Computer programmer, jazz musician, fencer, and gamer. I've been a serious gamer since the 2004 KublaCon in Burlingame, California. My wife thought it sounded like fun, so we went (I would rather have been performing at the Sacramento Jazz Festival, but none of my bands were invited that year) and we all had an absolute blast. We're now far enough into the hobby to have had to install shelving and track lighting for our collection and game table.

When I'm not gaming or making jazz, I'm usually reading (SF or fantasy mostly), fencing (I am not a great fencer, but it's fun and challenging and great exercise, and I'm improving!), or designing my own board games (Spatial Delivery won the 2008 KublaCon Game Design Contest). Here on the Geek I try to make positive contributions in the forums, write in-depth game reviews, and contribute the occasional player aid. Three of my favorite contributions are my reviews for Twilight Struggle and A Game of Thrones, and my strategy guide for Railroad Tycoon.

My current avatar is from Brooke McEldowney's amazing comic strip 9 Chickweed Lane. I hope Mr. McEldowney won't mind my borrowing Solange for a while.

Those of you with Macs and spare time might like to visit http://www.semicolon.com where I sell my own collection of solitaire games, Solitaire Till Dawn.

I keep a blog about my interests at http://rixjoint.blogspot.com/ and often post there about boardgames and boardgame design.