The Moose's part of the pond

My Little Piece of the Electronic Pond

Welcome to my webspace. Who am I? Good question, but I doubt we’re looking for the esoteric answers….

John-Joseph Bober

My family – genetic:

My dad and my sister; my mom died 18 June 1998. Something to realize about my family is that it is huge. On my father’s side, my grandfather is the oldest of five, and my grandmother was the youngest of four. After one family reunion, my wife decided she, quite literally, needed a scorecard. We are now the keepers of the genealogy. Unfortunately, we’ve only taken the family back to the mid-1800’s, but it keeps getting wider. The internet is a wonderful resource for research.

My past:

I was born in Syracuse, NY where I learned early to survive, and even enjoy, the cold and the snow. My father got transferred to Morristown, NJ and I spent much of my childhood in Hackettstown, NJ. Among other things, I played football for five years (pretty well, if I say so myself), played some baseball (badly), and did a lot of normal suburban-kid-growing-up things. Had some phenomenal teachers at the Hackettstown Middle School who influenced my thinking for the rest of my life.

Memorial Day weekend between eighth grade and high school, my dad and I started clearing the land in western NJ to build a new house. I spent July and August of that summer in Europe with a family there and I came home to a shell of a house that was a family project for quite some time.

I went to a Phillipsburg Catholic High School which was a wonderful experience. I met a number of great people there with whom I have since lost touch, but I also met my best friend with whom I’m still close. During that time I worked at the McDonald’s in beautiful Stroudsburg, PA – now that was an interesting time in my life!! Best of all, I survived it!!

Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute was my choice for college. It was the toughest, most painful, greatest time of my life. Met some fantastic people there, including my wife, and got a great education – both book and real life. Yourhouse! Just Yourhouse!

After graduation I moved to south Jersey because of my job, and pretty soon we are up to…

My present:

Married to the incredibly fun Jennifer D (known as "Jeff"). We’ve been together for a while now and have survived such things as three and a half years of a commuter marriage! We have a daughter named Veronica. She's a charming and intelligent young lady about whom everyone says "you're going to be in so much trouble...."

I spend a lot of my time involved in something called the SCA. It’s a medieval living history organization. It’s not for everyone, but I enjoy it. It amounts to many hobbies in one, for me. I get to recreate medieval foot combat, brew beer, do calligraphy and illumination, cook from medieval recipes, as well as meet people from all over the world.

I love to cook – something I picked up from my mom. I am the main cook in the house, much to my wife’s delight, and pretty much anything goes in the kitchen. As a fantastic compliment, Jeff bakes – especially chocolate. I have an eclectic taste in cuisine, and am willing to try just about anything. Whenever I have to travel for business I try to find whatever is good, and local. I know some fantastic places on Michigan Ave. in Chicago, a great Afghani restaurant in Minneapolis, a good steak house in Helena, Montana, and if you want barbecue in Dallas….

I like to listen to music, watch good movies, eat good food, and drink good beer. I like sports, but I think baseball is about as exciting as watching grass grow.

Here are some links to people and things in the forest about me.

My future:

Hmmm….things I still want out of this life - a dog, a house in Maine, New Hampshire or Vermont, a sailboat. Knocking around in my head is a fantasy/historical fiction novel set in medieval Eastern Europe. That seems to be common in my family, though because I know my sister has a book plan in her head, and my dad and I have discussed the plot of his historical novel set in the just post-Revolutionary American colonies.

I’ve finally gotten to take Jeff to Europe. We've made it to both Poland and Scotland and both trips were absolutely incredible.

That job thing:

To keep a roof over my head and food on the table I’m a technical writer for a consulting firm. I literally gave up a corner office and a leather chair for life in a cubicle, and I love it! The idea is that I can use my technical expertise to ensure that the contracts protect the company, and my process and management background to bring improvements to the workflow.

If you have a bonus job in New England and are willing to relocate me, here’s my resume. <not here yet>

Speak to me...

Something around here was last fiddled with 1/28/2010.