I was born in Philadelphia, PA, USA, in the late winter of 1953, around the same time as the demise of Soviet strongman Joseph Stalin, and the beginnings of the "peace" talks during the Korean Conflict.  I have no reason to believe these three events are related. As a child, I was roly-poly to the max..

My father and mother were, and continue to be, married to each other. I know this may sound strange to some of you, but it does happen. Thirteen months after I was born, a set of twins showed up, confirming my parent's fecundity, and curing them both of any desire to increase the number of progeny. (There. You just learned two new words. See? I told you the internet was broadening.)  Here's a 1/1/2004 photo of my father, who in July of 2004 will celebrate his 85th birthday.... (Mom, show Dad this picture.. I know he doesn't believe in computers.. 

Around 1958 or so, tiring of the hustle and bustle of post-war Philadelphia, my parents, my older sister, the twins, and I escaped the confines of Eighth and  Pine  for the fresh, clean air of Chester County, a heretofore unexplored wilderness about 35 miles (50 kilometers) west of Philly. My mother's parents had emigrated there from the Main Line in the mid 1950's, narrowly escaping a band of roving Presbyterians out for summer pasture. They staked a 10-acre homestead in a blank spot on the map now called Exton.  My father pried a little over three acres out of them, and set about building a log cabin with his bare hands. No, that's not true. We did have a bulldozer. Here are some pictures of the house and other scenes

In 1961, my father's widowed mother came to live with us after the state of New Jersey eminent-domained her house to make way for the Turnpike. Since my maternal grandparents, my uncle, and my great-grandmother lived down the hill from us, it was a bit like Walton's Mountain out there, but without the sappy sentimentalism, and far less inbreeding.

Growing up, our family was a combination of the Cleavers (from Leave it to Beaver) and the Addams Family - on the outside, classic WASP-y middle class white bread, but on the inside just loony enough to be one false step away from the booby hatch. See some of my other pages here for evidence, if not absolute proof, of this.  At age four, I was a pretty cool dude.  Now, however, I tend to scare little kids and make women start in horror...

I grew up ( "Hah!" some might say...) without major incident, (well, there was that episode when we climbed up the drive-in movie screen...) graduated from  High School  in the top ten percent of my class, goofed off all summer, took in a bit of college at West Chester State, (perhaps the only college in the world where you can get a PhD. in PhysEd...) got married, moved to Sacramento, California, finished college at Cal State, moved back east at the request of a homesick wife, divorced in 1983, remarried in 1989, and had a son in 1994.  Unfortunately, his mother and I are not together anymore, but he's a pretty good kid nonetheless.  Now I live in the quaint 'burb of Mays Landing, NJ, about 15 miles west of Atlantic City, gambling mecca of the East Coast, and the best thing to happen to bus lines since the porta-potty.  Rather boring description of over 45 years 46 years! 47 Years 48 years.   Gawd..nearly half a century     Gaaaack!!!!