Hello, my name is Alaina. I am a nerd. I live in Toronto, ON with my partner Sarah, plus three cats (including one with only one eye) and two dogs (including one with only two teeth).

I was born in Richmond, VA in 1971. I spent the entirety of my childhood being mocked and abused by other children for being a queer nerd. For some reason kids are able to sniff out weakness even before they learn multiplication tables. My saving grace was Anne Vaden, the instructor of the Talented and Gifted program, who gave me a place to explore my developing geekiness in such ways as debate club, computers, a mock trial, and word games. Through TAG I became interested in such things as Dungeons and Dragons, backwards masking in rock music, and what a GI Joe doll looks like when you chop him up with a hot knife. (This was unrelated to my feminist consciousness, I assure you.)

I skipped a year of high school and graduated when I was 17. My first job was for the Department of Motor Vehicles in Virginia as second shift tech support for the DMV branches around the state. I worked for the State of VA for two years and moved to...

Raleigh, North Carolina! Big lights! Big city! College basketball! Okay, so it's not a big city, but it appealed to me because it was a very well educated area with lots of high tech stuff, and also because it was the first place I went to see the Rocky Horror Picture Show. I lived in Raleigh for six years, then moved to the Bay Area for six months to work for EDS. I moved BACK to Raleigh and continued to work for EDS for another two years. Then I switched jobs because I got laid off by EDS. Another couple of jobs and here I am in Toronto, the manager of a national systems engineering group and happily Canadian.

I am quite enamoured of my two little Yorkies, Kyrie and Loki. Kyrie is my little princess who loves tummy rubs and carrots. I call Loki "The Yorkshire Terror." He is an energetic and affectionate little guy who digs kisses. They sleep with me in my bed. Love me, love my dogs!

My passions include fitness, music, reading, riting, and--most recently--'rithmetic. I am a tidy person, but I am most emphatically not a neat freak. I enjoy entertaining friends. If I really love you then I will have you over on a Sunday morning and make you an authentic Southern breakfast, which will clog your arteries if you just look at it.

I spent far too much time learning about organic chemistry, physiology, pharmacology and steroid biochemistry. If you want to converse intelligently about the differences between the two types of estrogen receptors, genetic transcription, or the pharmacokinetics of androgen esters, I'm your girl.

My current intellectual obsession: string theory. More specifically, I am interested in quantum gravity and unification, and string theory is one apparently viable means to that end. This has led me to want to learn math, a subject in which, historically, I have always been somewhat of a bumbling moron. I am starting to see the beauty in mathematics now and it's very exciting!

Ah, the wild time of my early '20's. I am far more restrained now, but I still get into trouble. Krista and I founded a chapter of the Lesbian Avengers in 2001; we put on a benefit for the Revolutionary Association of the Women of Afghanistan, in which we raised several hundred dollars for RAWA. (Thanks to the rest of the Avengers and the Toronto Riotgrrrls for helping with that event!) We also got to march in the 2001 Dyke March dressed as superheroes She was La Feminista!; I was SuperFemme.

I enjoy lots of athletic activities. You can read about them here.

You can also read about movies and music I like, and see what is on my bookshelf thanks to php code and an export from Delicious Library.

Anyway, this is my website. There is no real point to it other than the fact that it seemed like a fun thing to put together, and it gave me an excuse to update my Web Skillz from my last ca.1996 experience with doing web design. CSS? DHTML? What are they? Duhhhhh.

Also, I get to put pictures of myself online. How can I go wrong?