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About Me

Hi, I'm Jason. I'm part of the last generation born into homes without digital technologies such as VCRs, CD players, home computers, game systems, or mobile phones. All of those were a part of my life by the time I graduated high school. I grew up in West Virginia in the fading era of free-range childhoods and spent much of my time roaming the neighborhood in packs of kids.

I went to college at West Virginia University, which is located in a town founded by my fifth great-grandfather. I started out as an aerospace engineering student but ended up graduating in business IT.

Washington, D.C.

I got a job in Washington, D.C. as an IT consultant. I traveled around the city (using a paper map!) fixing the IT systems of all sorts of different businesses. I met my future wife in 2006. She was accepted to the University of Chicago for grad school, and moved there. I followed her.

Chicago

Jessica and I lived in Hyde Park. I got a job with another IT consulting firm and traveled all over Chicagoland. My clients inclulded a cheese manufacturer and a now-defunct molding and stamping factory. After Jessica graduated we moved to Wicker Park. We got married, and I got a job as a sysadmin downtown.

I got tired of IT and start writing about space. I applied to grad schools for science writing and ended up at the University of Arizona.

Tucson

Within a month of me starting school, we had our first and only child, Marian. I finished grad school and started working remotely for The Planetary Society. I got to travel to lots of rocket launches and other neat space events. We bought a house and settled in to desert life. In 2024, I started working for Tucson-based NOIRLab.