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Today's Featured Biography

 
Andrew Trembley

If this gets clipped on the main class page, you can click through to the whole bio.We all have our missteps; mine was botching my first attempt at college.Still, I got my life sorted out, went back to school, and went to work for a small company in Cleveland as a software developer. That didn't work out too well in the end, so I got out of Manitowoc and went back to school once more. Sometimes a clean break is all you need, and moving to Milwaukee for school gave me that opportunity. I also came out of the closet, something I have never regretted. With a bit of hard work and a bit of luck, I eventually found myself in the IT career I should have been in a few years earlier.To go along with the career I enjoyed, I also became active in a number of community groups. I participated in Milwaukee Science Fiction Services, The Barony of Caer Anterth Mawr (the Milwaukee SCA group, you know, those folks who dress up in medieval clothes on the weekends), several folk music circles, and even worked at Bristol Renaissance Faire two summers.Nothing lasts forever, and as our 10-year High School reunion was approaching I became disillusioned with some of the changes happening at my employer. That same spring I went to Costume-Con 16 in Saint Louis with a dozen friends. I had heard about Costume-Con years before, but this was really my first chance to attend. The event was a blast, and I met a really cute research scientist from California with whom I spent most of the convention.Several months of cross-country flights ensued.After watching my co-workers leave our foundering employer one-by-one, I decided that my career was sufficiently portable and started looking for work in San Jose. Kevin's most certainly wasn't; his lab is the leading research facility in his field. A nice university job came up, and I got it.California opened up a whole new series of opportunities. In addition to staying active with science fiction clubs, through Kevin I became active in The Santa Clara County Leather Association and The Imperial Royal Lion Monarchy.Since then it's been a whirlwind, and I'm only going to mention highlights.In 2000 I finally got my first (but not last) motorcycle, an '86 BMW Frankenbike that I still own. I developed the Imperial Royal Lion Monarchy's first website (not the one you see today). We came back out to Chicago for Chicon2000, the 58th World Science Fiction Convention, where we each moderated several panel discussions.In 2002, we were active participants in the 60th World Science Fiction Convention in San Jose, my second invitation to moderate panels at a Worldcon and my first invitation to judge the costume competition. We also kicked off our bid for Costume-Con 26 in Silicon Valley.2003 saw the first Vintacon, an event we've since helped organize and is in its sixth year. We spent a few days in Manitowoc after I ran the Fantasy & Science Fiction Masquerade at Costume-Con 21 in Chicago and Kevin produced the half-time entertainment for the Historical Masquerade.In 2004, Kevin was elected the 34th Emperor of San Jose; the court he assembled raised nearly $20k for local charities.2005 was a big year for us. We produced the masquerade judging interval entertainment for Interaction, the 63rd World Science Fiction Convention in Glasgow, Scotland. For an hour we faked edited reality television live on stage in the Clyde Auditorium for an audience of nearly 1,800 people. We also won our bid to hold Costume-Con 26 at Costume-Con 23 in Ogden, Utah. In the middle of all of that, we were invited by BayCon to be the Fan Guests of Honor, in recognition for our contributions in the local community. Oh, and Kevin and I got married. No, it's not legal (although we have also registered as California domestic partners... don't talk to me about messy taxes...), but we had a minister and our families and friends were there.2006 was almost quiet. Almost. I led a committee that revised the International Costumers' Guild Guidelines: Ensuring Fair Competition. We also had another World Science Fiction Convention a mere 6 hours drive away (California changes your view of distances), L.A.con IV in Anaheim, and we put a lot of time and effort into that.2007 was absolutely mad. To help promote Costume-Con 26 we ran the costume competitions at Anime Los Angeles, BayCon and the 60th Western Regional Science Fantasy Conference. They started on time, they ran on time and they ended on time. It was a lot of work. In the real world, Kevin was cited in the scientific background paper for the 2007 Nobel Prize in Physics, citation #18, if you want to look it up (PDF).What does 2008 present? You mean besides 10 years with a guy I love even more than I did a decade ago? Work is good, even with California state budget problems. I still commute on my motorcycle every day, rain or shine (in shine it's on a beautiful black-and-chrome 1972 BMW R75/5). We're right at the meeting-point of a number of great communities. We've got excellent restaurants, wineries, chocolatiers and a kick-ass distillery (their new Absinthe is amazing) all within an hour's drive of home. They're even farm-raising caviar, real sturgeon caviar, only 120 miles away! Life is good.If you want to know more, you can check out my blog. Great chunks of it are mundane and domestic, but there is the occasional bit that might be NSFW (Not Safe For Wisconsin).

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