I am currently a Professinal Technologist at West Virginia University. What that means in real life is I help people use comptuers by answering the questions, teaching them how to use various program from Office to specialized online educational software, and sometimes just holding their hands when they try things for the first time.

I spend a fair amount of time reading. And by a fair amount of time, I usually read about 120 books a year. What I'm reading right now can be found here.

I have been described as stubborn, kind, loud, the Goddess of Sarcasm, the seven-foot tall red-headed woman*, and annoying (especially after caffeine intake). I also have a sense of humor that is occasionally misunderstood (but only, of course, occasionally).

Things that are important to me include: family, friends, justice, and beauty.

Things that irritate me are: Urban Attack Vehicles, using cellular phones loudly and in public, acronyms, and arrogant jerks.

My hobbies include (but are not limited to): reading, photography, refinishing furniture, reading, spending too much time with my computers, baking, and collecting books to read.

I was in the Master of Public Health program at WVU, but dropped out after my grandmother moved in with us.

I love to learn, and took classes that interested me regardless of whether they counted towards a degree or not. The class I enjoyed the most was: The Faiths of Abraham taught by Professor Aaron Gale.

During the six years it took me to get my Bachelor's degree, I took classes in English, Biology, Psychology, Sociology, Anthropology, French, Spanish, Chemistry**, Physics, Speech, Statistics, History, Political Science, Philosophy, Nutrition and Mythology.

In graduate school I took classes in: Public Health, Community Medicine, Gerontology, Women's Studies, Religion, Philosophy, English, and History. I know more about nothing than anyone else I know.

Some of my job titles have been: cashier, cook, research assistant, tutor, bug-picker, laboratory technician, sewer of netting for which to catch bugs, babysitter, and Information Technology Consultant (senior).

The work entailed by those jobs has included: cleaning, preparing food, yelling at waitresses, picking bugs, sewing bug netting, teaching, editing papers, running PCR*** experiments and using a gene sequencer, web site design and maintenance, culturing cells, preparing cells and chromosomes for analysis, being a "go-fer", data entry, watching children, answering questions, teaching English, writing computer documentation, teaching people how to use comptuers and computer programs, and stomping around in the woods collecting bugs.

If you want to know more about me, you are probably too nosy for your own good.

*I no longer have red hair.
**My grades in Organic Chemistry weren't my fault, I swear! The teacher hated me!
***Polymerase Chain Reaction. This takes a very small segment of DNA, adds some special reagents, and through many cycles of heating and cooling makes a whole bunch of DNA exactly like the small bit with which you started.

Send me stuff from my Amazon wishlist!

Last updated: 24 Aug 2011