I make a living as a web developer for the University of California, San Francisco Public Affairs department. I am emphatically a developer, not a designer. I know little about graphics and don't care much about fonts or color choices. I concentrate on the backend, making sure the site works, links don't break, and the code is valid HTML. I dislike graphic-intensive pages, preferring simple, uncluttered, functional sites like Google. Other web sites I visit frequently include MacInTouch and Alertbox.

Besides HTML, my skills currently include PHP, Perl, MySQL, PostgreSQL, Linux and Mac OS X system administration, and video and audio editing with Final Cut Studio.

My primary platform is the Mac OS, which I have used since 1992. I'm on my fifth Mac at home, a 1.8GHz G5 tower. I like Linux as a server platform but prefer the Mac OS for desktop use currently. I strongly dislike Windows, but use XP at work (running under Parallels on my Mac Pro) for limited purposes.

Software I rely on includes BBEdit for text editing (including HTML), Apple Mail for e-mail (I switched in August 2005 after being a loyal Eudora user for over 10 years), Firefox for web browsing, Retrospect for backups, and Quicken for financial management. On the creative front, I use Adobe Lightroom for photo processing, iTunes for my music collection, and Final Cut Studio for video and audio editing. I transcribe and compose music with Sibelius.

The "Web 2.0" phenomenon has produced a number of sites with functionality rivaling that of desktop applications. Some sites that I use frequently include Protopage (primarily for RSS feeds), del.icio.us (for bookmarks), Flickr (also see my photography page), and LibraryThing (for books). I'm also on a number of social networking sites including Facebook and LiveJournal.

I enjoy computer gaming. My favorite game ever is NetHack, a highly addictive single-player dungeon adventure that is also open-source. I began playing on a public server in January 2007 and my stats are available there. I have also spent many hours playing SimCity, The Sims, The Sims Online, and The Sims 2. I also own virtual land in Second Life, which is not really a game, but an alternative reality of sorts.

My final move in my winning vegetarian weaponless Monk Nethack game.