About me

I put my first website, a guide to Kenosha, online in 1996. This was shortly after discovering the World Wide Web, a miracle which combined media which had always engrossed me — writing, photos, illustrations, audio, video, and computer programming — into one brilliant system that allowed me to edit and publish anything I could dream up, and at very little cost. Before long, I was communicating with people all over the world —former Kenoshans living in Tokyo and Addis Ababa, and former Italian soldiers looking for old comrades back here. My site served as Kenosha's unofficial online Chamber of Commerce long before the real Chamber ever went online.

Soon, companies began hiring me to do Web design for them, and I have continued to develop and maintain various Web projects for the past thirteen years.

Do you need a website built, redesigned, or maintained? Please contact me. I might be able to help.

Radio

The medium I have always loved best is radio, and the radio personality who has had the greatest impact on me — and an immeasurable impact on all of broadcasting — is Steve Dahl. I started haunting the show he did with Garry Meier in 1981 as a mysterious caller who phoned in the wacky tape creations I had edited together. This eventually turned into a daily job as the show's "All My Children Update" guy, Mark from Kenosha, from 1982 to 1986. I was only the second soap opera update guy in radio history — the first being my predecessor on Steve's show, Buzz Kilman.

That job led to co-hosting Dan Falato's weekend overnight show on WLS in Chicago, to running a tiny AM radio station in a gazebo at Six Flags Great America under the auspices of WGN, to an announcing/hosting job at WGTD, Kenosha's public radio station, and to my own evening talk show on WLIP, Kenosha'a commercial AM station.

I returned to work for Steve Dahl on the afternoon of September 11, 2001. He needed someone to monitor news, surf the Internet, and do research for him behind the scenes while he was on the air. So, employed by CBS Radio at WCKG and then WJMK, that was my job for the next seven years, until his show was canceled this past December 5. Steve was a great boss and I learned a lot from him — about everything from seat-of-your-pants content creation to connecting honestly with an audience. He assembled an amazing team of talented people around him, and I will miss them greatly.

I am currently searching for new work. If you're looking for someone with both technical knowledge and communication skills, please do not hesitate to contact me.

Interests

In general, I love culture. I enjoy music and food and movies and literature from all over the world, and I want to be Anthony Bourdain or Michael Palin or Burt Wolf when I grow up. I am intrigued by the rustic and the traditional, and by folktales, customs, religion and mythology. I spent years reading and re-reading the work of Joseph Campbell, the single greatest teacher I have had in life.

At home

Amy and I became first-time homeowners in August, 2005. Since then, we've been spending less time dining out and going to movies and more time planting shrubs, watering tomatoes, feeding the birds, and smoking chickens on the Weber. We haunt The Home Depot, garden centers and furniture stores, and we come home with exciting goodies like caulk.

We are especially interested in food and cooking, and we watch a number of the TV cooking shows. Amy's chef skills have become pretty impressive, and she's a devotee of Marian Burros, who supplies many of our nightly dinner menus. I can at least follow most recipes without too much blood loss, and I'm happiest when we have family and friends gathered around our table for a nice meal and some wine. Our favorite cookbooks are listed in my Amazon.com store.

Guitar

I have been playing guitar since fifth grade and I'm still not good enough to entertain others, but at least I entertain myself. I play a Martin D-1. I also have a beat-up 1975 Fender Telecaster that I played a lot more 20 years ago.

Travel

We enjoy road trips, and have been lucky enough to go along on some air travel adventures as well. Our journeys have included tent camping at Wisconsin's Wyalusing State Park, Badlands National Park in South Dakota, and Rocky Mountain National Park in Colorado; getting married in Quebec City; road tripping through Washington D.C., Arkansas (Scenic 7) and Louisiana (Layfayette, Avery Island, New Orleans), Tennessee (Memphis), North Carolina (Asheville, Mount Airy), South Carolina (Beaufort), Georgia (Savannah); dining on whitefish livers in Bayfield, Wisconsin; driving from Frankfurt to Paris to Strassbourg and back to Frankfurt (see photos); driving again from Frankfurt through Switzerland to Tuscany (Florence, San Gimignano, Colle Val d'Elsa, Volterra, Siena, Greve in Chianti) and back again (see photos); two trips to Mexico (Playa Del Carmen and Los Cabos), and four trips to Hawaii (once to Oahu and three times to Maui — see photos).

Activities

I walk fairly regularly, and I ride my bike when the weather is good — usually between 20 and 30 miles. I have really enjoyed the little snorkeling we have done. I like to throw a Frisbee around when I get the chance, which is never.

Radio, TV, movies, books

My favorite radio and TV shows are listed at right. Lists of my favorite movies and favorite books can be found in my Amazon.com store.