• Maryland resident, but a New Yorker at heart who misses Arizona terribly. Lifelong Yankee fan, Arizona Wildcat fan, amateur astronomer, and for the birds.
• Discovered a bird disease in 1994 (House Finch Conjunctivitis )
(Don't like birds? You'll like Beakmin's Story )
• Has NIH-class allergies (they love my IgE cells, t-cells, mast cells, etc.) Eggs are kryptonite.
• Suspected of being Ziggy's role model.
Identity
Education:
Started out as an Astronomy major at the University of Arizona, hoping to someday become a mission specialist (even before the term "mission specialist" was coined), but gave up after being told by the advisors that we wouldn't take any astronomy until grad school. Never found my way back from there. Took Space Policy at George Washington University, 20 years later, but that didn't pan out career-wise either. I'll keep trying.
Occupation:
Currently doing lots of volunteer work (to keep me from going crazy), including, among other things, as a volunteer naturalist at Black Hill Regional Park (stargazing programs) in Maryland, and raising bluebirds and purple martins (fittingly, Meco looks like a cross between the two). Fledged 107 bluebird nestlings last season!
Will be doing my own "See the Space Shuttle" meetups (can't really call them "sheetups") at the park this year -- assuming we get some good passes. I really want to help as many people see the space shuttle pass overhead as I can before they stop launching them. (And I seem to be one of the few amateurs who can do accurate undocked pass predictions.)
