As I mentioned on the home page, I am a teacher at the American School of Doha in Qatar. I teach computer classes and serve as the high school technology integration specialist. I am also one of the coaches for the ASD Robotics Team, 2009 Qatar National Robot Olympiad champions. I coordinate the ASD Student Technology Crew, an after-school group of students that help our IT Department get various tech jobs done around the school.
Prior to coming to Qatar I worked for 11 years in Frederick County, Virginia. I completed my education at Shenandoah University with a Bachelor's Degree in History and a Masters Degree in Computers in Education. In addition to my professional interests I have various personal interests. I love doing computer work, whether it be repair, graphics, web design, or any of a host of other computer-related activities. Yes, I do enjoy gaming but I am able to keep it at the annoying habit level rather than that of a full-fledged addiction. I also enjoy the outdoors, especially when we're home in the States, to hunt and fish or simply enjoy being outside. I am an avid sports fan, although I tend to follow sports via the Internet living overseas. Having grown up practically in the shadow of Lane Stadium my blood flows Chicago maroon and burnt orange for the Virginia Tech Hokies.
My wife is the love of my life. Crystal had the opportunity to live abroad as a child and, unlike my gaming annoying habit, developed a full-fledged addiction to traveling and seeing the world. It was largely her love of travel and seeing the world that spearheaded our move abroad. She was the first person to take me off of the North American continent and in doing so shared that addiction to travel with me. Having been born in Germany, although a natural-born American citizen, and spending some of her early years in the UK, she has had occasion to see a lot of Western Europe. Her fond memories of those travels have been inspiring to me as well.
Crystal is currently working on furthering her education and is a library aide at ASD. Prior to moving to Qatar she was a successful real estate agent in Virginia and West Virginia. Her experiences there have proved invaluable to us as we have bought and sold our own homes. However, real estate was not especially conducive to continuing educational pursuits and living abroad provides a more consistent schedule so that Crystal can pursue her educational goals.
Crystal is quite adept at crafts, especially when it involves sewing or finding creative things to do with items that I look at and wonder why we even keep them. She has a real talent for finding uses for things in both the practical and decorative senses. She's also an excellent cook and enjoys experimenting with ethnic cuisine in the kitchen. Currently we are exploring ways to mimic the excellent shwarmas that we get here in Doha. She has received numerous compliments on her outstanding baking skills, particularly when she's made cheese cakes, even to the point of having offers to purchase.
We have both been active in various community activities over the years. Crystal was a member of the Kiwanis Club in our hometown and we've both been active in church activites, especially when in the U.S. at Victory Church. We now participate in some of the events at ASD which many times involve the greater Doha community.
The other residents in our home are our two Black Labrador Retrievers, Josephine and Alexandra. They were both born in 2001 and, although they are from two entirely different bloodlines, are sisters at heart. Josephine, the athlete of the pair, has a congenital eye defect which has her blind in one eye and impaired in the other. In spite of this limitation she loves to play ball. No matter what she does or where she goes, she is happiest when there is a tennis ball to be played with. Alexandra on the other hand would be a lap dog if the option was given to her. However, 80 pounds is a bit too much for most of us to want curled up in our laps. So she plays therapy dog for anyone who is willing to extend a hand in her direction, literally lying on the floor for hours at a time to receive a good petting.
As I'm sure you can surmise from reading this, we are quite excited about our journey around the world. It has been an invaluable experience so far and one that we would highly recommend to anyone who is looking for broader horizons. The world is a marvelous place filled with extraordinary people and experiencing that is a wonderful opportunity.