About Ross
Ross was born in 1964 in Seattle, Washington. You can visit his parents, who live just up the block from the house he lived in for 12 years while attending grade school and high school.
After graduating from University Prep in 1982, Ross made his way to Caltech, found in Pasadena, California. There he met his wife, Michelle, and got a job doing technical work for a brand new engineering consulting company (in which he became a full partner at some point along the way).
Fast forward a few years, skipping the wedding in 1986, finally graduating in 1988, Michelle's graduation in 1993, and the acquisition of a small house on a quiet street in Monrovia. Today, Ross is still happily married, is bossed around by two indoor and one indoor-outdoor cats, and spends all his free moments fixing things around the house, practicing and designing magic, and reading.

You might ask what books are to be found within arm's reach on a typical day. That would certainly be easier to answer than what books are found in the house. Ross is often in danger of suffocation under a slumped pile of books. Books are piled on every flat surface, and bookcases form a key part of his particular (or was that peculiar?) decorating style. Ross enjoys light fantasy, hard science fiction, and the occasional mystery novel. Prominant shelf space is occupied by Robert Heinlein, David Brin (and just when is the next Uplift book going to be published?), C.J. Cherryh, Iain M. Banks, Stephen R. Donaldson, Robert Asprin, and Terry Pratchet (the turtle moves!), among many others.
The Magic shelves are occupied by Eugene Burger, Paul Harris, and plenty of ecclectic reference material.
The technical shelves are filled by a large number of quality books from the folks at O'Reilly & Associates, comprising a surprisingly small percentage of their total catalog.
Ecclectic material is ablely supplied by Martin Gardner, Douglas R. Hofstedter, and Scott Adams.

Ross has become active in the Caltech Alumni Association, serving on the Electronic Communications Committee, and now on the Communications Committee of the Alumni Association Board, although he remains blissfully not a member of the board.
Ross has also been motivated to become more active in local politics, accepting in 1997 a position on the board of directors of the Pasadena Republican Club, America's oldest Republican club. The PRC works to support the election of Republican candidates to local, state, and national offices to represent the interests of the greater Pasadena area.