I was born in San Francisco and spent the next 17 years of my life living in Marin County, across the Golden Gate Bridge to the north, with my parents and younger sister. I started playing baseball when I was 6 years old and never looked back. Along the way I picked up other sports such as basketball and soccer. Through all the sports I learned, baseball was always and still is my favorite. Nothing much more than sports occupied my free time all through school, whether it was playing or watching. One thing I did find time to do was learn a little bit of Hebrew. This enabled me to study for and complete my Bat Mitzva at the age of thirteen. After my Bat Mitzva I continued my Jewish education in order to prepare myself for a confirmation trip to Israel the summer after my sophomore year in high school. The trip consisted of a six week tour of the country of Israel. The trip was one of the best experiences of my life. We saw all the major cities and all the major sites. The trip allowed me to meet a whole new group of people from all over the Bay Area. The trip brought me close to many people who have become some of my best friends. Through them, that summer, I learned a great deal about myself and who I wanted to be and be with. My life in the US was a completely different experiece once I returned from that summer trip.

      My senior year in high school my family moved to a place just outside of Seattle called Bainbridge Island. I graduated high school from there and ended up in Seattle at the University of Washington for college. It was there that I discovered I had a few other interests besides baseball. I found Hillel(the Jewish campus life center), the gym, biking and astronomy. Those five things took up most of my free time. Hillel introduced me to a Jewish social life, something I had rarely experienced out of Sunday School. I became involved in planning activites for the Jewish undergraduates for about a year and a half until school took over my life. Biking and working out at the gym was a way for me to escape from the stresses of school and roomates. A goal I had while at UW was to bike the path all the way around Lake Washington. It was something I never completed. I did make it to the most southern and northern tips of the lake on several occasions, though.

      My junior year in college I escaped Seattle for a little while and spent a semister studying in Jerusalem at Hebrew University. My plan was to stay an entire year, but I didnt feel challenged enough in my studies and so grew bored after a semister and decided to travel for a few months and then return home and work until the fall semister stared again at UW. The time I spent in Israel traveling and meeting new people was well worth the time. I saw all the places I had seen as a teenager and always wanted to see again. This time my friend basis extended to cities all across the country. Yet again, the experience in Israel taught me many things about myself and where I wanted to see my life going. The three months after my studies I spent traveling. A month was spent in St. Petersburg, Russia. The next three I spent in Europe. I traveled by myself and had time to enjoy the parts of Europe I wanted to see and skip the ones I didnt think worth it for me. It is great to be able to do what you want when you want. But it does get a bit lonely after a while. So when I returned to Israel for a few more weeks I was very excited to see all my friends again. In total that year I visited twelve countries, including Israel.

      Upon returning to Seattle I still had a year and a half until I could complete my degree in Physics and Astronomy. My last year I got a job working with the UW division of the Sloan Digital Sky Survey (SDSS). With them I built four of the nine cartridges that are used in the 2.5m telescope at Apache Point Observatory. I learned a little bit about fiber optics, their handling and purpose.

      As my college education came to an end I was fortunate enough to be offered a job at the National Optical Astronomy Observatories (NOAO) as a Telescope Operator on Kitt Peak. The Observatory is an hour outside of Tucson, AZ. While in the operator position I involved myself in many other aspects of astronomy besides telescope operations. I learned how to observe with an imager, and reduce the data to make some very nice astronomical pictures. Currently several of my images are posted on the web (see my astronomical work) and two have even been selected for Astronomy Picture of the Day (M103 and M94). I also reduced data for a survey project and learned about instrumentation for all three of the telescope. While Kitt Peak's focus is astronomy, there are a few other opportunities its employees can take advantage of. I spent most of my time in the summer of 2002 attending classes and studying to earn my EMT certification, which I did so by passing the national registry test in August 2002. NOAO enabled me to attend the classes in order to enhance employee's medical knowledge while on the mountain. After almost eight years I had my fill of telescope operating. I worked as an operator from April 2000 through December 2007. At that point I took on another position within NOAO. I started work in January 2008 as the 0.9m Site Manager. With this position I get to manage all aspects of my own telescope, schedule observers, maintain the instrumentation and am responsible for the telescope upkeep. While I never thought I would say this, I am happy to be on a regular schedule with a regular job.

      One great thing I found out about Tucson is that sports are easily done year round, thanks to the great weather. I play on three different softball teams, as well as a soccer team. After about two years in Tucson I bought a road bike, something I had never had. It became more of a passion than it ever had been to bike ride. Then I bought a second road bike to keep in the San Francisco Bay Area to ride while I was there. In January 2005 I bought a more modern mountain bike than the one I already owned. At one point I was up to 6 bikes. After loving the bike, almost to death, I felt the need to donate my old mountain bike (with a few upgrades) to my sister, who had recently gotten into biking. I try to encourage her to get out as much as I possible and try to get her to share my passion. Biking has become a real part of my life in the past few years. And it is a good thing too, or I never would hav met Brian. The two of us have gotten more into racing since we have been together and try to do more races every year. I have improved over the years, but still believe I am a much better mountain biker than road biker. I am very proud of the fact that in some capacity I am on the bike almost every day of the year, even if it is only to ride the nine miles to the gym. Between all of my bikes (commuter, road and mountain) I am able to ride at least 2500 miles, even in a slow year. Not too shabby.

Ah, and baseball. Thanks to college, spring training (my favorite time of the year!) and the AAA team the Sidewinders, I can watch live baseball from January through August. And then at that point I have to settle for baseball on tv for the remaining two months of the Major League season, unless I make it up to Phoenix to see the evil Diamondbacks. Did I mention I am a Giants fan? While there is lots of baseball to watch in Tucson I like to get out and around the country to visit other baseball cities. As of now I have seen every major league team play in their home field and have started on AAA. In total I have seen 50 ballparks, inclucing 7 spring training facilities.

      So to ensure that I didnt move from Tucson prematurely, I bought a house. After spending my childhood in a fixer-upper, I made sure I bought something with minimal work to be done. But as every home owner knows, there is ALWAYS work to be done. Over the years I did do a few renovations. The best part about my house - the hot tub! The worse part - weeds! But I no longer have to deal with the weeds. I guess you could stay I am stuck in Tucson now, whether I like it or not (which I do). Brian and I bought a house together in the summer of 2006. I still own my first home and am currently renting it out. Our new house is brand new and beautiful. We have personally added many upgrades since we have been there.

      My ultimate goal in life is to become an astronaut. I am trying to gain as much information and experience with troubleshooting and different types of instrumentation as I can to prepare me for whatever will creep up while trying to deal with things in a remote area, ie space. I am really curious as to what it would feel like and look like in space. I still need to gain a few years of work experience befor I can consider applying, and then it is all a waiting game. But if I do get to go I bet the stars are amazing.

      Lastly, I hope to someday move back to the Bay Area. I didnt realize it until I left, but I really love that place. I left so many friends behind when I left and also a really beautiful city. I miss the ocean and the greenery. I visit whenever I get the chance, if only to just watch a baseball game and go for a bike ride.