About me
Personal
I'm married to one of the most wonderful women in the world. Jeannie is a former classmate at the Iowa College of Law where I first met her. I've traveled extensively with her, Chicago, DC, NYC, Washington, Puerto Rico and other places, it's been fun. We've settled down in upstate New York most recently.
I also enjoy photography. I'm not particularly good at it yet, but Photoshop and most recently Lightroom and Lightroom 2 do an amazing job of overcoming some of my limitations and exposure settings. The shadows and highlights tool in particular saves quite a few photos. I'm using a Pentax k100d now, with the kit lens, and some older manual lens. I print on a couple of Canon printers, but all regular format. Next up a large format printer.
I've become a wine aficionado as well, and that's become the focus of this website. I've noticed that many people with law degrees practice law, then start to drink wine, and then learn to appreciate it. I was first exposed to wine in Spain, mostly Spanish table wine, but also some terrific Rioja wines and interesting Navarre wines - and that was before Navarre really had much of a reputation for wine. I've been tasting and buying Spanish wines much more extensively recently, and find the price to value ratio to be fantastic. There are also some expensive Spanish wines, by their standard, but compared to France they are tremendously good values. I'm a fan of Rhone blends, including California Rhone Rangers, and Bordeaux blends, particularly Red Mountain blends from Washington state. I love a good Shiraz or a Syrah. Bordeaux is attractive, except for the price of course. White wines are nice, though I usually don't buy many. I appreciate whites with little apparent oak. I've found the most valuable part of the wine experience is wine education for someone without a lot of knowledge going into tasting or collecting. And the second most valuable it being willing to try new things, and tell other people about them - what you like, what you taste and smell, what your eyes tell you, and also what you don't like. Try enough and you'll find favorites. But make notes about what you like and what you've tasted and you'll be able to experience new wines and compare with your favorites.
My favorite places in the world are probably the Mediterranean beaches of Spain, with the castles and very old buildings in Castilla-La Mancha are a close second. But the beach at the Caribe Hilton in San Juan isn't bad either! Here in the U.S. my favorite places are probably Rocky Mountain National Park and the Oregon coast. Both are phenomenal places to just be. Yellowstone National Park is also phenomenal, but more because of particular features. The vistas of Rocky Mountain National Park top those in Yellowstone I think. Upstate New York has some amazing topography, including the Finger Lakes, waterfalls (go see Watkins Glen) and forests, and of course access to Lake Ontario.
Professional
I'm Chief Operating Officer and Managing Director of the Burton Blatt Institute. I do policy research and directs operations for BBI. My research focuses on policy barriers, civil rights, and legal issues of importance in employment, technology for independent living and environmental access for people with disabilities, and most recently I've been working on programs for veterans with disabilities in higher education institutions.
My studies include small business and entrepreneurial activity, employment policy, work incentives, corporate culture, disability programs and policy, tax policy and asset accumulation and information technology in employment, government, and education. I've published on entrepreneurial activity of individuals with disabilities, Supreme Court interpretations of the ADA, applicability of the ADA to Ticket to Work Employment Networks, access to courts, the study of corporate culture, and disability as a component of diversity. I was project director for the National Council on Disability's ADA Employment Study, and a senior researcher for the RRTC on Workforce Investment and Employment Policy for Persons with Disabilities. I've also conducted research and technical assistance activities for two U.S. Department of Labor funded projects, one a technical assistance project for Workforce Investment grantees and Disability Program Navigators, the other the National Center on Workforce and Disability.
I received my J.D., with distinction, from the University of Iowa in 1999 and my B.A. in political science with a minor in international studies emphasizing Latin America from Iowa State University in 1997. I formerly was Interim Co-Director of the Law, Health Policy & Disability Center in the Iowa College of Law. I've held appointments as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Law at the University of Iowa College of Law and as Adjunct Assistant Professor of Rehabilitation Counseling in the University of Iowa College of Education.
Prior to college and law school I served in the United States Air Force, in the Air Force Technical Applications Center (AFTAC). I attained the rank of Sergeant, and worked as a 99104, a Systems Repair Technician. (Now the career field is renamed 9S100, Applied Geophysics Technician or Technical Applications Specialist depending on what source you look at for information.) AFTAC maintains the U.S. Atomic Energy Detection System. After 6 weeks of basic training during the summer of 1997 at Lackland Air Force Base, "the Gateway to the Air Force," I went to school at Lowry AFB, in Denver, for about a year from1987 to 1988. During that time I was stationed at the 3441st Technical Training Squadron, attended training at the 3454th Technical Training Squadron, and did field training at Rocky Mountain Arsenal. After school I was stationed at McClellan AFB, in Sacramento, from 1988 to 1991. I worked on a variety of equipment in the Station Processor Shop first, and then moved to Maintenance Control where I did production scheduling for all repairable assets in AFTAC, worldwide. In 1991, I was stationed at Detachment 313, Sonseca, Spain for a few years as a field maintenance guy. In 1993, after about six and a half years of service I was honorably discharged and moved back to Iowa to go to college.
