This is about me. There's not a whole lot to say. Anything I say on this page does not reflect the views or opinions of Arizona State University, The College of Liberal Arts and Sciences, The Department of Mathematics and Statistics, or the views or opinions of the various palm trees living on campus. Obviously, being about me, these views are my views of myself and no one else's. Naturally, that probably means everything beyond this point is not true (since how well can you really know yourself?)

I also apologize for all the white. I am doing this thing in pico, and I do not have the time to add flashy gizmos. In reality I am very fond of color, despite my last name :) I must admit I am the last person I would pick to write about me. For the majority of my life I have not had much of a high view of who I am. My wife has often commented on my inability to take a compliment without just shrugging it off or disagreeing. So I will say what other people usually think of me (well, at least what they say). Most first impressions are that I am very gentle, kind, and humble, with a good heart. And of course most people think I am brilliant.

Of course, I do agree with the gentle part, and I would say I tend to be kind, but I do not see that as a big thing to point out. I do not think I am humble, I actually consider myself rather arrogant, primarily because it is so hard for me not to think less of others as a result of me being "smarter" than them. I also do not consider myself that brilliant. I know that I am smarter than I will ever be able to comprehend, but I also know that there are many areas of life where I am not that smart - such as minding my manners, or noticing social clues. As you can tell by now, I am very introspective. I like to think about everything, regardless of whether it is trying to think of how to help stop world hunger, or just amusing at the oddity that is a belly button.

Ok, so let's begin. I was born in Tucson in 1983. My father was enlisted in the air force, and was career airforce for 22-some odd years. I was the third child, as my "older" brother was born a few years before me. I say older instead of oldest, because my other brother is my twin brother. So technically he is older, but we don't address each other that way. We were born permaturely, with our ear drums not yet completely formed. We also did not have fully-functioning lungs yet, and to add more difficulty, when I was born the doctor somehow managed to give me brain damage. That is right, I am pursuing a PhD in mathematics and I have brain damage. The most common theory is that it has affected my coordination, but we have never consulted any professionals on the matter.

Being an air force brat I spent several years in my youth traveling overseas. By the time I was 10 we moved to Arizona and stayed. I often did great in school but did horrible athletically and socially. Unfortunately I would carry on athletics in the form of cross country all the way through high school. The lack of social skills probably continued longer after that. I had a habit of preferring to be left to my own devices than hanging out with other kids. I think this is actually a common trait among "brilliant" kids with regards to everybody else. Anyhow, I graduated high school and decided to go to college at the University of Arizona. I followed my older brother there, and I started out as a computer science major. That's right, not math.

It wasn't long before I realized I liked algorithm design and analysis, and I started doing research into it as a sophomore. I realized I would need a PhD in order to make a living doing such things, so I decided I would go to graduate school in computer science. Aware that a stronger math background would only help, I added math as a second major. Within a year I realized I was going to be a mathematician, not a computer scientist. I applied to several universities, but only got in to ASU.

Unfortunately, I had no desire to come here, because there was not a strong group in my "area" (an area called group theory). Of course, I thought I would leave after my Master's degree. However, I took a course in Combinatorics, and after being frustrated at the area for an entire semester, fell in love with it. I realized that I pretty much have been doing combinatorics all my life on my own, and I learned a lot of different ways of doing things I never would have thought of trying. Now I am staying for a PhD and doing combinatorics. Funny how life works, isn't it?

Oh I should say something about my wonderful wife Jaime. We met at church in Tucson. At some point she asked me out on a date, and we started going out every Friday night. Within 5 weeks or so I introduced her to my parents as my girlfriend (although I realized later I should have discussed that with her in advance - that could have been disastrous!) At some point we felt called to get married, so we got engaged, and got married on December 2nd, 2006. It has been a great marriage. She has a master's degree in Special Education, and she is a very kind woman. She's also trained me to do things like cook and clean.

So what do I do when I am not doing math? I also like guitars. I have been playing guitar for 7 years now, and I love rock and roll, blues, and classical. Yes, I play a very strange assortment of guitar styles. I hate guitar picks and prefer to use my fingers. I also enjoy reading. If I could pick any career and be guaranteed to be successful at it, it would probably be a musician or an author, or even an artist. Of course, since I do view math as an art I guess you could say I am doing my part :)

What was that I mentioned about meeting my wife at church? Yes, that is right, I do go to church. Keep in mind these are my personal views. At college I made a friend who used to drive me home after I had too much to drink on a Friday night. He eventually got me involved in a group known as Campus Crusade for Christ. I learned what Christians actually believed, and in time, I came to believe it myself. I had always been a monotheist (I did believe in a god, but I didn't necessarily believe the rest of the essentials of Christianity). I found out that Jesus taught a lot of things I did not know. He taught that he was God, and Christians believe that he died on the cross for our sins. We also believe he is still alive in heaven, and that one day he will bring heaven to earth. I came to realize that Christianity is not about doing good and getting to heaven. It's about realizing you can't be good enough, and that you need help just getting through the here and now. and Christianity believes God came down to give us that help. I believe that God loves me so much that he willingly died for me, to show me that He would not let anything stand in the way of His love for me, not even my own self-destructive habits and attitudes. He showed me that He wants to know me and wants me to know Him, and that this is more important than following some set of rules.

I know in America, the common idea about Christianity is that it is about doing good to get to go to heaven. While it is true that I do believe there is a Hell, I also believe the way to avoid going there has more to do with Christ than with us. I also believe that Christ emphasized loving others, and that he wants us to love others. I believe this is one area where American Christianity often falls short. The Evangelical movement emphasizes "saving souls" and condemnation so much that they do not seem to notice that Christ spent the majority of His ministry ministering: helping the sick, the poor, the outcast. He did do a bit of condemning too, but he focused the majority of his time on loving others, and teaching people to do the same. Of course, I am not saying that what Evangelicalism emphasizes in completely wrong. Naturally, God wants everyone to go to heaven. But we must realize God also wants us to have so much more than just an eternity, and by focusing on only that, and trying to get others to worry only about that, we miss the current world God has put us in. I don't believe this world is meant only as the practice test for the final exam. In other words, the doing good is just something we should do, because it's worth doing. I have been so loved I cannot help but love others. Heaven will be a big party I get to go to one day. But I will only get now to demonstrate how much I love others. Now, when I have the option of spending time with friends or on a career, or visiting someone in the hospital. These acts of love,that truly demonstrate love to others, won't be possible in heaven. We were made to do these acts, and experience this kind of love now.

Of course, feel free to disagree with me, and feel free to discuss this with me. I have a very open mind.