Originally a Midwesterner, I grew up in Kenosha, Wisconsin and Charleston, Illinois. In Charleston my school was across the street from a Rural King, and later I went up to Aurora to start high school at IMSA, which was across the street from a cornfield.

The picture of Halley's comet is there because it was my first exposure to astronomy. When I was 5 my parents woke me in the middle of the night to take me to a public telescope viewing, and I stayed awake just long enough to scrawl a picture of the flying cotton ball I saw through the telescope.  

If you'd like to know more about me, I can offer you a peek into my brain.