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About Me!
So who am I? Well, I was christened Theresa Lynn Walunas (my parents decided on "Theresa" because they were worried that "Katrina" would sound too ethnic) and I'm 50% Lithuanian and 50% just about everything else. In 1998 I married John Peter Brzezniak, who is 100% Polish. He was born near the Carpathian Mountans in Poland and emigrated here with his family when he was eight. We have a feeling that someday, when we have children, they will look very Eastern European.
I was born in Buffalo, NY in the last year that the Beatles were still together, and moved to Ann Arbor, Michigan 4 years later. I was blessed with just about the most wonderful parents that anyone could ask for. Both of them told me that I could be anything I wanted to be -- and did whatever they could to help me achieve it.
I grew up deciding that erector sets and Legos were just about the coolest toys there were until my dad brought home the most incredible thing ever -- an Apple ][+ computer. That new toy became a serious addition. As was a love of biology. I was almost always sure that I wanted to be a scientist "when I grew up." And lo, and behold, I am.
My educational interests drew me to San Antonio, TX where I spent 4 years majoring in biology and wondering if I would ever get back to my interest in computers. My graduate education took me back to the Midwest to Chicago, IL. I never thought I would like living in a big city, but I have to say now that I can't imagine living without a big city anymore.
After getting my PhD in Immunology (1997) at the University of Chicago, acquiring some wonderful feline friends, marrying the most wonderful man in the world (who just happens to be a software engineer who I just happened to meet on the internet) and doing a couple of years of bench research, I decided to go back to the computers. I'm now working on my MS in computer science -- with the long range goal of working in bioinformatics -- and I am still trying to figure out just when it will be that I grow up and get a real job!
Many of the pictures here are from our wedding because, well, to be honest John and I just don't remember to get out the camera very often. And when we do... it seems that all we take are cat pictures. So let me introduce you some other family members...
ABOVE: John and I on our wedding day, August 22, 1998. BELOW: My younger brother and I. FAR BELOW: John and I with his younger brother (left) and my mom and dad.
Sydney and Mercutio are our constant cat companions. I adopted them from Chicago's Anti-Cruelty Society just before I met John in 1996. My "boys" are just about the friendliest cats you can imagine. In fact, it is rare that Mercutio does not come and sit on my lap when I work at the computer. Sydney, on the other hand, we figure might have a career in computer assembly... as you can see from the pictures below...
RIGHT: Our two biggest helpers, Sydney (on the left) and Mercutio (on the right) blending in excellently with our futon couch.
Feline Computer Consulting!
TOP LEFT: Sydney examines my computer after one of its nervous breakdowns (yep, that is my well organized desk you can see in the background!). He figures the problem has something to do with a faulty motherboard...
MIDDLE LEFT: After locating just the right motherboard to replace the one in my computer, Syd locates all the right tools and connectors to make sure John has all the tools he needs to get the computer brain transplant done.
BOTTOM LEFT: Syd watches to make sure that John installs the motherboard correctly. This also insures that a few "lucky" cat hairs get to christen my computer.
BOTTOM: Mercutio confirms that the operation went according to ISO 9000 standards from my desk chair..
Of course, no "about me" page would be complete without a few pictures of my wonderful new automobile... and my husband's award winning digital photo... It was picture of the month at Steve's Digicams (February, 1999)
Well... that's about it for now... thanks for the patience you must have needed to let all these pictures load up! Hopefully in the future I'll get a few more good shots up... maybe someday I'll even be able to prove that my desk isn't always a mess. But I bet no one would believe that anyway!