I attended the Savannah College of Art & Design (SCAD), in the beautiful and historic city of Savannah, Georgia, where I graduated with a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Industrial Design. I am an artist and designer at heart.

Since graduating, I have been done a little bit of everything in the world of education IT. Currently, I am the Manager of Network Services at a nationally recognized high school in the northern suburbs of Chicago. With the help of some very good people, we are responsible for all aspects of of the district’s network and server infrastructure…and other duties as assigned. In short, the man behind the curtain making sure all the bits and bytes are moving properly so our employees and students can post their photos on the latest social media platform, and do whatever it is that kids do these days on the Internet…all in the name of education (of course). If you’re wondering how an art school graduate ends up working in IT…when I figure that out, I’ll let you know.

When I am not working, I do still have that creative/artistic itch to scratch, so you can typically find me with my camera in hand, or in the bag slung over my shoulder. Over the past few years, photography has become one of my passions, and I through experimenting, trial and error, and reading, I have tried to learn as much as possible, and improve my craft. My photography is still a work in progress, which will never be a work completed…I’m always striving for improvement.

I am also a “car guy”…which I have to thank my Dad for. From American cars, European cars, Japanese cars, and everything between…if it has four wheels, I can probably find something I like about. Unless it’s an old Volkswagen Beetle…I just can’t. Since 2003 I have been a MINI Cooper enthusiast, having owned two since then…a 2003 Indi Blue/White MINI Cooper S and a 2013 Pepper White/Black MINI Cooper S Clubman, nicknamed GhostPepper. MINI ownership has been a fun journey since 2003, and I have met a lot of great people via the MINI community. One of the things I will be trying to do better here is to share and keep logs of my MINI adventures.

I have also become an avid fisherman. There are few things as relaxing as sitting in my kayak on quiet lake at sunrise, with a line or two in the water. I’m sure my fishing stories and catch log, will creep into this blog…but I’ll try to keep the tall tales to a minimum. On a side note…I log most all my catches with the Fishbrain app. If you’re a user there, feel free to give me a follow over there…my username is sdiver8.

When I’m not working, being a Dad or husband, fishing, motoring, or photographing something. I’m probably doing something related to baseball…watching the Cubs, or helping coach my son’s travel baseball team. I am a huge auto-racing fan…mainly Formula One, IndyCar, and sports cars. From an early age I was attending IndyCar races at Road America, the Milwaukee Mile, Mid-Ohio, and of course the Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I can often be found doing projects around the house, or doing my best to impersonate a chef in the kitchen or at the grill, and I still occasionally pickup a guitar.