Welcome to my homepage! I like to consider myself a gravitysmith although in all honesty, gravity does more work on me that I do with it. I guess you could say that trying to understand how gravity works is a hobby of mine. Unfortunately it is a hobby for which I have not put much time into. So for now, this site serves mainly as a compilation of my adventures and activities I would like to share. In spirit of the idea however, you can follow the gravitysmith logo on following pages to see how gravity fits in.

So, who am I? Well, I grew up in the small town of Brooklyn, CT which is on the eastern coast of the United States. By the hectic, fast-paced standards on the east coast, it is a sleepy little area that is rich in history. Although I moved around a bit while growing up, Brooklyn is the place I most call home.

What exciting things have I done? I am perhaps best known for my 5 month and 2,168.0 mile (3,489 km) Appalachian Trail hike from Georgia to Maine. Hiking and getting out to really see nature has been a big part of my life and my time on the Appalachian Trail has altered my perspectives in so many ways. My two week Alaska adventure also proved to be a fun experience.

Where am I now? Currently I live in Tucson, AZ. For a guy like me who enjoys the cold weather so much, it was tough to adapt to the desert southwest. The opportunity to do so has proved quite rewarding however. How many people do you know who can honestly say that 100 °F (38 °C) doesn't feel too bad? Life here gives an interesting perspective on the abilities of the human body to adapt (among other things).

When I am not hiking or doing research for my Ph.D. degree, I try to find time for some of my many other hobbies. Woodworking (with hand tools only) is one such interest as it reminds me of the low-technology days of time past, and it is a nice compliment to my high-technology research.

Why am I interested in gravity? Gravity seems like an enigma waiting to be solved. It is the force we are most familiar with. It is everywhere and so it seems like it would be the easiest to study. Although people have figured out how to use it to describe the motion of the planets around the sun or why we don't fall off the earth (see the Wikipedia description of gravity), nobody has yet figured out a way to describe how it interacts at very small distances. While I don't think I will be the one to solve that problem, it is fun to think about.

How did this page come into being? My interest in web page design started with a simple question which has evolved into a site of its own. Do you know the correct way to tie your shoes? I didn't until I had a discussion with a friend some years back. It turns out that the shoe knot you use can make all the difference. In any case, I thought the world should know of my important discovery, and so I began designing a web page. The rest, as they say, is history ... and now in a similar spirit to the shoelace page, you can also find out the best way to prepare your taxes.