Laurie's Sordid Past
Born in Duluth, Minnesota
My accent reverts back to a
mid-western vowel-fest after about 5 minutes talking to anyone with a
mid-western accent. Example: "Let's goah te the boaht." "Uff
da!" "Noah!" "Ishy-poo".
Grew up in Guilderland, a suburban
utopia on the outskirts of Albany, NY
I missed a fair amount of
school as a kid, due to season allergy attacks and my family's traveling
schedule. I became talented at groping my way through my classes with only part
of a clue. This talent did me well at Microsoft!
By the time I was 12, I had
been to all 48 contiguous states and Alaska. It took another 11 years to get to
Hawaii. I mostly read science fiction between states. Favorite authors at that
time: Robert Heinlein, Anne McCaffery, Robin McKinley.
Undergraduate at University of Rochester,
NY
I studied Cognitive Science
with a concentration in Human Factors. It was a multi-disciplinary major, so I
basically got to take whatever courses I wanted to, punctuated by Human
Factors, Psychology, LISP, AI, NLP, and other cutting-edge courses. Extremely
cool.
Exodus to Seattle, WA
The land of endless rain
and no snow! Hardly any wind! Very short winters! Lots of water views! Needless
to say, I love the area. Oh, it's a little depressing when it's completely dark
by 4:20 p.m. in November, and it's been raining everyday for about 3 months.
But really, all that tanning will give you skin cancer. It's much healthier to
be fish-belly pale. Honest.
Graduate School at University of Washington
for a Ph.D. in Industrial Engineering and Human Factors
Short-lived. I deferred for
a year and got a job at Aldus.
Microsoft
I was lured from my plans
for grad school by the call of the corporate paycheck. I lingered there for
close to 6 years. See My Brilliant MS Career for more details.
Around the World
In 1997, I took 7 months to
travel around the world. I visited lots of places, including: Hawaii, Bali,
Malaysia, Thailand, Egypt, Turkey, Europe, Brazil, Argentina, Chili, Peru,
and Costa Rica. Whew! More details on the Itinerary page.
Graduate Student at Stanford University,
Ph.D. Communication
I was briefly a happy graduate
student. Then the reality of graduate
school and living in CA set in. I
got tan, even though I spent most of my time in the library photo-copying
articles or type, type, typing. I
took a lot of classes in communication, even though I was not so interested
in communication. The classes in psychology,
and the communication research, I liked. Quals washed me out of the program. L But
this was a good thing because what would I do with a Ph.D. in a field I disliked?
Anyhow, a little more about my Stanford Experience.
Summer in the Midwest
After a restful summer 2000
spent driving around the Midwest visiting relatives, including Iowa, Wisconsin and
Minnesota. I also had a brief side trip to France with my mom (always a good
time!)
Back to Seattle
I arrived in Seattle in
October 2000, after exploring Highway 2. A
week later, I flew down to celebrate my roomie Sile’s end of her Ph.D. odyssey
– she turned in her thesis and partied like a crazy person. Of
course, while visiting Palo Alto (where I had met no interesting men for three
years) I met this nice guy, Ashot, whom I am still dating (long-distance).
Hey, it was destiny! We met
in the Target parking lot.
I got the cutest little
puppy, Peanut.
I got a job at UW as a Usability Specialist.
And I’m looking for a job
at a company that isn't at the whim of the Washington State Budget.
Please hire me. Here’s my resume.
Onward to Arizona
January 2003 I moved to
Phoenix, Arizona to be closer to Ashot. He turned out to be so nice that we
are getting married! We have a great wedding
web site where you can get all the details.
http://www.exmsft.com/˜lauriekl/lkpast.htm
- last edited on June 24, 2003.