About The Piper

I grew up in Westminster, a smallish town in Maryland, about 30 miles northwest of Baltimore. My family has always been musical: one of my grandfathers played the trumpet when he was younger, the other had been a church organist, and both of my parents play in the worship team at their church. I joined in the fun in second grade with piano lessons, which I quit in fourth grade when I began learning the trumpet. I played trumpet all through middle school, and joined the marching band when I got to high school. I was section leader my senior year at Westminster High, and the band ruled my life. It would not be stretching the truth to say that I was a band geek.

After graduating from WHS I enrolled at Virginia Military Institute in Lexington, VA, the first in my family to ever consider such a dreadful thing as military school. It was at VMI that I began my piping career, something that had never occurred to me before. On the Dean's List for six of eight semesters, I graduated with distinction in May of 2002 with a BS in physics and a minor in math, and moved to Pittsburgh to pursue graduate studies in physics.

After two miserable semesters in the physics Ph.D. program at the University of Pittsburgh, I opted for a career change. I spent eight months working as a bartender at a private golf club, fifteen months at a credit bureau, and moved back home to teach science at Westminster High School (my alma mater). After a year of that, I relocated again, this time to New England, and I am teaching physics at Fryeburg Academy in Fryeburg, Maine.

I'm finding Maine to be an interesting place, and I am quite happy here. There are lots of places to pipe outdoors, and in general it's perfect for a hiker and winter lover like myself.

To give you a better idea about me and who I am, I've compiled a list of some things I like, and some things I don't like, in no particular order. If you are a long-lost friend (or complete stranger for that matter) also consider adding me as a friend on Facebook.

Things I Like	Things I Don't Like
Bagpipes (obvious) Beer Chocolate Science Good science fiction (Bradbury, Asimov, Clarke, and others) Pittsburgh Steelers Good baseball Simplicity in life Good jokes (clean or otherwise) Bad jokes (puns and wordplays) Straight, simple, down to earth talk Movies Dogs and cats Good friends Cool weather (even the Maine winter)	Mushrooms and green peppers Small and spoiled dogs No Child Left Behind Micromanagement Passive aggressive behavior Government corruption Chick flicks Whining Hot, humid weather People who don't take responsibility for their actions