I am a graduate of Laguna College of Art and Design (formerly Art Institute of Southern California). I received my Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design and Illustration in 1996. The early 90's was the wild west of desktop publishing, and we as students were literally discovering the power of applications like Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator, side-by-side, with our instructors. Each day, we were learning from them. And they were learning from us. This is a philosophy I have always applied in my career... you are never too seasoned, or too experienced, to learn something new.

After graduation, I accepted an opportunity with my employer to join a team in our Central California HQ, working to design and test the UI for a replacement Point-of-Sale system. This allowed me to eventually segue into a permanent role traveling across the country, supporting the hardware and software roll-out, and training our associates on the new system. This is when I developed my passion for travel.

In 1999, I "went online" for the first time, and discovered that the same design applications I'd studied in art school were now the graphic building blocks of the Internet. I was immediately hooked. Within a couple of weeks, I was building my first website, "Next Stop, Aptos Station!", showcasing my love of railroading history.

Over the next couple of years, I honed my skills in HTML and JavaScript. Those two programming languages, and eventually CSS, would serve me for the next 10 years of my career as a Web Designer and Developer. And eventually opened the door to more than a decade as a Salesforce.com Administrator.

In 2018, I was able to shift gears and start traveling the U.S. with my wife and dog, in our camper van. I continue to work as a Salesforce Administrator, as a remote worker, from where ever we happen to be this month. I continue to enjoy my two aquatic passions, surfing and bodysurfing, and also manage to hit a few skateboard parks along the way.

Through hard work, and smart choices, I have been blessed with a range of career opportunities, and life experiences, and I hope to impart this to my students.