So who am I?

My name is Ed and as you may have guessed, I live in Ann Arbor, Michigan.  Some might even call me a "townie" as I have lived here my entire life.  My job is a prosthetist, meaning I make and fit artificial legs and arms.  I finished the classwork for a master's degree in orthotics and prosthetics at Eastern Michigan University in April 2008 and lately have been studying for the board exams so that I will be a certified prosthetist.  Pretty cool...I never thought I would be in health care, and I never thought I would be certified in anything so official.  Before getting into this field I was an engineer for eight years.  So far I don't miss it much.

So I will soon have some fancy letters in my job title, but what have I done outdoors?  I have been playing outdoors my whole life.  My parents took me tent camping when I was three months old and apparently I was not even too much of a pain!  I learned to ride a bicycle at age four and have been hooked ever since.  As I kid I rode all over the neighborhood and on the trails in the fields and woods near my parents' house.  I got my first "real" road bike 21 years ago at age 15 and started mountain biking three years later.  I first rode the Potawatomi (Poto), which is the grand daddy of trails here in southeast Michigan, one year later, in 1992.

Michigan has countless beautiful lakes and rivers which I like to paddle.  I built a kayak a few years ago and am currently building canoes with my brother-in-law.  When we get enough snow around here I like to cross country ski, and have made a few trips to Stokely Creek in Canada.  I still tent camp, though mostly out of a car.  I would like to try some bike touring and canoe/kayak touring, but have not yet made the time.  In general I just really enjoy being out in the natural outdoors and get out as much as I can.