I was born in Portsmouth, Virginia (That's the East Coast of the US for our international readers) in 1969. I lived there until I was, oh, 2 or 3 (I barely remember Virginia). That's me above. When I was young it was easy for me to lose my balance. Now you need to buy me a few glasses of Lagavulin.
My locale (and local accents of the populace) switched from Virginia to New Hampshire. I lived in New Hampshire until I was 6. I also gained a baby brother, Greg (see above). After that I spent less than a year in Southwestern New York State.
I spent the rest of my formative (and not-so-formative) years in Waukesha, Wisconsin. I learned lots of things while in Wisconsin. I learned how to play drums, I learned that I was pretty good at math, computers, and science, I learned how to drive, and I learned that I needed to get out at some point. So after I graduated from Waukesha South High School in 1987, I headed to college... out of state.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. Pictured above is my Scottish Terrier, and all-around pal, MacTavish. My family got him as a puppy in 1986. He's no longer with us, but it's because of him that I'm as big of a dog fan as I am.
I spent my undergraduate years at The University of Michigan in Ann Arbor, getting my Computer Science degree. I enjoyed Michigan a lot. I played in the Michigan Marching Band's drumline, and I pledged the Michigan Chapter of the Delta Chi Fraternity. During the summers, I worked at NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center and IBM. Between NASA and Michigan, I discovered the Internet. Between IBM and Michigan, I discovered I liked moving bits on the wire, and that I needed to learn more. I graduated Michigan in 1991.
Knowing that I'd have to go to grad school, I headed southwest to Tucson, Arizona and The University of Arizona's Computer Science Department. I worked really hard, played lots of volleyball and softball, spent 7 months at IBM's Research Triangle Park, North Carolina location, and in 1993 obtained my Master's degree.
As luck would have it, I found my first job by putting my resume on the misc.jobs.resumes USENET newsgroup. I was offered a chance to build next-generation Internet technology at the U. S. Naval Research Laboratory in their Network Security Section.
I learned as much at NRL as I did in grad. school. I got involved with the Internet Engineering Task Force (IETF), and met a whole bunch of really smart people. I also had a lot of fun in Washington, with friends I had met at previous places (like Michigan, Arizona, and IBM), as well as new friends. Despite all of that, I felt like I needed to get into a production environment, as well as escape some of the crushing bureaucracy associated with working for the government.
That's Wendy, my wife. We met while I was living in Washington and working at NRL. She's wonderful, and you can find out more about her by clicking here.
And that's Masha, our dog. She was Wendy's dog originally, so any good behavior was all taught by Wendy. I inherited half of the dog responsibilities when we got married. I love taking Masha into work.
How good is Sun (especially my group)? I can switch coasts w/o missing a beat. Wendy and I have relocated to Massachusetts. I'm now working out of Sun's Burlington campus.
I still have my own domain, kebe.com up and running (obviously, since you're reading this). (Now now children... no Seinfeld jokes about domains here!)
rising falling at force ten
we twist the world and ride the wind
- Rush (lyric by Peart and Dubois)
