Brief History

I was born in Odessa, Ukraine. Before I turned ten years old, we immigrated to the United States. In 1989, after six months of living in New York, my dad got a job with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

My family raised me to be a professional violinist since the age of five. I attended a music school in Ukraine, and after we moved to Syracuse, I was accepted part-time to the Julliard School of Music (yes, Julliard in New York). My parents drove me there twice a month so I could study with one of their professors. Although I was there part time, I earned a paid-for trip to Aspen Colorado with the school. I visited Aspen a total of three times; two of which were for the Julliard Music Festival but only one of those trips was paid for. The first Aspen trip was a cross country drive because my dad took a summer gig in Boulder. Dad taught me everything violin, and I won numerous competitions: one of which allowed me to perform with the Syracuse Symphony Orchestra.

After 5 years in Syracuse, my dad got a job with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra. When I was 16, I got my first computer. Prior to that time, my only computer knowledge was playing Wolfenstein 3D & Doom at my friend's house in Syracuse. I was up for 24 hours straight trying to install Wing Commander III in DOS not knowing anything about IRQ or DMA ports. I got the game installed, and I remember that day and night like it was yesterday. From that point on my computer know-how started to take off.

As a result of my classical upbringing, the necessity to practice five to eight hours a day and the pressure & expectations of my parents, my academics suffered. In 1998, I had a falling out with my parents and gave up the violin as a future profession. I decided to focus on computers, and although I thought I wanted to become a programmer when I went to UB, I was quickly turned off by a black and white Sun monitor filled with nothing but code. I consider myself to be a creative & visual person (not that programmers can't be creative) and while I was at UB I became confused & unsure as to what I actually want to do.

In 2000 I met Mindy in a Russian Culture class. It was an easy credit and fit in with the rest of the -stuff- I was required to take. I talked to her once in the beginning of the semester, and that was the only time I said anything to her until the last day of the class when I got the courage to ask her out on a date. I'm pathetic, I know, but that's how it played out. In & around that time I also started to develop a sense of self confidence. After years and years of being labeled a Communist in every year of middle school and first few years of high school, I eventually started to develop a care-free attitude. The turning point was actually my junior year of high school when I got in to my first school fight. This was after taking Tae Kwon Do for over 3 years (are you laughing already?... it helped me attain the self confidence I needed... and then-some...).I'll leave out the details, and although it was indeed an all out brawl with kicks, punches, and a crazy crowd, I didn't get in trouble because I was in good standing with the teacher that broke up the fight. Let's just say that ended any kid ever making fun of me in school ever again: with wild stories of me doing a flying kick through the entire length of a hallway.

Sorry I got side-tracked with those proud memories... where was I? Ah yes... Mindy. So we started dating and I thought the relationship wouldn't last because I didn't think I had a future... and I didn't expect her to stay interested as a result. I found out that ITT was offering a graphics program. Granted it was no University (but a private school that's a hell of a lot more expensive) but if I was accepted I'd be able to dive right in with only a minor set of pre-requisites to get through. I thought jumping schools would end my relationship with Mindy for sure (not to mention that I did all this with out my parents know-how... they found out when I told them they needed to sign the paperwork at ITT... I was no longer a student at UB) but she actually supported the idea. She was a 4.0/straight-A English Major so why she would want to stick it out with me was a good question but, she did.

Anyway... the resume and our photo gallery pick up where this history write-up leaves off. Check it out and they will quickly fill in the rest.

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