Our Subject, The Bob.

I was born and raised in a small town in northeastern Ohio. With there not being too much else to do in a small town, I quickly took to the woods. Hunting with my father, climbing (and occasionally falling asleep) in trees with a good book, exploring — I loved it all. In my early life, my time indoors was usually spent playing around with some kind of technology, be it my Atari 2600 or my Commodore 64. At the tender age of 7, an obsession with Commodore games quickly lead to me writing my own games — I sat hunched over BASIC books and started writing text-based game programs to fill the time.

See how the Bob blends into a wooded environment through the ingenious use of black and white photography.

Later on in life, I bounced from obsession to obsession — a trait genetically handed down to me by my mother. Programming, Guitar, Skydiving, various sports, Close-up Magic, Fishing — the list goes on. Luckily, only a few have stuck with me over the years. I’ll still play guitar until my fingers bleed, I’ll play video games until my nutrition, hygiene and social life suffer and I’ll gladly trade in a night on the town for a trout on the line. I will still occasionally fall victim to new obsessions however. In the all-too-frequent downtime working as a systems admin of a local internet provider in Ohio, I met my wife Kim online. After far-too-infrequent trips to Boston to visit her, we eventually decided it was best for our sanity if I moved to the city with her. While it was (and still is) the best decision I’d ever made, it was readily apparent that the big-city life just wasn’t for me.

After living in Boston just long enough to grow annoyed, we mosied on up to live in Burlington, Vermont. It was the perfect hybrid of our lifestyles — the convenience of just enough city for her with the quiet of all kinds of country for me. Hiking the Long trail, taking my dog for walks or just staring at the gorgeous Lake Champlain for hours on end now fill my spare time outdoors. Once we were established in Burlington, I quickly found a job working with CPASiteSolutions. The cohesive team, fun work environment and freedom of work sucked me in and has kept me here ever since.

The Bob warms his skin on a rock before descending down the mountain to feed.

Family: My loving wife Kim, who relentlessly supports my geekiness and Bob 2.0 – a baby boy coming in October 2009.

Pets: My golden retriever “Avery”, 3 cats – “Scout”, “Dickson” and “Willow” and a Cockatiel named “White Bird”.

Here we see the Bob in his native habitat, fashioning crude fishing lures with his teeth.

Hobbies/Interests: Guitar, Hiking, Camping, Fishing, Hunting, Photography, Golf, Video Games, and general nerd-foolery.

Favorite Books: In no particular order: “Watchers” by Dean Koontz, “Lord of the Rings” by J.R.R. Tolkien, “The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy” by Douglas Adams, “A Brief History of Time” by Stephen Hawking, “Catch 22″ by Jospeh Heller.

Favorite Band/Performer: James Taylor

Favorite TV Shows: House M.D., The Office, Lost, Mythbusters, How it’s Made, Ace of Cakes

Favorite Movies: Lord of the Rings, Wall-E, Star Wars

Favorite Food: Anything beer-battered.

Favorite Sports Team: New England Patriots

Home Computer: 2 home-built gaming desktops, a Powerbook and a Toshiba Laptop

Favorite Quotes:
“I have not yet begun to procrastinate” – Denny Atkins
“War does not determine who is right – only who is left” – Bertrand Russell