About Me

Updated sometime in September 2004? Actually, that isn't quite true, as I had erased the previous text before typing anything. So, technically speaking it isn't updated, it has been re-written. Call me anal if you want, but I can be a little picky at times. That's what I do for a living too - I'm the picky one pointing out what everybody else gets wrong. It didn't used to be like this however, once I was fairly normal just like you. Something changed me though. In 2000 or late 1999 I started doing localisation for a living. Part of that involved re-writing a lot of copy done by Americans. You might think this wouldn't pose a serious problem, but you'd be wrong. They don't actually speak English. It's something else, and it needs special treatment or it will fester in your brain like a cancer. We'll get on to cancer in a minute, but first a little background on me.
I come from Dublin, and currently live in London with my wife. No, not Ohio and Canada, but Ireland and the UK. I was born in 1971, and my earliest memory is of the sensation of squishing jelly between my fingers to remove the pieces of meat that my parents had hidden there. I would have been about two or two and a half at the time, and I was a seriously picky eater. I still am actually. We lived in Cork for as long as I can remember, and I grew up in a nice little place about seven miles outside the city. It was an idyllic place to grow up, though I'm glad we left as I like the me I am now. Had I stayed there, I think I would have been a completely different person. I know that sounds obvious, but the difference in environment between rural Ireland and Dublin is enormous. And Dublin was where we moved to after Cork. Let me put it this way. I have for many years played Brad in the Rocky Horror Picture Show. No sane Corkonian would do that. Also of note is that we've had many exchange students stay with us over the years, so I've had my horizons broadened by exposure to their different cultures. Think escoba. One of the most important things I gained from them was my wife, Annabarbara, who comes from Munich. She came over to us for three years in a row, and ended up living with me when I moved to London with my company in 1998. She's now studying archaeology, and is on her way to becoming Lara Croft or Indiana Jones, though she wouldn't like to have either of those names associated with her. We got married in August 2000, in a lovely place near Munich. Photos are in the photos section.
I work for a company called AOL, who of course are the bad boys in the internet access market. Yeah, ok, maybe not then. I've had several jobs within AOL, including call-centre rep, chat host, CD mastering guy, localisation guy, localisation manager guy, and most lately I've become marketing's technical bitch. I've had fun in that company though, and stayed there far longer than I might have.
Early in 2004 I discovered a lump on my testicle. It turned out to be cancerous, and I had radiotherapy for a week to deal with it. I'm still under observation and doing regular medical check-ups to monitor whether it has spread or not. So far, so good :-)