About

Engineer by training, maker by instinct, learner always.

I’ve been writing software since 1988 — long enough to watch the industry cycle through enough paradigm shifts to be appropriately skeptical of the next one. My degree is in Electrical Engineering from the University of Michigan. Most of my career has lived at the intersection of systems design and human experience: the places where the right abstraction matters as much as the right algorithm.

Tammy and I live in Ada, Michigan, just outside Grand Rapids. We share the house with Daisy, a Golden Retriever who is an absolute sweetheart if not the sharpest tool in the shed, and Kramer, a terrier mix who has appointed himself my personal shadow — the most dedicated dog I’ve ever known.

We have six kids, assembled by various methods — homemade, imported, and bonus. Alex lives in San Jose with her husband Topi and their three kids, Huitzi, Xanath, and Silvio; she holds a Master’s in Computational Linguistics. Derek has a doctorate in photonics and is currently based in France with his partner Daniela. Jo is in California, where she teaches kindergarten and first graders. Maddy just finished her Master’s in Mechanical Engineering and lives here with us in Ada. Nick is in the Army, stationed in Fairbanks, Alaska, with his wife Marlene. Mallory is studying Health Administration in Chicago. When she graduates, all six of them will have degrees — something Tammy and I are quietly very proud of.

I care about cars the way I care about music: as objects where thousands of small decisions by people who cared accumulate into something that either works or doesn’t, feels right or doesn’t. I spend time in the garden, and I ride my recumbent trike about an hour a day, five days a week — excellent thinking time. I read constantly and eclectically.

This site is where I think out loud. The blog is where most of that happens.