I was born to a German mother and American father in Lemgo, Germany in 1968. I grew up in the suburbs of Los Angeles and New York. I lived in Germany 1978-1980 outside Heidelberg, Germany in 4th grade. I attended two German-language Saturday schools, one in Torrance, CA and one in Westport, CT, where I passed the extensive Sprachdiplom I & II language exams in 1986 and 1987, which are administered by the German Ministry of Culture, (one one of two schools to do so in North America) before graduating from New Canaan High School in Fairfield County, Connecticut.
I also scored high marks on the nationwide AP tests in German (5) and History (4). I also became a Delta Epsilon Phi member and passed the AATG test. I first studied Economics and English at UCONN 1987-1988 before I applied for and received a Pell grant as a German and English major at Lawrence University in Appleton, Wisconsin.
I was an intern at the Port of Hamburg, Germany (HHLA AG) in the summer of 1990, where I also went on a bike tour in Estonia, USSR with Lawrence art students.
After graduating in 1991 I took sailing lessons and moved to Strawberry, California on the Sonora Pass in the Sierra Nevada mountains. In 1992 I worked as a translator/secretary for a small marketing company and at the Greenwich Public Library. I worked at the New Canaan Library in high school.
My mother worked at the DAAD in New York and later Bonn. My father worked in the shipping, transportation, logistics field - and for Mammoet Transport in The Hague, the Netherlands before his untimely death there in 1993.
My interest in esoterica and Buddhism, like many liberal arts majors, made me decide to study English and Japanese at the Ruprecht-Karls Universitaet Heidelberg, Germany in 1992-1996.
I started translating in 1995 as a student in Heidelberg for students, professors, various departments, at SAP AG, and a market research firm.
I was mobbed at SAP in 1996. I try to avoid working with Londoners since then. When I lived in poor, rural Rheinhessen, I chose to work from home and take care of my three children. My ex-wife is a teacher and worked full-time. Since my divorce in 2011-2012, I now live and work freelance among the rolling hills and vineyards of small-town Ensingen, incorporated in the city of Vaihingen an der Enz, north of Stuttgart, Germany. I live with my fiancé and her three children. We do not plan to relocate anytime soon.

I mainly translate technical manuals (except Elektrotechnik), software manuals and marketing texts from German into English for a handful of German and international translation agencies. I am looking for full or part-time employment from my home office. I am also a certified Reiki Master, Qi Gong instructor, massage therapist, artist and naturopath in training.