Adam's Page

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Student
Not technically accurate, since I finally got my Ph.D. in May 2009, and I'm all gradumacated. Nine years is far too long, even if there were extenuating circumstances. If someone had told me when I graduated from high school that i was half done, I'm not sure how I would have responded. But hey...being a perpetual student is fun!

My professional web page is here, if you're at all interested. I work on Artificial Intelligence techniques to help classify poisons.

I received my Bachelor's Degree in May 1999 from Lewis & Clark College in Portland, Oregon. After experimenting with numerous fields (some more sane than others), I ended up with a double major in Computer Science and Physics. LC's a great place, and I really grew up there.


Coding
I'm a computer programmer. When I was little I tried to learn programming from my father and never really got that far. Then, about the time I got to high school, something clicked and suddenly it all began to make sense.

My first job was doing tech support for Accolade, a game company in San Jose, California (that has since been bought by Atari). When I went away to school I used computers in my astronomy research, designing models of the Solar magnetic field. After college I found myself at WellMed, a strange little company in Portland that thought it could revolutionize the health care industry—at least until it got bought out by WebMD. When that happened my stock vanished...c'est la vie. While there I worked on the reproductive health quizzes. (?!)

It's been a difficult choice to decide which path I want to take. I could code for a living and make a decent amount of money (and get abused by marketers), or I could take a vow of poverty and pursue that doctorate. Strangely enough, I seem to be on course for the latter.


Iconoclasm
Iconoclasm might be too strong a word. After all, I eat, breathe, and sleep American culture and I make a pretty good living at it too. Also, there are already too many young people in the world running around with the ideas that God is dead, trees are intelligent, and that true enlightenment can be achieved through smoking copious amounts of controlled substances.

That being said, it's scary how many people in the world are blind followers, doing something just because "it's always been done this way," or "it's the law." I find this patronizing rhetoric without reason to be the domain of people without imaginations. It makes me want to break laws, and flaunt it too.

Despite this "lawless nature," there is one hard and fast rule I try follow: don't hurt others. I wish this was always possible.


Games
That's right... I'm a gamer. I developed a love of fantasy and science fiction at a young age, and started playing RPGs when I was in the 6th grade. Started off with Palladium (especially Ninja Turtles and Robotech), moved on to D&D in high school, and then did a stint with Storyteller when I was in college. Of late though I've been moving back to D&D. Vampire just takes itself too seriously for my taste.

I do my share of design work too, when I have enough time away from school. Some games I've run/am planning on running include:

  • Pirates in the Carribbean of the 1500's. Magic all based on voodoo. But then Green Ronin did their own version—Skull & Bones.
  • Goblins, based especially on Brian Froud's and Jim Henson's work on Labyrinth. It's essentially a strange cross between Toon and Changeling.
  • Pre-Islamic Middle East, based around Djinn. What I've posted is here, though it's taken a backseat to schoolwork lately.

Cool Stuff
Of course, what kind of web-person would I be without the obligatory list of cool stuff?

España
En la primavera de 1997, mi tercer año de universidad, pasé una semestre en Sevilla, la capital de Andalucia en el sur de España. Era un viaje dificil; no es facil estar en país extranjero sin los amigos. Sin embargo, era una experienca muy valiosa. Al menos, mi español es mucho mejor hoy día.

Cuando estaba alli, asistía al Centro Norteamericano, una escuela para los españoles y además los norteamericanos en Sevilla. Es cerca de la Plaza Nueva y la Catedral de Sevilla. Es una escuela deciente, aunque había demasiados norteamericanos ignorantes.

En Oregon y en Wisconsin, en el norte de los Estados Unidos, no hay muchos hispanohablantes nativos. Entonces, es muy dificil continuar practicando la lengua. Me gustaría regresar a un país hispáico un día para aprender más, pero no sé cuando voy a tener la oportunidad.