carleton College.
I only spent two years at Noxon. Because of overcrowding, 6th graders from several district elementary schools were sent a year early to LaGrange Junior High (now called LaGrange Middle School). As I remember it, we were fairly segregated from the rest of the school, all in one wing. I don't even remember having lunch with the older students. 7th through 9th grades were spent in the same building. I sang in the school chorus and participated in a bunch of sports: soccer, football, and track & field (220 yard run and triple jump). I wasn't very good at sports, but it was a fair amount of fun being on the teams. I was pretty good at singing, though, and so, when I went to high school, I concentrated more on the singing and dropped the sports stuff.
I spent 10th through 12th grades at Arlington High School, which was across a two-lane highway (Route 55) from my father's church.

More to come ...