I was born in Morgantown, West Virginia, and spent most of my childhood in Baltimore, Maryland. My parents were both musicians, and I took after them. I was a student at The University of Cincinnati's College Conservatory of Music, and received a Bachelor of Music degree from there in 1982. I also attended and was recently on the Board of Directors of The Walden School, a summer program for young composers, in Dublin, New Hampshire. I went to Cambridge University, where I got my Master's degree in 1983. In between, I was a student at Tanglewood. I've written chamber music, piano music, orchestral works, song cycles and one opera (unfinished, with libretto adapted from a play by Franz Kafka).

I got interested in computers in 1987. I spent several years as a freelance interface design consultant, I've written 2 books on the Mac: Cool Mac Stacks (1992), and The QuickTime Handbook (1993), both published by Hayden Books. My wife and I moved to Vancouver, British Columbia about 3 years ago, and I am continuing my work in User Interface design, and looking for a position of Head of User Experience with a local company.