I am originally from St. John's, Newfoundland, although I came very close to being born in Wabush, Labrador. That's where I spent my early years. Apparently, by the way, I think I'm supposed to be referring to it as "Newfoundland and Labrador" now. They changed the name. But I'll spare those few electrons in this page, and I hope you purists won't mind. I don't really remember much about Wabush, besides the snow. (A lot of snow.) It's a little mining town near the Quebec border, and is a pretty harsh place to live. But that's true of most places in Newfoundland. We're a tough breed.

I remember plenty about St. John's, especially the freezing rain. (A lot of freezing rain.) And the wind. (A lot of wind.) And the fog.(A lot of fog.) Like I said, we're a tough bunch, and we have to be.

I went to Memorial University of Newfoundland to get an engineering degree in Naval Architecture,and immediately left to follow the work, wherever it might be. My first stop was Ottawa, where I spent some time working for German & Milne, one of Canada's oldest ship design firms; all that remains of G&M is the collection at the Maritime Museum of the Great Lakes in Kingston, Ontario.

My next job, still in Ottawa, was with MIL Systems Engineering. They are gone too. From there I moved on to do some study at the University of Victoria in British Columbia. I met my wife Lynda there, and together we moved to Vancouver where I started work for Polar Design Associates. Now PDA is no more, but it is part of Kvaerner Masa Marine. (I hope this isn't a disturbing trend for my co-workers...)

Now I'm in Houston, Texas, at the American Bureau of Shipping. ABS is a classification society, meaning that we have sets of rules that you follow when building ships and other floating structures, in order to meet a recognized standard.We also have other divisions that certify quality standards and non-marine industrial sites, and provide engineering services.

I work in the Offshore Stability & Safety Group of the Offshore Engineering Department, examining the safety of just about anything that floats and drills for oil. I do stability and operational documents, a little bit of project management, some applied research, a bunch of meetings, and whatever else it takes to get the clients "spudded in and turning to the right". The buck stops at my cubicle!

I came here on a NAFTA work permit, TN-1, which allows Canadian professionals to enter the United States and work for up to a year (it can be renewed on an annual basis, theoretically forever but in reality until some border guard is having a bad day). I changed to an H-1B, one of the so-called "high tech" permits which has a time window of three years with one renewal allowed. Unfortunately, Lynda couldn't work until I got my paperwork going for permanent residence (the "green card"). We are in the process now, and she is finally able to get a job if she wants.

Moving to the US involved an awesome trip down the wet, ...um..., west coast and through the arid southwest. It also involved some heavy paperwork and running around. If you are considering joining the "brain drain," be prepared! Income tax may be less in the US of A, but Social Security taxes are enormous. And you might as well be from Uranus as far as everyday things like safe driving records and credit history are concerned...Plus, keep in mind that one significant difference between Canada and the US is that north of the border the government yanks you around and takes your money, whereas in the States that is the task of corporations. But now that is changing, so that now we can get worked over by both! They are pretty much the same thing now.

	Dilbert	Ufies unite!
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