user since
Thu Oct 10 2002 at 16:26:52 (7.1 years ago )
last seen
Sat Nov 21 2009 at 23:11:17 (1.5 days ago )
number of write-ups
328 - View smartalix's writeups (feed)
level / experience
10 (Polymath) / 11981
C!s spent
956
mission drive within everything
Optimism
specialties
science and technology
school/company
www.smartalix.com
motto
If you think you can, you can.
most recent writeup
Bunny Suit

I love having written, but I could forgo the writing process completely.

I used to be a content editor on this fine site and I currently play one for other publications. In the recent past I used to be executive editor at Electronic Products magazine, a trade publication for electronic design engineers, and the mentor for eeExperience.com, an online community for engineering students as a spinoff. Now I'm Editor-in-Chief of ECN (Electronic Components News) at Advantage Business Media, publishers of such great magazines as R&D and Medical Design Technology. I also used to blog for Dvorak Uncensored, and have a long-unupdated online tech site at www.smartalix.com

I was born in '61, and joined the Army at 17. I eventually wound up in Germany as an EW SIGINT analyst freezing my butt off observing the Soviets on the other side of the East/West German border. The job was actually pretty cool (no pun intended) and the twin aspects of electronics (radio intercept) and writing (intelligence reports) formed the core of my current career. I liked the non-freezing parts of Europe so much I stayed an additional 15 years on my own after I got out of the service in "83.

During my time in Europe, I spent 12 of those years as a salesman to earn my bread while writing freelance articles until I could make the jump to hyperspace and get a full-time editor gig. (I was actually pretty good at selling, and at one point was the sales manager for Anheuser-Busch's distributor to the military market in Europe (we also handled Gallo wine, Grant's scotch, and 7up, among others.) this contributed to my divorce.)

I returned to the US in '97.

I love wife, Katie, and my daughters Xenia and Alexa (from a previous marriage) and try and live every day with as much passion as I can muster (with varying mileage depending upon weather and road conditions).

Check out my book! There's a preview so you can check it out before downloading the whole thing.

CYBERCHILD is a techno-thriller that deals with real-world issues and developing technologies such as micro-electromechanical systems, animal research, terrorism, politics, and advanced weaponry. You can buy it at http://www.lulu.com/cyberchild. It is also on Amazon and Barnes & Noble, but I get more money from Lulu sales.

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