About Me

  • I live in Holmdel, NJ and have many hobbies including gaming, downhill mt. biking, tree top obstacle courses, making YouTube videos, snowboarding and flying drones
  • Kelly and I moved to Los Angeles, California where I got a job at Disney but after a year we returned to NJ
  • I worked a year in New York city for the International Institute of Learning as a web developer
  • I fell in love with Kelly online and moved to Malaysia where I lived for 2 years and we got married
  • I was the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) of RadioAds.com and worked on that for a few years
  • Worked for Microsoft for almost five years (1995-1999)
  • Worked for Prodigy Online Services for two years (1993-1995)
  • Worked at the Children's Television Workshop for a year (1992-1993)
  • Graduated from Lehigh University with a Masters in Computer Science in 1992
  • Graduated from Monmouth College with a BS in Computer Science 1987
  • Attended Brookdale Community College after graduating from Holmdel High School 1981
  • Moved to Holmdel, New Jersey when I was 16 (1980)
  • Got into BMX from age 12 to 24.
  • Collected Comics from age 10 to 30
  • Drew comics from age 5 to 15
  • Moved to East Hanover, New Jersey when I was 4 (1967)
    (my simplified map) (an actual map)
  • Lived in Redondo Beach and Garden Grove, California until age 4
  • Born in Inglewood, California (1963)
101 Things about me. I got the idea from this site but my list is better because I have 101 things and it only has 100.
  1. I don't like Liver
  2. I have no piercings and no tattoos
  3. I prefer Coke over Pepsi
  4. I prefer 7-Up over Sprite
  5. My favorite number is 88
  6. I was rich once but I'm poor now (April 2006)
  7. Blue used to be my favorite color. Now it's yellow
  8. I never got into Classical Music and I hate Country Music
  9. I'm a descendent from someone who came over on the May Flower
  10. I'm not a very private person which I guess is obvious
  11. I've nearly died about 20 times. I shouldn't be alive.
  12. I want to travel the world. Lucky for me I work at home as a web developer and can do my job anywhere in the world
  13. I've worked at five different McDonald's when I was a teenager
  14. I don't like to get drunk or high although I enjoy alcohol and a slight buzz
  15. I've been in love with 5 women. 3 were Chinese including my wife and one was Indonesian. The last 4 were Asian and I fell in love with them while chatting online
  16. I'm rarely lonely. You might say I'm a loner but I enjoy having friends and doing things with a group
  17. I like to dance but I'm self conscious about how others are judging me (unless I'm drunk)
  18. My wife is deaf. We fell in love online. I flew to Malaysia to marry her. Apparently it was newsworthy since our story got into four newspapers
  19. I like to keep lists as a way of remembering my past because one day when I'm very old I may start forgetting
  20. I'm an atheist but my wife is Christian. Sometimes I attend church with my wife
  21. My favorite age was 14 when I was riding my BMX bike every day
  22. Since like age 25 I wanted to be single for life and never have kids. Then I fell in love and got married. I'm still not having kids though.
  23. I enjoy smoking but my body doesn't. Smoking is very relaxing because it forces me to take a time-out and that's when some of my best ideas come to me. When I'm doing nothing (like when I'm sitting on the toilet). Sit and do nothing and think of nothing and those ideas will bubble to the surface.
  24. I enjoy spicy food but my body doesn't
  25. I do not like the thought of eating seafood but most of the time I do, I like it
  26. I feel like the only person in the world who doesn't like water melon
  27. I never broke a bone which is amazing considering all of the times I've been to the emergency room. I have fractured my bones and done damage to my knees and wrist
  28. I enjoy being the best. I have been the best many times in my life and it feels good. The best artist in grade at school, the best BMXer in my neighborhood and so on
  29. Between the ages of 10 and 13 I used to draw ... a lot! Then I got into BMX I just stopped
  30. I'm a creative imaginative person and everyone thought I was going to be an artist. Then I discovered how much fun programming was and now my creative energies go into coding.
  31. Although I lost my religion at age 16 I continued to live my life like a Christian which meant no sex until I was married. But then in my mid 20's I decided not to get married and I lost my virginity at age 24 to a beautiful Chinese girl who barely spoke English.
  32. Martial Arts: I took Judo lesson age 14 to 15, Korean Karate (Tae Kwon Do) lesson age 15 to 16, Japanese Karate (Shiya do) age 40, Korean Karate (Hwa Rang Do) age 41 and some type of Israel self defense age 41 and Japanese Karate (Budo Kan) and Aerobic kick boxing. I've never had to use it but it has helped me get in shape. I used to get into a lot of fights before I took Judo but it taught me to walk away
  33. I can type faster than most people even though I failed typing the first time. My best time was 120 words per minute. I prefer ergonomic keyboards and mouses.
  34. I find the following sports really boring: baseball, basketball, football, soccer
  35. I love X-treme sports and racing sports that involve wheels like car racing, bicycle racing, motorcycle racing as well as water sport racing and snow sports
  36. I love to mt. bike, snowboard and ride wave runners
  37. I keep a list of all of the major stories in my life but I have not shared it with anyone yet including all the times I almost died. I'll make some story YouTube videos someday.
  38. I keep a diary but I have not shared it with anyone. It's a way for me to keep track of my life in case I find myself writing a book about myself someday.
  39. Dogs are OK but I prefer cats. They are low maintenance (compared to dogs) and smarter than dogs. But I don't want any pets because, like kids, take time and money.
  40. I'm too shy to do Karaoke unless I'm drunk
  41. I have learned 16 computer languages: MEDIAscript, Pascal, Ada, SmallTalk, Prolog, Lisp, Fortran, COBOL, Assembler (two types), Java, Visual Basic, Pascal, C/C++, C#, JavaScript, Basic (maybe 10 types), Visual Basic Script. I've forgotten all but the last 5
  42. I need 8 or 9 hours of sleep per day. I wish sleep was optional. I wish technology provides away to get 8 hours of sleep in 1 hour. I would like to 1/3 of my life back.
  43. Dr. Ruth lived in my apartment building in New York city and I sometimes rode the elevator with her. She was very friendly and even shorter in person. She always made conversation with me.
  44. I have seen Bill Gates in person about 20 times. I have never spoken directly to him or shaken his hand but I have sat or stood next to him many times.
  45. When I got too stressed working at Microsoft I had a road rage problem. Then I learned to deal with my stress and other drivers haven't bothered me since. If someone cuts me off or goes too slow or does something stupid, it no longer bothers me. I just go with the flow except one someone tailgates me real close for a long time. I wish I had giant squirt gun in the back of my car to quirt tailgaters. Someone please invent that!
  46. My favorite foods: Thai red curry chicken, New Jersey pizza and a Sonic chili dog
  47. I have lived in California, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, New York, Washington, Arizona and Penang Malaysia
  48. I visited Canada age 14, Mexico age 34 and now Asia age 42. I have been to Malaysia, Thailand (Hatyai, Phuket, Bangkgok and other places), Singapore, Indonesia (Jakarta) and Hong Kong (for 6 hours)
  49. I love driving in the snow. I'm good at it. I spent many fun hours spinning my car in empty snow-filled parking lots
  50. I love to get lost then finding myself
  51. I sleep best when it's cold, dark and some ambient noise like rain ocean waves
  52. I started to gain weight in college when the cafeteria was all you could eat and they had delicious cheeseburgers and ice-cream. I never stop trying to lose the weight and keep in shape but I so far I've never been able to achieve my perfect weight again
  53. I'm not interested in politics. I never read the newspaper although I enjoy web news but I tend to read more about technology than world events
  54. I'm materialistic. I love things. I love to have money and buy new stuff. I love toys and gadgets.
  55. I feel like a big kid. I just want life to be fun. I think life should be one big adventure.
  56. I hate to be around crying, screaming, whining children. Children love me but I don't love them. They crave my attention when I'm trying to work, eat or watch TV. They're just annoying most of the time.
  57. I've never worn jewelry and I don't like to wear watches, rings, necklaces, bracelets, etc. After I got married, I tried adjusting to wearing a wedding ring but I gained some weight and it go too tight so I don't wear it now.
  58. I don't like to play card games. I never got addicted to FreeCell or Hearts on Windows like a lot of people I see. I did invent my own card game called Attrition!
  59. I'd like to write a book or screen-play someday
  60. I feel dizzy when I see someone else's blood but I'm OK seeing my own blood.
  61. I can't watch other people get hurt on TV. It reminds me of my injuries. I can relate too well and feel the pain all over again.
  62. I once saved my nieces life (about age 8) in a parking lot when her wind pipe was completely blocked by a piece of Jolly Rancher candy I had just bought her. I used the Heimlich maneuver. The candy flew 10 feet and hit a car window
  63. I've been in two car accidents but they were both caused by someone else. Technically 3 because someone backed into me but it was only a scrape and dent.
  64. I once owned one of those exploding Pintos and as luck would have it, I was rear ended at high speed. My gas tank should have exploded and burned me alive but thanks to Ralph Nader I'm still alive and well today although my Pinto was destroyed
  65. The most I ever won at a Casino was $900 on a slot machine. I was in New Orleans and I didn't have time to gamble. My budget was $500 so I got five $100 tokens to play the high stakes slot machine at $100 per pull. On my first pull, 10 tokens came out worth $100 each. I cashed in my tokens and left.
  66. I once hiked up Mt. Saint Helens and snowboarded down
  67. I'm not into traditions, customs and Holidays
  68. I don't believe in luck, fate, destiny, karma, signs, it was meant to be, astrology, numerology, superstition, Feng Shui, the force, psychics, witches, religion, a god, a devil, angels, a soul, acupuncture, chi, gemology, dream interpretations, ghosts, UFOs, pyramid power, alignment of planets, elves pixies dwarfs unicorns dragons, loch ness monsters, sasquatch (big foot), magic 8 ball
  69. I do believe anything is possible so maybe there's a god, and maybe there are aliens from space, and maybe the power of the mind exists like telekinesis or mind reading
  70. I was once robbed by 20 girls in pajamas when I worked the night shift at 7-11 at age 16.
  71. I'm not one of those people who are always looking for police when they drive. I like the police. I figure if you get a ticket, you deserved it. Take responsibility for your actions. The police are there to help.
  72. I'm not one of those people who honk at other people when I drive
  73. I drove across the country (USA) twice. The first time I was alone. It was lonely yet exciting at times and it took many weeks. I went to Burning Man, the Biodome and Arcosanti. The second time with my wife and we did it in 4 days.
  74. The first 10 minutes of The Ring was way too scary for me. The first 10 minutes of Ghost Ship was way too gruesome for me
  75. I love movies. I can go see a movie in the theater once per day. When I was 19 each day I would either rent 3 movies or go see a double-feature at the theater every day.
  76. I keep track of every movie I've seen but I have not updated the web page in a long time
  77. I watch more TV than most people thanks to DVRs like Tivo that let you skip credits, commercials and parts you don't like
  78. I'm a risk taker. I enjoy thrills and adventure. I used to enjoy scary movies but not anymore.
  79. I love way too many movies to have a favorite
  80. I love Starbucks. I love a Latte with caramel or a green tea Frapachino
  81. I get addicted to computer games easily. I'm still addicted to SimCity 2000 and that came out around 1994. I still maintain two web sites: ClubOpolis and Xtreme
  82. I have no fear of flying but I do have a fear of getting hit by lightning when I'm outside during a lightning storm and I have a slight fear of heights. I am not afraid of snakes or spiders. I'm generally more fearless than most
  83. I love Ben & Jerry's ice-cream. My favorite flavors are Cherry Garcia and Coffee Heath Bar Crunch and Heath Bar Crunch
  84. My favorite poem is The Road Not Taken by Robert Frost
  85. I don't have a favorite flower, favorite actor/actress, favorite book, favorite author, favorite bible saying, favorite song, favorite band, favorite movie or favorite TV show. Either I like too many or I just don't care.
  86. I think Wired Magazine is the greatest magazine today. I collected every issue up until 2004 in mint condition. I would buy two. One to read and one to never open and keep in mint condition. I also subscribed to the magazine. They came wrapped in plastic with extras which I kept "as is" and collected. I finally needed money so I tried selling them on eBay but the demand for Wired Magazine was very low. I sold my entire collection to a librarian for a very cheap price.
  87. My favorite aroma is coconut oil sun-tan lotion while sitting on the beach looking at pretty girls
  88. Girl Scout cookies are a guilty pleasure. I buy up 8 or 10 boxes and devour them in a few days. I love the Tagalongs (Peanut Butter Patties), Thin Mints, Do-si-dos (Peanut Butter Sandwiches) and Caramel Delites. I don't feel as guilty eating 10 boxes of cookies since it's for a good cause
  89. My least Favorite movies are Pink Flamingos, Eraserhead and Mr. Mikes Mondo Video
  90. I've tried to learn the following languages: Spanish, Indonesian, Malaysian, Chinese, Thai, Japanese, Tagolog, Esperanto and sign language but the only one I'm good at is sign language because my wife is deaf. I'm real good at forgetting things I don't use so there's no point in learning something if I'm not going to use it. Actually that's not true. Even if you learn and forget something, you can learn other things that you will always remember for example I tried learning Esperanto and I was fascinated by its simplicity that I decided to create my own language
  91. I'm a beer snob. After living in Seattle for 5 years I've probably tried over 100 different brands of beer and dozens of types since they have entire supermarket isles dedicated to Microbrews. I like Heineken (clear) and any Hefeweizen beer (cloudy). Many of my friends brewed their own beer but I never liked what they produced.
  92. I'm the only person I know who has watched Eraser Head in its entirety. I rented it once in college and we started with 10 people and lost about 1 person every 5 minutes until I was the only one left. That was one of the most painful experiences of my life
  93. I wish I could live forever. I feel like we live in the stone age. I wish I had been born in the year 3000. If I could be frozen and awaken in hundreds of years, I would. I'm actually thinking about being frozen when I die. Why not? If it works, I'll have a second chance at life. Oh sure the living could use whatever money I have left over but screw that. I want a second chance at life!
  94. The closest I came to death was when I was standing in the middle of the road helping someone get their car out of a snow drift when a Jeep came up over the hill traveling at high speed. I leaped up on the back of the car and the Jeep missed the car by inches passing where I was just standing. We were on our way to church. I was 16 years old.
  95. I hate mimes. When I was 16, a mime imitated me as I walked and my aunt was laughing but I didn't know why. I turned around and saw the mime but he stopped and I didn't see his imitation. Later my aunt imitated the mime imitating me and I was quite irritated although later I sat and watched that same mime imitating other people and I have to admit I thought it was funny
  96. I was mistaken for a homeless person one time. In grad school I was pretty poor and sometimes I looked pretty poor. I was having chili and crackers and a local cafe when a couple saw me pay for my chili with pennies so they purchased a huge ice-cream Sunday for me. I went over and thanked them. I did not tell them that I was a "starving" grad student
  97. When I was 16, I bunny-hopped my BMX bike over 13 people. I could have done more but the remaining people standing were afraid to lie down for me.
  98. I once got all 4 wheels of my car off the ground pulling into a gas station. It was in my fast Ford Pinto. I had to turn into a gas station quickly because of fast oncoming traffic but I didn't realize how steep the incline was and it popped my front wheels off the ground then my back wheels. The gas attendant said "Dukes of Hazzard! Cool!" referring to the car named General Lee which often too flight hitting ramps of dirt while fleeing from the police
  99. I once had a policeman pointing a gun at my head. I broke my bedroom window in order to replace it since it was cracked and the neighbors heard the breaking glass and got scared that someone was breaking into their house so they called the police. I'm sweeping up the glass and I heard someone say "drop the broom and turn around slowly". I then found myself staring down the barrel of a gun. They had me put my hands against the wall and spread my legs. 4 police cars showed up and one of them frisked me while another kept his gun on me. When I told them who I was (and proved it) they left without apologizing
  100. I've been fired from about 10 jobs. I pumped gas as a teenager and put the wrong type of a gas in a car. I hired someone better than me so they fired me since they no longer needed me. I worked for 2 weeks at Device Guys and they fired me saying "it wasn't working out". My register was missing $100 at Six Flags Great Adventure (I didn't steal it) so they fired me. Years later I got a job at the Safari but got fired by the same person because I lied on my application where it asked "Have you worked at Great Adventure before?" At another job I gave my boss two weeks notice that I was quitting and he got angry and fired me. As a teenager I worked at a local Amusement park running the kiddy rides. I had to stand in the hot sun but my boss wouldn't let me sit down in the shade. I did anyway. He fired me. I was hired to work at Dunkin Donuts but I was fired on my first day because my boss decided he couldn't afford me.
  101. I keep a list of all the words I have trouble spelling in the hopes that I will someday learn to spell them. It's actually working and I can now spell about half of the words on my list. If it weren't for a spell checker, I'd always spell the following words wrong (this is a sampling from my list): apropos, bazaar/bizarre, benefit, broccoli, cemetery, Chihuahua, chauffeur, claustrophobia, conscientiously, correspondence, decent/descent, dessert/desert, derailleur, diarrhea, efficiency, egregiously, euphoric, exaggeration, exhilarating, experiment, flexibility, formaldehyde, hallelujah, hallucinating, Hawaiian, hemorrhoids, maintenance, malfeasance, marijuana, millennium, miscellaneous, Mischievous, monotonous, necessity, obsolescence, panoramic, parallel, permanently, personal/personnel, pneumonia, raspberry, Renaissance, rendezvous, reservoir, separately, spaghetti, stabilized, surreptitiously, surveillance, thoroughly, turquoise, Ukulele, vacuum, volatile, wondrous, Zeitgeist. I used to spell infinitely wrong until I realized it's the word finite surrounded by "inly"
Date Created November 2, 2002
Last Updated May 15, 2022
Contact: patcoston@gmail.com