I was born in the Pacific Northwest, in the United States of America, and lived there until I graduated from high school (except for a year or two in Utah). I graduated from Camas High School in 1992. I served a mission in South Korea for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints from 1994 to 1996. I loved living and serving the Lord in Korea. It was the stepping stone into my current profession and my love of other cultures and people.

After returning home in 1996, I went to Hawaii to complete my Bachelors degree in Teaching Englisht to Speakers of Other Languages (TESOL). I graduated from Brigham Young University-Hawaii in 2000. My wife and I were married in the Seoul, Korea Temple on June 25, 1997. That was the same month and day the Korean War started (although obviously not the same year). In fact, the Koreans call the Korean War Yook-Ee-Oh, which means June 25th.

After spending a year in Korea, we moved to Provo, Utah, where I completed my Masters degree in TESOL from Brigham Young University. After graduation from BYU in August, 2004, we moved to the United Arab Emirates, where we currently live. This is an interesting country and culture. I enjoy living and working here.

Aside from teaching, I have many other interests and hobbies. Obviously, I like to design websites. I serve as the webmaster for TESOL Arabia, the local professional organization for Teachers of English to Speakers of Other Languages. Wherever I have lived, I have usually found some type of work dealing with web design and/or the Internet.

Another of my hobbies is languages. As you will see in my Korean Stories Page, I speak Korean and I like to study more Korean when I can. I am also interested in learning Arabic, though I don't have time for any formal study currently. I also speak a little Japanese, which I studied for two years in high school. Finally, I speak Korean Sign Language, which I learned as a missionary when I worked with the deaf members in Seoul.

I also love to read. I absolutely love the Harry Potter series and I am anxiously awaiting the arrival of Book 7. I also love to watch movies, and I have quite a collection of DVDs at home.