Music

I’m a classically trained tenor who recently began singing with the Tanglewood Festival Chorus, which is the official chorus of the Boston Symphony Orchestra and the Boston Pops Orchestra. I also sing with the Choir of the Church of St. Ignatius in Chestnut Hill, Massachusetts.

I am also an alumnus of Boston College and the University Chorale of Boston College. Information about the chorale, including a schedule of upcoming concerts and events can be found at the chorale web site.

Photography

I’m an amateur photographer and much of what appears on my web site these days is the result of this new endeavor. I tend to post my own favorite photos on my home page. For a more complete library of my photos, please visit my Flickr page. The best way to discover new photos as I publish them is to subscribe to my Flickr photostream feed.

Many of the photos featured on my Flickr page are of my friends and family at various events. I fear that my niece, Sona, may soon go blind from all the flashes. I try my best to capture people as I see them in everyday life, not posing for pictures. This causes my friends to hate me.

For the photo-equipment geeks out there, my primary rig is a Nikon D70 fitted with the Nikkor 35mm f/2. Like I said, I’m an amateur so it’s fixed-focal-length, normal lenses for me until I learn this “composition” thing about which I’ve heard so much.

Computers & Technology

I offer freelance software consulting services with a focus on Web applications and technologies. Like many former J2EE developers I now build the vast majority of my web applications with the Ruby on Rails framework.

Writing & Publications

I’ve written two books on Java-related programming and technology topics. Both books are now fairly out of date, though many of the fundamental concepts they convey are still relevant. They’re published by Prentice Hall and can be found in the usual places, both online and off.

My second book—Java Web Services for Experienced Programmers—focuses on open standards and Java APIs for Web services, such as SOAP, WSDL, UDDI, JAX-RPC, JAXM, JAXP, Apache Axis and much more.

During the two years following its publication, my first book—Advanced Java 2 Platform How to Program—was used in a wide variety of courses at more than 60 universities across the world.

Research

The Eagle Eyes Project at Boston College has developed a technology that helps people who are non-verbal and have limited voluntary muscle control to use computers by simply moving their eyes or head. As an undergraduate I worked as a research assistant on the project developing diagnostic, educational, and entertainment software tailored to the technology.

In my senior thesis, I combined my major fields of study (Philosophy & Computer Science) to investigate object-oriented design as metaphysics and epistemology.