About me:


I was born in Boston in 1970. My mother, Inge, was from Germany, and my father, Shiki, was from Japan. We lived in an apartment in Boston, and all I can remember doing back then was pushing the buttons on my dad's 8-track tape deck and watching Speed Racer (He's a demon, and he's gonna be chasin' after someone).

My mother was an artist of sorts, and so she named me Leonardo. She enjoyed painting and drawing, particularly psychedelic 60's-ish swirling patterns. She also liked gardening, and was once written up in the Boston Globe for her work. In 1974 she was stricken with cancer, and she died that summer.

My father worked a number of jobs, ranging from movie projectionist, to taxi driver, cook and (entirely separate!) exterminator. He died in 1988.

Me in 1975...

When I was little, I lived with family friends in Massachusetts, Vermont and Maine until my Dad moved in with my (step) Mom, Anne. I don't understand how or why, but she was into child care. And she still is. I think it's a testament to her great patience and tolerance - I don't think I could deal with lots of kids day in and day out... Not after living with my four brothers and sisters...

After the Blizzard of '78...

At the beach in 1983...

I grew up in Boston and later, in Milton, a quiet suburb. Over the years, my interests ranged from toy trains to model ships and planes... At one point, my room was decorated from end to end with battleships, bombers, cars and spacecraft models. Mom always complained about the paint and glue fumes, though I sort of liked them... I don't think they did much damage...but then, how could I tell?

1988 MHS Most Likely to Succeed !?!

1988 MHS graduation

In high school, my interests turned to the school newspaper and assorted other activities. Physics, biology and fundraising (Honors Seminar / History) were among the more interesting courses there.

I got to go on a trip to Washington (hence the fundraising), Spain (with the Spanish Club), and I spent a summer at Cornell, finding out that I did not want to be an architect...

I spent my undergraduate years at Tufts University in Medford Massachusetts. At Tufts, I started out in civil engineering. After playing with surveying equipment and standing outside in the bitter cold accomplishing very little, I realized the error of my ways, and so, I transferred to mechanical engineering.





While I was at Tufts, I worked at Copy Cop. I made copies, sent faxes, and helped people prepare their important documents. If you're in the Boston area, and you need copies, call the Cops. The Copy Cops.

What else did I do at Tufts? I was the
Graphics Editor for the Tufts Observer (Tufts' Newspaper of Record since 1895). I was in charge of creating editorial cartoons and creating assorted illustrations to fill up empty spaces.

Looking for a good EE/CS guy? Check out
Charles Peterman at Tufts. He was my next door neighbor senior year. Once you get past his loud, obnoxious side, he's really a good guy...

After Tufts, I worked at MIT for a two-year appointment doing materials property testing work. I was supporting a project to develop a database of properties for a new alloy to be used as a structural support in superconducting magnet systems for the
ITER fusion reactor project.

Here are two links that will tell you more about the project:
ITER USA page
ITER at the Raider's Den

I had planned to go back to graduate school after my appointment at MIT expired. I ended up at
Purdue University in Indiana (there's more than corn in Indiana... We've got soybeans too!) because of the low cost, the engineering school's good reputation, and because of my best friend Preston.

I just completed my Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering here. I graduated in December, and I am looking for a full-time job doing engineering design (mechanisms and structures), testing, R&D or manufacturing development work. If you are looking for a mechanical engineer who is dedicated, detail oriented and computer literate, please take a look at my
resume.

At the tone, I will have been in school for days... Well, at least that's how it feels, sometimes... I'm ready to get back to work.

Currently, I work for Whirlpool (
The 'Pool). The plant hires Purdue students to work part-time. The company is kind enough to schedule work around classes, and to allow shift buybacks and substitutions. Our facility packages appliance parts for distribution through the LaPorte Division. I am a member of the quality control team - we receive, verify and put parts away, verify that parts are packaged correctly, and we ship out the finished parts to fulfill LaPorte's needs.

It's a decent job, though now that I've graduated, it's time for something that better suits my qualifications...

Well, that's a summary of who I am. Thank you for your interest, but if you've read this far, you probably need to find something better to do with your free time...

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Updated 14 February 1997