Since everyone else on Pastoral Council seems to be including an introduction in their bio, I'm going to just skip it - besides, you probably already know me. I'm loud, very noticeable and am very likely to be getting myself in trouble at any moment's notice. How did I get to be the person I am? I grew up in a family of 6 kids, and was sorta the middle child (shared that honor with my sister... my only sister), and because I was very likely to be blamed for whatever went wrong, I figured I might as well do what I got in trouble for, because otherwise it's just unfair. All kidding aside, I'm very thankful for growing up in such a large family, and if my vocation is the married life, I hope to have as many (maybe more!) kids than my parents did.

I was pretty much always bored in school because I pick things up at an incredibly quick rate, though it did seem like my story throughout elementary and middle school consisted mostly of test too low, then wind up having to go into the advanced classes unofficially. In high school, there was no testing required to get into the more advanced classes, so I just did that. In college, the Computer Science classes (I was ostensibly at UCSD to get a B.S. in Computer Science) were too boring for me, so I took a few Study of Religion classes that were interesting, then dropped out to work full time as a Web Developer at the Office of Graduate Studies @ UCSD. I'm still there, unless this bio has stuck around longer than I have.

I've played various roles throughout my time @ UCSD in the Catholic Community, but this is my first time in any sort of official capacity in the Newman Center since I joined during the Lenten season of 2005. I think the purpose of being on the Pastoral Council is to serve the community, in order to bring together all the different bodies that make up the Catholic Community at UCSD so as to benefit the bodies, as well as the UCSD community in general, as best I can. So let me wash your feet!

I love football, especially the Denver Broncos. I like computers and am pretty good with them. I also like religion, theology, and various random stuff. Getting interested in politics was one of the worst ideas ever, but I did. It made me hugely cynical. But the lesson to take from that is that politics and government can't solve our problems, because, as Ghandi said: we need to be the change. I'm also a recent adherent to the discipline known as "snowboarding" and look forward to one day living in a more snow-prone environment, like Denver.

Pax Domini,
Andrew