Jeff is a guy whose programming career dates back to the early days of the Atari. He was raised with the illusion that 16 colors, on a TV screen, was awesome. His earliest BASIC programs date back to the Atari 800 when he was in the 1st grade. Later, Jeff's interest in programming was revived when he purchased his first 386 computer with money from his newspaper route. He soon exceeded the programming capacities of BASIC and was forced to learn a new programming language.

His Father often spoke of a mysterious language by the name of C. When Jeff asked his father if it was wise to take on the new language, the answer was, "a slim chance of survival." The reason, "It's so difficult and complex." This did not seem to bother Jeff. His life was fueled only by intense competition and doing the impossible. In 1993, Jeff released his first commercial program for a local radio station. Later, he went on to expand his knowledge to C++.

Although Jeff is rarely faced with answers, he often is presented with problems, questions and puzzles to solve. He is naturally equipped with a mind of a sponge and a filter for information. In January of 1996, he got his first Internet connection. A few pointers and a few days later, Jeff put up his home page for his business and a e-zine called PCTJ.

Later Jeff was again faced with yet another "mission impossible." This time it was to interface a complex city simulation program with the World Wide Web. He had no idea how CGI even worked, but decided to give it a try. He picked up Perl in early June because of its popularity in CGI programming. However, even with all the support, he soon realized that his city simulation needed much more power. He decided to give C++ a try with CGI programming. The problem was that C++ had little CGI support, and the interfacing was more difficult. But with the programming's added power and his own persistance, Jeff was able to create Design Paradise. Design Paradise at this moment i n time (August 1996) stands as one of the most complex simulations available through the World Wide Web.

Jeff does much more than midnight coding runs. He has his own Business which he runs for the sole purpose of furthering his education. He enjoys playing volleyball and making music with his guitar. If he is not doing any of the above, he's probably at the movies or sound asleep.

When asked what were the most difficult tasks in this competition, he replied, "Learning how to interface programs with CGI and debugging. Debugging is a major task especially when all you can see is the output on a remote terminal rather than on a local terminal."

He leaves us with how he feels about Think Quest. "It's like the Olympics; you train, you practice and you do all you possibly can to prepare. Now it's showtime, and all you can do is hope, hope that you and your team will take home the gold."