Born in Long Beach, California, my family migrated to Oregon when I was three to escape the increasing smog and congestion of the big city. Since then, my home has always been Oregon, and primarily the Portland metropolitan area. My early years were spent being a kid, building forts in the nearby woods, mowing neighbor's lawns for spending money, and designing my own darkroom in my bedroom closet. When one of my good friends joined the swim team, I soon found myself smelling like chlorine all the time. For years, life was organized around swim meets, school, and an increasing interest in photography.

It was also organized around chess. In elementary school being on the chess team was cool, and I spent hours with my best friend Mike practicing for what would become my capstone match. The year was 1979, and I fondly remember the crowds gathered around the table as I became the sixth-grade Oregon state chess champion. The tournament is still held today by Chess for Success.

At 15 I landed my first real job doing sales and clean-up work at a local photography shop/lab/studio. Within a couple of years, I was the lead color printer and fortunate to have a boss who mentored my interest in photography. Soon, all my extra money was going towards camera equipment, film and processing. In 1984 I had an opportunity to photograph the first women's Olympic marathon trials, and was fortunate a national magazine - Runner's World - published one of my photos. By my senior year of high school I found myself having to make one of my significant life crossroads decisions: get a general four-year college degree, or pursue my passion for photography by applying to a professional photography school. In the end, I chose a business degree from the University of Oregon. No question, it was the safe choice.

Late one evening, during my sophomore year at the university, my roommate from Costa Rica (who had traveled extensively) began quizzing me about how much I had seen of the world. California. Oregon. Washington. Canada. Hawaii. That was the extent of my worldly travels. Months later, I was on the doorstep of a wonderful Danish family, immersed in Denmark's International Study Program. It was a life-changing year, complete with adventure, romance, gamel dansk, and yes...many long nights of study (which my Danish family can attest too). It was 1987, Gorbachev was in Power, the Wall had yet to come down, and I discovered that traveling was a much better teacher than sitting in a classroom. Not surprisingly, my senior year back home was anticlimactic, with the exception of writing my first book, Europe in an Hour, which filled a need in the travel literature by focusing exclusively on preparation versus what to see and do. To this day, I am proud of the book because it was published long before all the fancy software programs and sold quite well when available. Every now and then I think of updating it and republishing as an e-book or download. 

With a freshly minted degree in marketing and international business, I soon found myself working for the largest international transportation company in the world - the Evergreen Group. Owned by one of the richest men in Taiwan, I was hired to sell space in refrigerated containers for the shipping arm of the company. I worked out of the local Portland office, and was fortunate to have a boss that gently guided me into the world of blue suits (white shirts) and power lunches. The highlight of my six years with Evergreen came early in my tenure, when I was touted as the "Reefer (short for refrigerator) King" for convincing a number of large Japanese trading companies to do business with Evergreen.

A significant turning-point in my life came in 1992 when I decided to proactively investigate my struggle in forming and maintaining intimate relationships. Although I had some dating success, my blueprint for what a healthy relationship should look like was not the best, partly because my parents struggled in their marriage and eventually divorced. Although a bit young for entering long-term psychotherapy, I soon discovered that exploring one's internal world can be an exciting and adventuresome process. What I didn't realize at the time, was that my own work would eventually lead me to a career change.

In 1994, the Chairman of Evergreen decided to start a passenger airlines and all employees were given a couple of free tickets to Asia. After spending time in Europe, I longed to travel again, and took the opportunity to visit Thailand and Nepal with my father. It was an adventuresome trip, and produced some of my best photographs to date. More than anything, it opened my eyes to what it is like living in a third-world county, and how we in the west enjoy a standard of living that many could never imagine.

Somewhere around my five-year mark with Evergreen, I was deeply involved in Toastmasters International due to my love of public speaking, when an attractive young female named Kelly started attending my weekly meeting. As fate would have it, we soon found ourselves on a date, and as they say...the rest is history. She moved to southern California for a job, and within a few months l transferred to the Evergreen Los Angeles office. But as our relationship progressed, we both grew weary of the congestion and smog in California and longed for the rain and clear skies of Oregon. Spending hours in my Ford Taurus on route to sales calls on traffic-jammed freeways quickly revealed why my parents had moved when I was younger. Within a few months of my relocation to LA, we had quit our jobs and headed home to Portland.

It was 1995 and Kelly secured employed as a software trainer while I took a sales position for a freight-forwarding company run by a friend. But the job proved even more boring than my later years with Evergreen, so when a sales position opened at the company where Kelly was working, Kinetic Computer Solutions, I jumped ship believing sales in a new field would liven things up. Although a bit strange working together, it proved to have some advantages in that we were able to see each other frequently, share gossip, and car pool from time to time. It was not long thereafter, however, that I knew in my heart of hearts that my life was about more than sales.

In 1996 I was accepted into the master's program in Counseling Psychology at Lewis & Clark College. I loved being back in school, and my own experience in therapy proved quite useful as I began my studies to become a therapist. Although I continued to work at Kinetic for a short time, I eventually quit and started my own business designing brochures for small companies, and running a speakers bureau that never fully got off the ground. During my final year in school I was required to participate in a year-long internship and was fortunate to secure a position in the Department of Psychiatry at Oregon Health & Sciences University. The position would prove to be another significant turning-point in my life, as I was offered full-time employment upon graduating in August of 1998.

Although graduating was a rewarding experience, it was actually September 11 of that same year that was even more gratifying, as Kelly and I finally tied the knot at Jenkins Estate. The wedding experience was more than we could possibly have imagined (mostly due to Kelly's meticulous planning and preparation), and to this day we both acknowledge - despite going to many, many weddings - that ours tops the list. Although our wedding date would eventually go down as a day in infamy, for me, it will always be a day of celebration and joy.

From 1998 to 2000 I worked as a counselor accumulating clinical hours until becoming licensed in the state of Oregon in 2001. This was also the year Kelly and I took the plunge and became the proud parents of Chloe, a flashy, female, fawn boxer. Shortly thereafter, I opened a private practice and began focusing more of my work at the clinic on research and supervision. I became involved in the National Drug Abuse Treatment Clinical Trials Network, and worked on a three-year study on co-occurring disorders funded by the Center for Substance Abuse Treatment. I also accepted a part-time position at Fanno Creek Clinic assisting a psychologist with neuropsychological evaluations. These experiences ultimately led to my desire for a PhD and reenrollment in graduate school.

In 2002, I initiated my doctoral studies at Portland State University through a program centered around systems science. Although I didn't realize it at the time, the systems component would profoundly influence my future thinking about complex problems (and their solutions), including how I understand and treat addiction. Months before I was scheduled to take my comprehensive exams (2004), my wife and I welcomed a beautiful baby boy into the world. Becoming a father was another significant milestone in my life, and has proved to bring more joy (and challenge) than I could have ever possibly imagined.

In early 2005, I decided to accept a position as a Field Researcher and join the risk management team at Purdue Pharma L.P., a privately-held manufacturer of opioid analgesic medications and other non-prescription products. The change was prompted by a desire to consolidate a number of my natural talents, implement new academic knowledge, and spend more time with my son since the position allowed me to work from home. Although it was sad having to say goodbye to a number of wonderful clients that I had come to know through my counseling work over the years, I was granted an Adjunct/Clinical Faculty position so I could remain connected to the department, if only in a peripheral way. In the end, I knew in my heart that the change was for the best.

Later that year, a good friend convinced me that although I had yet to successfully get advanced to candidacy (i.e., I had no dissertation topic yet), and a new son, a year later I would be graduated and my son would be changing his own diapers. Therefore, I should sign-up for Ironman Canada. Since my first triathlon around the age of 15, I had always dreamed of competing in a full Ironman, but knew that it required a significant training commitment. Nevertheless, I mailed-in my $500 entry fee and started putting in the miles. A year later (August 26th to be exact), I successfully finished my first Ironman, albeit with months left in school and a son still in diapers. 

On April 1, 2007, I turned 40. Instead of fully embracing the moment, I was preoccupied with preparing for my oral dissertation defense which occurred nine days later. With the support of a few good friends in attendance, I defended my research - A Multilevel Analysis of Individual and Organizational-Level Effects on Staff Attitudes Towards Use of Medication in Substance Abuse Treatment, and in June graduated with a PhD in Systems Science: Psychology. Because of my interest in systems thinking, and a desire to participate in an on-going way in the development of the systems program, I was offered a non-remunerative position as an Adjunct Assistant Professor.

With my formal academic education completed, I now look forward to continuing my work at Purdue, writing some journal articles (including a summary of my dissertation and my work as a Field Researcher), and working on a book for the general public about addiction. I am also looking forward to slowing down a bit, catching-up on some good books, rereading some old favorites, and attempting to get back in shape. I purchased a digital camera, and have started to rekindle my love of photography. Most importantly, I am wanting to spend more time with my wife and son, and carefully think about what I have learned during the first 40 years of my life, and what I want the next 40 years to look like.

I also ponder the words of Michelangelo, who said: "The greatest danger for most of us is not that our aim is too high and we miss it, but that it is too low and we reach it."