A Brief Biography of John Santore

The Quick and Dirty Summary of My Life

• Early Life:
  I was born in Manhattan on March 17th, 1973 to William and Linda Santore. We lived in New York City for all of about a year before we relocated to Jackson, NJ, which is the home of Six Flags Great Adventure. Then they had my brother Michael. At some point, when I was about 4, I was climbing on the counter to get some Entenmann's donuts (hey I had good taste, even then), and fell on my head. No fracture or anything, since I have a thick head (as anyone will tell you), but now you know the reason I'm as warped as I am.

• The Childhood Years:
  I lived until I was 4 in Jackson, NJ. Then we moved to Piscataway, NJ where we lived there for 6 years or so. I asked my 1st grade teacher if 'Piscataway' was a compound word (like houseboat. Remember them). She replied that it wasn't. So I attended 5th grade in Cherry Hill, NJ. Ooh ahh. And stayed there until 8th grade. It was here that I got into the Flyers, basically because this girl I had a crush on for 2 years was a Flyers fan. No I never had the guts to ask her out. Oh well.

• Good Ol' Adolescence:
  Once again, my family moved, this time to sunny Ft. Lauderdale. Which has a lot of old people. Who can't drive. But there's no state income tax, although that didn't mean squat to a bum high school punk with no job anyway. Basically I spent all 4 years of high school here. Then I left to go to college back up North where I belong.

• The Current Phase of My Life:
  After 5 years (ok so I'm a scrub), I finally graduated from Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, got a job, had the job decide to relocate, refused to give me what I was worth. Since then, I've been a sys admin at Duquesne University, worked as a systems/network consultant for a manufacturing consulting firm, worked as a sys admin for a failing Internet startup company (technically they are still in business, but as far as I'm concerned, it's only a matter of time), and now work for yet another Internet startup called eflatbed.com. Yes, I'm still in Pittsburgh. I guess that hit on the head as a kid did more damage than I thought.

• Oh Yeah, Grad School:
  In addition to working full time, I've also decided to go back to graduate school. I'm getting my Masters of Telecommunications from the University of Pittsburgh. It's a lot of work, but taking several years off after mastering the art of being a bum as an undergrad has done a lot for my perspective on school. The obligatory grad school links:
  
  • The Department of Information Science and Telecommunications
  • The Telecommunications Program
  • My home page at Pitt

General Stuff About Me (Like you care)

• Neuroses:
  Well I'm definitely anal retentive, obsessive compulsive, and picky as hell. Plus, I'm cranky, crabby, sarcastic, cynical, a bit of a hermit and generally not a fun guy. Then again, I do have a lot of friends. Maybe they also got dropped on their heads as children.

• Music:
  I'm a music snob. I admit it. I used to be all young and metal, but then I got into a band. And decided I didn't want to listen to musicians who couldn't play. Now I primarily listen to progressive rock, jazz, and classical, with some folkish type stuff tossed in there. Here's a quick list of the bands I like:
  Rush, echolyn (and it's derivatives), Emerson Lake and Palmer, King Crimson, Marillion, Gentle Giant, October Project, Yes, Sarah McLachlan, Aaron Copland, The Police, The Beatles, Simon and Garfunkel, Dar Williams, Grey Eye Glances, Over the Rhine, OLD Genesis, and I know I'm missing a bunch.
  I am too lazy to compile links for all these bands and their pages, but you're smart enough to find them on your own.

• Hockey:
  I'm a big time Philadelphia Flyers fan, but my other favorite teams are the Buffalo Sabres, and the Florida Panthers. I hate the Penguins, Rangers, and Canadiens. My three favorite players are Dominik Hasek, Rod Brind'Amour, and well, probably Chris Therien or John LeClair. I also think that Sarah Tueting, goalie of the US Women's Olympic Team is a babe. I prefer (and play) defensive style hockey. None of that wimpy finesse style crap for me. I also play in 2 fantasy hockey leagues, play street/floor/roller hockey when I can, and have a thing for hockey trivia.
  Again, find your own damn links

• Books:
  I like to read. A lot. And I read fast. I'll read pretty much anything, but my favorite stuff is probably well written fantasy, mysteries, legal thrillers and spy novels. Authors I like a lot are:
  Robert Parker, Nelson DeMille, Raymond Feist, Joel Rosenberg, Robert Jordan, Rex Stout, John D. MacDonald, Robert Ludlum, Isaac Asimov, Stephen King, and I'm sure there's more I've forgetting here.

• Random Comments:
  
  • I love my Directv dish! I'm not a huge TV junkie or anything, but with the NHL Center Ice package, and the other regional sports channels, well... suffice it to say that I watch a ton of hockey.
  • My younger brother got married! 1) Boy do I feel like the male equivalent of an old maid, and 2) maybe I'll be an uncle! Probably not that soon though.
  • You know you need a life when you get excited about buying a washer and drier. Although I only paid $200 for both, and they are pretty new.
  • For the car folks, I drive a 'slut red' (not my choice!) '97 Dodge Stratus that has a manual transmission.
  • I can't think of anything else. Any questions? Email me if you're really that curious.