Who I am

I am a web designer, currently living in West Kingston, Rhode Island. I have loved Lego since I was about 10. My first set was the "Rocket Launcher" set number 462. Since then I have been a huge space freak.

I am also happily married to a woman who appreciates Lego. I have a three year old daughter who understands "my legos" versus "daddy's legos." (later addition) One day, Joellyn was building with me, and I was keeping a set of bricks off limits from her. She got confused, and then had to ask, "Daddy, which ones here are the kid legos?" Ahh, that was humbling. "They're all Kid legos, but if you would please just play with _these_ ones, dear." :)

I am originally from Brockton, Massachusetts, but have lived all over the Eastern US. I went to Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute to become an Aeronautical Engineer. I had a small stint in the Navy, where I went from thinking I was going to be a pilot/astronaut to wondering when I could get off my stinking ship. (It really was a good ship, thoa.. I just missed my wife.) I then went to Michigan to get my Masters degree in Human Computer Interaction. Later, we all moved to Rhode Island so my wife could accept a position with the Engineering Faculty at URI.

I am also a member of MICHLUG, and more recently NELUG as I am now living in Rhode Island.

How I got out of the dark ages

Actually, mine were more grey than dark. I never completely gave up on Lego. After about 18, I noticed people stopped buying Legos for me, dspite the fact that they were still getting me gifts. Also, I was heading to college, so I packed up my collection, and put it in the backyard shed. Occasionally, I would pull it out and build, but it was a pain to go get it, so those moments were rare.

When we moved to Michigan, I took my Lego out of storage. I spent my first summer away from the Navy building all my old space ships. My wife helped.. she was studying for PhD quals and needed a break from time to time. Also the Star Wars line came out that year. That is the thing that most got me back into building. My wife bought me my first SW Lego, "Anakin's Podracer" set number 7371. This set was so cool, and so accurate, and so swooshable! that I fell in love with Legos again. I decided that I was going to collect every single SW LEgo set, as I was never able to collect every Kenner SW set and figure when I was a kid.. and I really wanted to!

Now I have nearly every SW set. I don't collect the keychains or the pens--those aren't real Lego! I was also unable to justify $100 for the Dark Side Developer Kit, and I kept missing the huge sales on that one. Oops. It is the only set from 1999-2002 that I am missing. Update I ended up buying this set for like $135. Yikes! But I still am keeping up, and I really do like nearly all the Star Wars sets--even with *gasp* the new greys.

What I build with my Lego

After seeing what my fellow MichLUGgers have created, I became fairly jealous. So, I decided to try and build some stuff as cool as thier's. I t hought that I would focus on some University buildings from the schools my wife and I had attended. I have since built two: The Troy Building from RPI, and TECH Tower from Georgia Tech. I am currently working on Burton Tower from the University of Michigan. Later, I think I will try to build some smaller New England type buildings. We'll have to see.

BUZZ - Georgia Tech Mascot A very famous mascot, of my wife's prestigious engineering college.

Small House - Zombie Hunter This is a small house that I built for a BrickWars game. Anyway, the resident is a secret zombie hunter. Luckily, he has a house full of knives and swords and...

Stealing the T Lego reproduction of the Georgia Tech tradition of stealing the "T" from TECH Tower. This one takes place at Bricksburg Technological University or BTU.

Tech Tower Tech Tower at Georgia Tech, Atlanta, Georgia

LaserDroid - Star Wars Alternate MOC Anyway, this little guy is a robotic anti-ship laser. It walks around ground installations, away from the standard approach routes and scans the sky for enemy ...