Front Page Last Updated: 7/19/07 (Some sub-pages may be fresher than this.)    The Chinese character on the monitor means "hat," and I have made a hat with that character on it. It appeals to my sense of the absurd.

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Dave's Many Hats

Physics Education Researcher This is what I actually do for a living, research in Physics Education. This page has versions of talks I've given, a copy of my Doctoral Candidacy thesis on problem-solving methods, and a few pieces I've tried to get published. Reviewer My main claim to fame on Usenet (and the Web, to a lesser extent) is due to the reviews I write. This page has a few remaining reviews on it. Writer Most of my writing is over on Eyrie, but my old LNH and Superguy stories are here. Dave's Eyrie Page Most of the active reviews and fiction stuff has been moved to this page. Dave's Protoform Annex This is where the images taken from the page here have gone, mostly. Catchall Remnants A few remaining pages that would have been linked in from now-gone pages are here, like my Shadowfist stuff.

    Here's a picture of my family if you're curious about the sort of people who were around in my formative years. From left to right it's my younger brother Scott, my younger sister Carole, me, my mom and my dad. The picture's from June 1994, when my brother graduated from Lawrence University in Appleton, WI.

    I went home for my sister's wedding (December 19, 1998) and took a lot of pictures. Unfortunately, just about every indoor shot came out too dark or washed out. Sigh. So, until I can get some copies of the professional wedding photos, here's me in a tuxedo and a group shot from the wedding. From left to right are my dad, my mom, my sister Carole (who was blinking, oops), and her husband Tim Clark. New: Here's a slightly larger group shot from the wedding. Standing from left to right are: my Grandma Chapelle (dad's mom...she remarried), my dad, my mom, my sister, her new husband, me and my brother. My Grandma DeSio is seated. Also, for those curious about the environment that would produce me, here's a picture of my family home, where I spent most of the first 18 years of my life, a fair chunk of the next four, and not nearly as much of the remaining years as my parents would like. :) There's actually still civilization on the other side of the house, there's a ridge right behind it which blocks view of anything else.

    A while back I started corresponding with a relative of mine I didn't know I had, Gerald Van Domelen. He's got a Family Tree Page that can help explain where my name came from. I took the family coat of arms from his page and decopaged it onto a shield for this gift I made for my parents for Christmas 2003.

    My pages have "Freshness Dating." As I update pages, I'll be putting a "Last Updated On" date on each, to help a little in finding new stuff in this morass. Any page without a date is probably a couple of years un-updated.

    Every so often I wax philosophical...it helps keep the brain shiny and rust-free. Here's a few pieces I've written, either about life in general or dealing with the online world.

• Web Design Philosophy - As someone who has been online long enough to remember when adding images to a webpage was the latest thing, I think I'm legally required to write something about how this crusty old netter thinks webpages should be made. Written before 2000, so a lot of details are incorrect now.
• Kitbashing as Philosophy - After spending a few years now painting and rebuilding toys, I realized that there's something about it which has changed my outlook on life. Expect this essay to be altered, repainted and otherwise changed every so often as I realize something new about the subject.
• Net.Equanimity - Originally written to apply to a specific newsgroup, the tips in here are helpful for anyone wanting to learn to live with the more frustrating elements of online communities.
• Dave's Guide to Guides to Writing - This is more a philosophy of writing thing, so I'm putting it here instead of under the writing page.
• Why Is Scalping Wrong? - No, I'm not talking about removing someone's scalp. In this essay I address the matter of buying up toys the instant they leave the truck and then reselling them at huge markup, and why it's a Bad Thing.
• Personality Test - These are the results of my taking this personality test. I took the short form, so the subscales are less than reliable, but the main scales should be reasonably solid. Some interesting apparent contradictions in there, but I contain multitudes.
• The Eye In The Sky -or- How I Stopped Worrying And Learned To Love My Krogers Card - A bit of a rant on how people tend to go overboard in trying to avoid leaving an electronic footprint.
• Getting Into The Story - Some musings on how authors end up in their own stories. Good, bad and Mary Sue.
• The Problem of Evil: A Solution I Can Live With - my modest attempt at a solution to this theological blockbuster.
• The Problem With Organized Religion - If you're gonna sell your religion to a potential convert, you have to focus on how it differs from all the rest. And that informs what the religion starts to see as truly important.
• Growing Up (and its pitfalls) - I address the topic of what I call "juvephobia," the fear of being thought to be childish or silly.