About me

I live in Massachusetts with my wife, Samantha Wilkinson, and our cats, Niobe, Nestor and Radka. I'm currently working as an embedded systems graphics programmer. Samantha and I were married on July 8, 2000.

I was born in St. Louis but grew up in a Virginia suburb of Washington, D.C. I picked up programming skills, first recreationally, then by working a perennial summer job at NCAR in Boulder, Colorado, in between working on my B.S. in physics from the College of William and Mary. Later I got a Ph.D. in theoretical particle physics at Harvard. Physics is probably going to be an avocation for me at best, unless major changes occur in society, but I don't mind; programming is as much fun.

I'm interested in the little-appreciated art of science popularization, and in reading every scrap of printed material I can get my hands on. My other hobbies include writing science fiction and bizarre humor, and drawing cartoons. Lately I've been experimenting with computer-aided art, though I don't pretend to be unusually artistically talented (my efforts adorn these pages).

On the Internet, I'm a moderator of the Usenet group sci.physics.research. I also post to some other newsgroups on occasion, depending on whatever I'm interested in (lately I've been posting to some Web authoring groups).

The newsgroup on which I have hung out most consistently over the past several years is alt.religion.kibology, a strange newsgroup probably best understood by reading it. Here are some of my posts, and related links.

A.r.k is also where I met Samantha Wilkinson. Here's a page about Sam. It turns out, to my surprise, that you can find love through Usenet, though it takes some luck. Sam has made me incredibly happy. What she sees in me is beyond me, but I'm not complaining.

Radka (née Rocket, July 10, 2002) came to live with us in September 2002. Like all little kittens, Radka is mind-bogglingly adorable... Here she is somewhat bigger, and here she is even bigger than that. They do grow up in a hurry! Radka is growing into a lovely and athletic cat with a particular preoccupation with leaping into the air, and she is easily my primary excuse for taking pictures with my digicam.

Nestor (b. 1999) arrived in August 2002. He's a big brown tabby with a calm and accepting personality and a deep and abiding love of sleeping. He is no genius cat but is sweet, and lately has become extremely affectionate, especially at about three in the morning. He's already decided that Radka is his best friend.

Niobe (b. 1997?) was adopted in 1998 and has been a joy ever since. She's playful and occasionally naughty but extremely outgoing; she charms all visitors and has the world's loudest purr. She often comes across as hostile in photographs, but that's an illusion (unless you are another cat threatening her turf). In person she looks more like a soft toy, albeit one with sharp claws, and hidden reserves of immense strength that come into play when one tries to trim them.

Elmer (? - 1998) was our second cat, adopted shortly after we moved in together in Arlington, Mass. As it turned out, he had undiagnosed kidney failure and died after only a month with us. He was a friendly and gentle orange cat of indeterminate age with a funny-sounding meow. I don't have any good pictures of him.

Savant (1994-2002) was raised by Sam from early kittenhood (Sam's friend Ella Jo Regan found her and a littermate abandoned outdoors, only a couple of weeks old-- far too young to be away from their mother, let alone dumped in the woods). Savant was always reserved around strangers, but affectionate with people she knew well, and she had a special bond with Sam. In 2002 she came down with terminal lymphoma. We wish we could have had more time with her.

About me

Our cats