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My extended family is mostly from the San Jaoquin Valley, not sure why they settled there,
frosty winters, hot as hell during the summer and very very boring to boot. Luckly when I
was still a baby my mom moved to the central coast near Pismo Beach. Since then I have
not moved from California or the ocean.
After high school, I moved to Santa Barbara to go to school and fell in love with nature, art and surfing. After spending a
short stint studying Art and Literature in Europe, I moved to San Francisco to attend school at the
San Francisco Art Institute. The philosphy of the school was not to focus on technique but instead
to teach the students to be creative in ideas and in any medium, in any situation. This was one of
the best things I learned in life.
After spending a few years as a picture framer and art restorer, I started freelancing making posters
and other graphics. A roommate with a computer showed me how to use Photoshop and then I taught myself
this wierd computer language called HTML. I have the distinct fame amongst my friends as being the one
who introduced many of them to the Internet.
Around the same time, I was freelancing creating art and animations for childrens CD-ROM's projects. Then
I got a gig at a start-up called CNet. They were creating one of the first Internet installers on CD-ROM.
Once they found out that I knew HTML, I was hired on. Then the ride got crazy. CNet started up a new company
called Snap.com that was bought by NBC. While NBC was hacking all the best parts of the company apart.
I jumped ship with a crew of Ex-Snap folks to a new start-up called Looksmart. I worked within the
business development team as a graphic designer and learned much about business from the experience. The
whole Internet bubble was getting so huge and when a company that was selling pet food online was worth
more on paper that most major airline carriers. I knew it was time to look for another more stable means
of income. Some friends and I started our own web hosting and design company and I began developing
sites for the National Basketball Player's Association, Ducati Motors, Sorrent (cell phone gaming company)
and other clients. After spending over 8 years in front of a computer screen I was in need of a change.
My grandfather was a farmer and my mother had a huge green thumb. I have always been a plant fanatic and at the time of my
needing a break I had been volunteering at the Univeristy of Californina's Botanical Garden in Berkeley. When an
opportunity to manage, design and develop 2 1/2 acres of South African plants and a greenhouse of succulent plant, I
took the challenge. I loved this job and used my past design skills to design interpretive signage. I also enjoyed
teaching students the horticultural arts. But earning less than a teachers salary was too much of a burden.
Currently, I am enjoying the transition back into the traditional design and web development fields. I am looking for
an employment situation where I can use my past experience and skills and develop new ones.
In the meantime, I have been occupying myself by DJing various music events my Burning Man crew "the Fringe".
I am one of the founding members of "The Fringe". We are an Arts collective that has been bringing
live and diverse entertainment to Burning Man and the Bay Area. I feel very fortunate to be able to enjoy the
arts, entertainment and rich culture we have here in the San Francisco Bay Area.
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