I was born on April 28, 1979 at Jewish Hospital in Cincinnati, OH. I'd survived a prenatal car crash that put my mom in the hospital. It was to be the first of many car crashes in my life...most of the other ones occurred within the first few years of getting my driver's license. One near-miss car accident involved me rolling down the driveway in my parents' truck, straight towards the lake across the street. 

I spent my first few years in Glen Este, OH just east of Cincinnati. I was joined in 1983 by my sister Kim and in 1985 by my twin sisters Steph and Kate. As the oldest, and the only boy, I made it my duty to prevent excessive girlishness in the family. Barbie dolls had their body parts ripped off. Kim's favorite doll had her face squished repeatedly until it no longer popped back out. Harry the Bunny had all of his fur ripped out. My grandmother, however, took pitty on Harry and Steph and patched things up a little...Today you can find Harry sewn into a fur suit the approximate color and texture of his head and legs. Instead, the Comisar girls were directed to join me and the neigborhood kids. It was usually the four Comisars against the neighborhood, or Katie and I against Kim and Steph. Even though Steve would like to claim fatherly wisdom, I'd like to think I might be slightly more responsible for their superior sports accomplishments today. 

I developed a love for games early in life. At age 3, I was fascinated with my Mom's Atari 2400.  Unbeknownst to me at that age, Pac man did not have an end boss... or an end for that matter.  I moved from Atari, to commodore 64, to Nintendo, to Super Nintendo, etc.  When I was a kid I would visit grandma's house and play gin rummy, yahtzee, scrabble, and jigsaw puzzles (in addition to "playing" with my cousins Jeremy and Jackie which sometimes drove my grandparents nuts [things sometimes got out of hand]).

Me wowing my sisters Kim (in pink) and Steph with my computer gaming skills [now all I need are bow-fighting skills and Nun chuck skills]

The kippah in this picture is ridiculously huge.  I've scaled up since this picture and the kippot have scaled down. 

In Jr. High my best friend who had moved away to Maryland, Aaron Skrivanek, came back to Cincy.  He introduced my friends and me to a card game called Magic the Gathering.  I've been playing ever since.  While some of my friends (Aaron Norton, Steve Chung, Todd Sostaric) played casually, Matt Davenport showed me true tourney style Magic.  This kind of Magic soon became stressful so I temporally took a Magic hiatus.   I found out that my co-op boss at ENSR also had a casual Magic group.  I started hanging out with them on the weekends and it renewed my interest in Magic.  In Michigan, I have found some people to play Magic with (Ben Gould, Aaron Zima, Dylan Heldsinger, and Morgan Burns).  My newest Magic concoctions can be found here.  A note to Matt, these decks are for FUN.  It may sound appalling but not all cards are optimal; In fact some cards are thrown in for flavor.  

It was also in Jr. High that I made friends with fellow saxophone players Grant Smiley and Tom Herbort.  I went from saxophone to bass clarinet and now I'm slowly trying to learn the guitar.  I also sing in the temple choir... though nothing will replace the concert band days of yore.

In High School I also met one of the nicest most responsible people in the world, Trevor Shibley.  He likes to hang out with hopelessly irresponsibles (a trend which he continues to this day).  He's a lighting tech wizard and an all purpose fix-it guy.  After High School, I went to University of Cincinnati, where I met my now very pregnant wife Wendy (who also thinks I'm irresponsible).  Currently I am at University of Michigan working on my Ph. D.  I work in the area of Environmentally-friendly Reactions in High-Temperature Water.  See an abstract to my first published paper here.  If you're not a Green Chemistry subscriber, you can get your very own copy for only 20 pounds (though I doubt people are beating down their door).    Ann Arbor is an awesome place.  I spend time nowadays playing basketball, soccer, disc golf, Magic the Gathering, and Playstation 2 if there is any other free time.

Is it just me, or does it look like I don't have any pants on in this picture.   Yeah, its probably just me.

Nope, Wendy just commented that it looked like I don't have any pants before reading the caption..... then again maybe we're both wierdos.