: About Me

Not exactly a workaholic, I still manage to get a lot of weird things done. Like two MAs in History. Like learning Zulu and Afrikaans. Like playing piano for four years. Not particularly useful for me now, but awfully energetic pursuits at the time.

I live in the San Francisco area with my wife and kids, and I work for a small, special educational publisher. I'm the cook, the gardener, and the morning chauffeur.

When I'm not scrubbing toilets or folding laundry, you might catch me reading to my sons, finding new ways not to write my science fiction novel that will (one day) make this world a better place, or tapping away merrily at the computer.

My passion is ...

African history

I know too much about ...

African history

My parents always told me ...

I was an absentminded professor since the third grade

My childhood ambition ...

to teach...sad, but true

Why I write ...

I like pretending I have the free time I'd need to do it

What I am reading/watching/listening to ...

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (with my son), Forty Days of Rain by Kim Stanley Robinson (for me), House of Cards (BBC mystery series from early '90s), Hector Buitrago - "Conector"

My first job ...

gardening

My best moment ...

I must have something for this... Good news! It's yet to come (I hope)

My inspiration ...

failure

Home & Garden > Real Estate (Other) Qualities to look for in a neighborhood

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Things to look for in a neighborhood. When picking the ideal neighborhood, first consider what you plan for your life this year, in five years, and in ten years. If you're buying, give these three time frames the same importance. If renting, this depends on how flexible you are about moving. Next, look at these four big areas of concern. 1. If you have children, or plan to five or ten years down the road, you'll want to look into the schools, places for play, safety and health, and other child-oriented amenities. School quality is more than just test scores, though those are a good place t...

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