I had the standard nursery, elementary, middle, and high school most folk seem to go through. Took Nursery School at a dance studio, so we learned as much about tap dancing as the alphabet, but we still made the construction paper Christmas Trees during the holidays. I did well in school, took mostly honors classes in all subjects except English (which is ironic, since I read so much and want to be a writer, but there you go . . . ) Took enough APs during Junior and Senior years of HS that I was a semester ahead starting college. Ranked 16th or thereabouts out of over 300, so I'm pleased with my pre-college showing in academics.

I majored in Environmental Engineering while going for my B.S. Coming in, I really had no clue what I wanted to do. I liked the Environment and becoming a science fiction author wasn't exactly someone can get a degree in. I needed a day job and Environmental Engineering sounded like something I could do - I was good in math and physics, and I didn't particularly care for biology so Envi Science was out. Unfortunately, it wasn't until the summer between junior and senior years that I decided it wasn't what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I just didn't like it, particularly. It struck me as mostly educated guesswork (based partly on theory which I sort of understood and partly on experience that I did not have) and regulations; two things I didn't want to be dealing with on a daily basis.

Luckly by the end of my junior year, I did have some idea of what I wanted to do if I didn't become a full time writer or Environmental Engineer. During the second semester of Freshman year, I had taken Comp Sci I as an elective and liked it. So Fall Sem of Sophmore year, I took Comp Sci II, and still liked it. So I took Data Structures and Algorithms, Java, Perl, and Computer Organization the following semester. At this point, I realized I was only a few courses from a minor, so I kept taking the CS courses, and I graduated with a minor in Computer Science. I still liked the subject, too, so as I tried to decided what I would do for the rest of my life, I decided I'd far rather program than fill out environmental reports. I tried looking for a job, but didn't really get anywhere, so I decided I should have a degree in the field I wanted to go into, so I filled out applications to graduate school.

I have now finished my second year of grad school, and completed my masters. My concentration was in databases. Toward that end I have taken three database course so far: Object Oriented Databases, Advanced Database Management Topics, and Multimedia Database Systems.