About me
I was born in Port Jefferson on Long Island and lived there for the first few years of my life. I don't remember much, naturally, but I do have some vague recollections of the neighborhood. After that my family moved out to Jersey, where I did most of my growing up. There wasn't much near us, but there were plenty of opportunities to explore the woods we were tucked in near. A big part of growing up out there was riding bikes, playing in the yard, woods and creeks, and playing music. We had a piano, and I started taking lessons when I was six years old.
I pretty much hated school, and my grades started showing proof of that by as early as 6th grade. After a couple years of frustration, my parents had me take some tests to see if I was a slacker or just not bright. I apparently did well on the tests, which meant I'd be catching heat for bad grades for sure. By junior year in high school, I started finding things I was actually interested in and joined the radio (telecommunications) program. I was a dj and had a show along with a fellow classmate, and I figured I'd probably be interested in going to school in the industry. After graduating high school, I attended a community college majoring in Communications, but it only took a couple semesters for me to realize this was actually not something I was interested in, at least not enough to go to school.
I ended up working for a while and saving up enough money to move to Florida and attend Full Sail, a technical school for audio engineering that was offering and Associates degree since the course was bundled with some business classes. I was definitely up for moving to sunny and WARM Florida after visiting the school with my sister, who also decided to attend. We moved down there in the beginning of 1991, and I ended up staying for a few years, after the schooling was through. I had learned quite a bit, but unfortunately had not been warned that there were very, very few jobs in this field. People who had been graduating tops in their classes were unemployed, and my remaining time in Florida I worked in a pizzaria to get by. Eventually, I moved back to NJ.
Just about a year after my move back to Jersey, I moved to North Carolina, where almost all my immediate family still resides today. For a few years I enjoyed the sunshine, rode my motorcycle to the beach and to work, and had a good time living the relaxed southern life that NC breeds. I was unfortunate enough, though, to crash that motorcycle, landing me in the hospital, physical therapy, and months of not working and re-learning how to walk and do all the simple things. It was a life-changing experience for me, and I still feel the effects of it. Once healed, I did what I had already done in the past... I moved back up to NJ.
Over the next 5 years, I dabbled in some partnership businesses, which failed, became immersed in the nutrition industry managing several health food stores, played drums in a funk band, moved to central Pennyslvania, discovered the internet and web design, joined a reggae band, got a couple cats, and eventuall did what I always seemed to do. Yep, hightailed it back to NJ. But this time, the main purpose was to start a band with a couple of close friends.
That band was SoGoodBunny, and my bandmates were Chad and Jack, two long-time friends. The band was a big success for us, but you can learn more about that on the music page. So, after living in New Jersey and eastern Pennsylvania for a couple years, I made the big move I had planned all my life, to New York City. I had been there a million times, since practically all our relatives are from there and lived there their entire lives. I saw New York during the dreaded 80's and early 90's, when you'd get harrassed often and even pick-pocketed if you were lucky, or... not so lucky. For a short while, when it got really bad, I remember not particularly enjoying the visits and not desiring to live here, as I did for many years earlier. But it got better, much better, and by the time I made the official move, New York was like a completely different place.
My first apartment was in Long Island City, just a couple blocks from Astoria, in Queens. Right near the trains, one could make it into Manhattan in 15 minutes. The view from the roof was awesome, a clear shot of the entire east side of Manhattan, and it was a good introduction to NYC living. But in under a year, I had an opportunity to share a BIG apartment in the well known Stuyvesant Town neighborhood. It was a sublet, which equaled CHEAP (for that neighborhood, at least), plus it had one of the best East River views I have ever seen to this day. But after 5 years, when the sublet terminated, I was eager to move out. The apartment was directly above the FDR (East Side Highway), so the constant traffic noise had completely gotten on my nerves.
During this time, I had worked for a small technology company that was partnered with a technology traning center, where I worked on designing and developing clients' websites and marketing materials. I learned a lot from this job, as I was basically just thrown in the water to either sink or swim. A couple years later I worked for a travel consortium in midtown where I did much of the same type of work but with much larger client accounts, such as high end cruise and travel companies. After about 2 years of that, I tried the strictly freelance, work-from-home thing, which surprisngly kept me alive for a couple of years. I now am working at a major pulication company, Conde Nast, where I do front-end web development in the web production department. By far my best, and most challending job as of yet.
I now live in the Hamilton Heights section of what is part of West Harlem. The neighborhood is a hidden gem, with amazing architecture, plenty of original and new shops, and some of the best restaurants in NY. I am also a member of the band The Jynx. Having gone through many changes, we are now re-formulated with some new musicians and are in the process of recording our debut EP.
