I am now beginning my senior year (the first of several) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. I am majoring in Computer Engineering with a Music Performance specialization. ;-) Ha, no, actually the music is just a hobby. I have played in the UW Symphony Orchestra and I'm currently taking cello lessons with Professor Uri Vardi.
So I've played a lot of music in my life. My cello has been my companion for somewhere around 17 years now. She's in one of my photos on this site. Her name is Julia Ann, and she was born to a Dutch luthier in Boston in 1976. If you look carefully at the picture on this site, you'll notice a rosette inscribed underneath the fingerboard, something that is really quite unique for a string instrument.
For 8 years, I was in the Wisconsin Youth Symphony Orchestras. During my 4-year tenure in the Youth orchestra (the highest of the 4 orchestras in the organization), I went on international tours to Banff, Canada and Kumamoto, Japan, and also served as section leader twice. It's a great group, providing lots of musical opportunities for students in the area, many of whom go on to perform individually, with ensembles, or to become part of the world's great orchestras. Looking for a place to make a tax-deductible donation? These folks certainly deserve it!
I am an Eagle Scout from Boy Scout Troop 640. For my service project, I organized and directed a group of scouts in removing old fencing and brush from a former farm that is being developed into a park in the Town of Middleton.
I currently have two part-time jobs, in addition to being a full-time student. One of my jobs is for Artesyn Communication Products, where I have an internship with the Continuation Engineering group. I'm working full-time in the summer, and part-time during the school year. Prior to the start of this internship, I worked for DoIT, the University of Wisconsin Division of Information Technology. I repaired Macs of all shapes and sizes for students, faculty, and staff of the UW. The other job I hold currently is rather exciting: I'm a Campus Representative for Apple! I get paid (plus a few other perks...) to promote the use of Macs on campus, and I help sell and support them. It's really a fun job, though it's hardly what one would call work to sell a Mac; they really sell themselves, once you clear away all the myths that people have heard about them.
So, you've gotten this far down the page. Congratulations! By now, you probably want to see some pictures of the face behind all these silly words. What the heck, here's a bunch.
Anyway, that's about all I have to say about me. Hope you enjoyed learning about me, don't forget to visit my Random Ponderings page! Though, since I've probably forgotten about updating it by now, there's probably not much point.