Background:
Born in Flemington but raised in Hampton, NJ I have always been very artistic. During my years at Hampton Elementary school I was considered the class artist, in fact when we had the annual Fire Safety poster contest I was a frequent winner.  When I entered Voorhees High School, I continued to refine my artistic talents, so much so that when I graduated I won an award for best computer art.  In addition to computer art I excelled in photography and painting.

Education:
Being very artistic I naturally wanted to pursue a career in Graphic Design.  Right after I graduated from Voorhees High School I briefly attended Somerset Technical Institute.  A few years after that I enrolled in Warren County Community College.  After I obtained my Associates Degree in Digital Media in 2002 I enrolled in Montclair State University and got my B.A. in Fine Arts in 2007.

Interests:
In this day of continued improvements in technology, I have had a keen interest in vintage electronics.  For the last couple of years I acquired a small collection of vintage telephones and televisions.  In addition, I am also an avid coin collector as well as a collector of magazines (TV Guides, comic books) and Matchbox cars and trucks.  Other interests include bowling, photography, and reading. (“Unknown” subjects like UFOs, Bigfoot, etc. as well as Weird NJ. [Be sure to check out my website dedicated to Demon’s Alley])

The Guinness Book of World Records:
In addition to collecting, I have had a great interest in the Guinness Book of World Records.  It all started when I was 11 years old when I sat in a tree for nearly 11 hours.  It wasn’t a real record, but just something to do to get my picture in the newspaper.  My first real attempt to break a record was at the age of 16 when I yo-yoed continuously for more than 122 hours.  Unfortunately, I had missed the record by a few hours.  I tried again the following year (131 hours) but  I didn’t get in because Guinness had retired the record.  It was during this time that I turned my attention to building card houses, specifically the greatest number of stories in a free-standing house of cards. My first attempt in 1994 resulted in a structure 76 stories tall.  However, someone else had beaten me by just a few weeks.  Guinness did, however, include it in their 1996 edition as one of the top five structures.  For a brief time I considered leaving it at that but I really wanted to actually break the record.  So  in 1995 I made a second attempt with an 85 story structure.  This time I actually did break the record but I didn’t get into the book because they had already started printing the 1996 edition (with my 76 story structure) When the 1997 edition came out my record had been broken again by the same person.  Even though I did break the record I did decide to give it one more try.  My final attempt in 1998 yielded a 113 story structure.  Again, I did successfully break the record but a few months later my record was broken again by the same person.  After the final attempt I decided to retire from building card houses and concentrate on my career. View images here -