so, here it is, see if you can say it in one breath *grin*: i was born on febuary 20th 1975; my little bro was born december 5th 1979; i began playing soccer in 1980 and met a bunch of guys who remain like best friends and brothers to this day; in 1982 (2nd grade) i was diagnosed with an attention deficit disorder, much to the distaste of my teachers who thought i was a moron; 1982 my grandpa bob died; 1985 (i was in 5th grade) my parents got a long needed divorce, it was sad in a sense and dramatically changed my life, but i would argue that the alteration was strongly for the better; in 1987 i began studing music with Vicki Jenks (the fall before my 7th grade year); my 7th and 8th grade years were the worst of my hoodlum years which accelerated the rate of my parents aging process; on june 17th 1989 one of my best friends moved to seattle and my mother married her current husband (on the same day), in the fall of 1989 i began high school and met a girl named rachel senseman, my first love (although not for a year or so...) and still one of my best friends, i also tried to curtail my old hoodlum ways; in 1992 i began dating rachel, my first girlfriend; throughout my last years in high school i played and wrote more and more music to the point where by the end of high school i was playing several hours a day and gigging several nights a week; in may 1993 i graduated high school and played my senior percussion recital; in septemeber 1993 i began undergraduate school at the university of wisconsin madison studing chemistry, i quite playing music almost altogether aside from playing in the u.w. symphony orchestra and in a local blues band; in the summer of 1994 i had quite playing any music and was diagnosted with dyslexia, dysgraphia, dysnomia and dyscalculia; in the fall of 1994 i decided to study math and physics, took a class with professor clint sproot (my current phd advisor) and had a teaching assistant for second semester physics named cosma shalizi who would (and does) play an important role in my life, i also was introduce to buddhism through the martial art kendo; in the spring of 1995 i tried out and was accepted into richard davis's black music ensemble; in the summer of 1995 i met professor dechert (dee) and professor brock (buz) two other important mentors; in the fall of 1995 i moved into the "penthouse" with some of my extended family, we lived together until the end of my first year of grad school; in the late fall of 1995 i began taking drumset lessons with joel spencer in chicago; in the spring of 1995 i won a hilldale fellowship and my first refereed paper (with clint and dee) was accepted to a conference on neural networks; the last two years of college were dominated by playing and studing a hell of a lot of music, finising up my degree in math and physics and doing research (i published 2 more papers with clint and dee (dee was the first author on one)), in the fall of 1997 i met a fellow named terry chrudinsky who has become like and older brother to both me and my little bro, he also taught me how to climb which has played an extremely important role in my life ever since; in the fall of 1998 i graduated with a bacholors of science in physics and math from the u.w.; in the fall of 1998 i began studing physics in graduate school at the university of wisconsin madison and again completely quite playing music; in late december of 1998 i met a girl named jodi who i began dating in the middle of january, she kinda really made my life a joy and a total hell for the next year and a half, but never the less is still an important part of my life; during the summer of 1999 most of my best friends moved away or on (i.e. got married, started crazy jobs); fall 1999 i failed my graduate qualifying exam for the first (and luckily only) time, i also accepted a six month nsf physics graduate fellowship at the santa fe institute which would start in late febuary 2000; the fall of 1999 was very difficult personally, i stopped climbing and doing anything but study and try to remain sane, it reached a peak of terribleness in december; in febuary 2000 i passed my graduate qualifing exam and moved to santa fe for six months studing with doyne farmer and cosma shalizi; in june my little brother moved to santa fe with me and i slowly began to climb (although only mountaineering and walk up peaks); in august 2000 i moved back to madison to continue graduate school and really begin climbing again; in november of 2000 i met and began to date a woman named sonja who made my life both a very happy and very sad over the next year and half; in the spring of 2001 my little brother moved back to madison (from eau claire) to go to school; over the last two years i have continued to visit the santa fe institute ~every 6 moths to work with cosma shalizi and jim crutchfield; in the spring of 2001 i began playing music again with a band called ass blown off; i have of course been working with clint sprott consistantly since i met him as he is my wonderful phd advisor; i have also been working with and being advised on and off by joel robbin, sergey bolotin, dee dechert, and buz brock; right now i am at the santa fe institute working with jim crutchfield and cosma shalizi regarding the dynamics of learning and climbing when i'm not working with my little brother and terry...

for the list of people (friends and such) who are in the soup above but not exclusively mentioned click on my shout outs. i've gotta thank all those how have meant so much to my life, for anything that i've done well, i credit this set of folks....