I found wotmania in 2000 when looking for information about the next book, Winter's Heart. It didn't take me long to figure out I really liked you people. I was starting my first semester at Georgia Tech, seeking a PhD in Aerospace Engineering.

I wasn't ever really happy in Atlanta or at Georgia Tech, and while I enjoyed the research and getting my work published, the class load was pretty brutal for me. Eventually I decided that I could take my Master's degree and make far more than the approximate minimum wage (plus tuition, of course) I was getting at Tech, so I moved on.

Got a job in Huntsville, Alabama at a contracting firm, and while my company has changed hands a couple of times, I haven't really switched jobs. Nowadays I work on the SLS program for NASA, which has been some of the most rewarding work of my life.

Since I was no longer spending nights studying (or procrastinating studying on wotmania) I took up a lot of hobbies that kept me active. Ballroom dance, caving, rock climbing, kayaking, that sort of thing.

I married a southern girl and I love her dearly. I met her through ballroom dancing and she got me into scuba diving and snow skiing, which are not as hard on her manicure as rock climbing or caving We took our honeymoon in Australia and Fiji - got to see some of the various Australian wildlife that the Aussie wotmaniacs are always going on about, got to visit my best friend from childhood who had moved there, and got to scuba / snorkel the Great Barrier Reef. Very awesome.

She also gave me three stepchildren who are great. The oldest boy is graduating high school in a few weeks, the middle girl is super sporty, and the youngest girl is pretty sporty, except she only likes sports with cute uniforms where she doesn't have to sweat much.

So far in my life, every decade has been better than the last.

~ aero