A Placeholder Until I Am Inspired

this will be a catchy subheading

I decided my Web site needed an overhaul while teaching a unit on résumé design. How can I teach about design when my own Web site was bland, if not hideous? So, on January 26, 2008, I began the process of converting my pages to a new stylesheet with a much nicer color scheme. (The colors were chosen by my wife, since my colorblind choices were apparently as appalling as my original Web site.) One of the more amazing things about Web design is that my personal pages were converted in only two days.

Current Projects

With the redesign complete, I am hoping to turn my attentions to The Existential Primer because the content is rather stale. It is not a lack of research that caused a pause, but a lack of time to integrate the research into the various Web pages. As with the Tameri Guide for Writers and my other projects, I never seem to have enough time for all my interests.

• Tameri Guide for Writers — I know this project will never be done, but it is probably the most interesting and challenging. My goal, starting in 1997, was to convert any class I taught on writing to Web content.
• The Existential Primer — The project that started it all. In an age of Wikipedia, blogs, and other forms of community editing, I still retain editorial control of The Existential Primer. It is important to me that the site be easy to read and appreciate, while being as accurate as any text on philosophy can be.
• The Autistic Me: Beyond the Blog — I converted several small projects from my doctoral studies to Web pages. These pages reflect presentations I deliver on autism and education.
• The Autistic Place — A Drupal-based Web site dedicated to autism news and research. This site is an interactive portal with forums, news feeds, and much more. An AutismWiki was recently added to the portal.
• FutureBASIC / FBtoC — I am currently leading an effort to convert all FutureBASIC documentation to a Wikipedia wikibook. This project is meant to promote OS X software development, especially within educational settings.

In addition to the Web sites I always have various projects on my desk: novels, plays, computer program ideas, databases, and various articles I have written.

Now Appearing in Multiple Roles

The one question I receive more than any other is: “You claim to be quite a few things, but what are you really?” I wish I could provide a simple answer, but I cannot. The notion of being one thing strikes me as strange — at least for me. Other people might enjoy responding with certainty, but I like being a bit of everything.

I am currently a freelance editor, a technology columnist for a monthly magazine, a writing instructor at a large public university, a doctoral student specializing in autism disorders, and a computer consultant. I enjoy programming as much as I enjoy creative writing. I love teaching, whether students are discovering recursive functions or the beauty of Shakespeare. Why would I be one thing?

A professor recently suggested that I need to choose what I am going to be. I cannot do that. Life will help choose what I am tomorrow, just as events have shaped who I am at this moment. What I cannot be is one thing. Such a limitation is too terrible to ponder.