About Me

I was born in the northeastern US. My parents and grandparents were all from the southern US originally. I grew up and was educated in New England, at least somewhat. After graduating college I went west to ski and rock climb, under the pretense of attending graduate school. It turned out I liked graduate school more than expected, and four years later I’d received a PhD in engineering physics.

A chance meeting with a foreign professor led to a job in Europe after graduate school, and I lived there for two years. I returned to the US to take a research position in a US government lab. Shortly after this I met a Canadian who’d recently moved the US. The two of us fell in love, and were married two years later. This was an interesting time, together we learned about tax & immigration issues facing Canadians moving to the US. Our intention was to stay in the US forever.

Fast forward 3 years. We’d moved to Oregon, and our first child was born. I was working for an exceptionally dysfunctional start-up company. The investors were planning to relocate the company, but it seemed clear to me that the long term plan was for the company to fail and the investors to get a tax writeoff for their losses. I sent off a few resumes for jobs I’d seen advertised, one in Washington, one in NJ, and one to a Canadian company.

I got a great job offer in Canada, and much to my wife’s delight we decided to move to the Great White North. This was an interesting time, and I got the opportunity to learn about tax & immigration issues facing Americans moving to Canada. 

Our second child was born in Canada, and I’ve been living here for almost 15 years now. I knew when I moved here that I needed to file a US tax return every year, but only considered this a minor inconvenience. It turns out that A) I was doing it wrong and B) they’ve changed the rules/requirements such that it’s nearly impossible to comply with the rules while living outside the US.

I've been a Canadian citizen for a decade, but before deciding to become a citizen I carefully researched the implications on my US citizenship - I was adamant that I would never give up US citizenship under any circumstances. I thought dual citizenship was a great gift for my children. People who know me well always refer to me as “their American friend”. I have an American flag in my office, given to me by a coworker. I've raised my children to understand that they should also consider the US as their home. I throw a July 4 party every year for friends and neighbors. My wife makes red, white, and blue desserts, we serve Sam Adams beer, chips and salsa (to complete the NAFTA experience), and I put on a kick-ass fireworks display.

That’s who I am.