Welcome to my user page. I began using Wikipedia as a resource in 2003 when I was teaching high school, and found it to be a huge help on some of the topics I was teaching. It was interesting to have some uncertainty about the reliability of the articles, but I was usually reading enough sources to verify things, and found that I was rarely, if ever, led astray by the material here. The only thing I remember correcting back then were some poorly phrased sentences on a page about galvanization.

I'm now a web consultant, and have just recently started contributing to Wikipedia. I'm very impressed with the level of activity here and am happy to lend a hand where I can.

I've never kept a blog or really gotten into online communities, but I enjoy the collaboration and productivity of contributing to Wikipedia. Looking forward to more!

I also enjoy construction, arts and crafts (in many mediums), cooking, and outdoor activities such as biking, swimming, hiking, camping, and snowboarding. I like watching movies and exploring new music. I am a news junkie and enjoy keeping up with current events on all topics, but especially science and technology, international news, health, business, and the arts.

Chandos portrait
The Chandos portrait is the most famous of the portraits that are believed to depict William Shakespeare (c. 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616). Painted between 1600 and 1610, it may have served as the basis for the engraved portrait of Shakespeare used in his First Folio in 1623. John Taylor (c. 1580–1653) is thought by several scholars to have painted the portrait. It is named for the 3rd Duke of Chandos, who formerly owned the painting. The portrait was given to the National Portrait Gallery, London, on its foundation in 1856, and it is listed as the first work in its collection.Painting credit: John Taylor; image retouched by Dcoetzee