David Allen:  

Life Hi Everyone, I've had many jobs since high school including boatbuilding, cabinetmaking, sailmaking, roofing, painting, general home renovation, and your standard corporate crap (where I am now). I once worked as a ditch-digger shoveling dirt all day long by hand. I worked several years for a marine safety company spending much of my time aboard commercial fishing boats, freighters, tankers, and yachts. My BA is in English Literature from Rutgers University in New Brunswick, and my Masters is in Information Systems (MSIS) from Drexel University in Philadelphia. I was a computer programmer for several years, primarily dealing in small databases, then an adjunct professor of English writing at Mercer County Community College for three years. During that time, I also tutored many non-native English speakers from all around the world in English. Now, I live and work as a technical writer in Taipei, Taiwan at Trend Micro, the third largest anti-virus company in the world, the largest in Asia. I spent several years writing short stories (fiction), then spent 2 dedicated years writing a movie and was lucky enough to have it critiqued by a Hollywood producer. I haven’t yet sold anything. I’m working on new ideas; my present project is about a god who does everything wrong. I once built a kayak, then paddled it alone for approximately 300 miles along the southeast coast of Florida (along the Everglades), ending up in the Florida Keys. Once, bored with my job as a roofer, I hopped on a bicycle and pedaled from New Jersey to St. Pete, Florida. I spent 6 weeks living in the woods in Key West with the local street people, the homeless—actually, closer to classic hobos. For 2 years, I lived on a 30 foot sailboat, mostly in Forked River, NJ, sailing that boat up and down the New Jersey coast, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. I’ve been to every state in the US east of the Mississippi River...Expand for more