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The Bedroom
"The Bedroom" is TJ's personal space (About Us).
"TJ" is Tracy and Jared
TJ's Eclectic Café began as a little dream that Tracy and Jared had. The dream was to open a small coffee shop in New York City with lots of "eclectic" things to do. The name of this establishment was to be TJ's Eclectic Café. Well, this dream might still become a reality one day, but in the meantime, a virtual version will have to do.
Before registering the tjseclectic.com (and later tjscafe.com) domains, The Ballroom existed as a stand-alone site. This was the first Web site created by Jared and has not been edited since in was created in the summer of 1996. The only exception is that some of the text has been edited in order to stay current. As other ideas came about, TJ's Eclectic Café came to life and the domain was registered. The rest of the Café is always undergoing additions and renovations as new rooms are created and slowly filled with material.
I was born in Suffern, NY where I lived for seventeen years. While there I attended Suffern High School, played ice hockey and lacrosse and looked forward to leaving the area. I met Tracy there, and although we didn't know it then, we fell in love forever (see "How We Met").
After Suffern, I began my whirlwind tour of colleges including Syracuse University (through a Project Advance course during High School), Tulane University, University of Florida, Nova Southeastern University, Baruch College, and three community colleges. At Tulane I was a Founding Father for the Louisiana Alpha Chapter of Sigma Phi Epsilon. After Tulane, I spent six (somewhat boring) years in Florida - during which I got my Associates Degree. I finally, after a total of 12 years, completed my Bachelor's degree in Computer Management at Baruch College in New York. For a while it seemed that death would come first, but I managed to persevere (and get a very interesting tour of eight higher education institutions).
During my college tour, I was a restaurant manager for a number of years until July 1, 1996. At that time, I finally took the plunge into the world of computers full time. I first worked for a startup called Virtual Logic (the site is dead, but a SLOW archive is here). That startup failed, but all of its staff (all four of us) have moved on to bigger and better things. At one point or another, we all had our part in projects taken on by Digitalo. Digitalo is alive and well today after being started by one of the Virtual Logic co-founders. After that I became a Senior Instructor for ProsoftTraining.com. I had my hand in many exciting projects there, but the travel took its toll and I moved on after two years. One good thing to come from Prosoft: in October 1997 they offered to transfer me to New York City. I graciously accepted and here we are. Currently, I am the Director of Product Manager for About.com and I have been there for about three years.
I enjoy many activities including rollerblading, golf, cooking and wine collecting. I also referee and play ice hockey in my spare time (And as you can see below, I am a NY Islander fan.) But my very favorite pastime is spending time with my wife Tracy.
I was born in Suffern, NY and spent my childhood there with my parents (Donald and Jacqueline) and sister (Ranee). I attended Suffern High School where I met Jared (see How We Met) and graduated in June 1988.
I attended Cornell University and received my B.S. in Facilities Planning & Management in 1992. During my time at Cornell, I was involved in numerous activities including my role as a Founding Sister for Alpha Omicron Pi sorority.
After college, I moved to New
York City and was hired as an Assistant Director of Cornell's Metro NY
Regional Office where I was involved with alumni relations, fund raising and
admissions. While in NYC, I became involved with many volunteer
organizations.
In June 1995, I sadly gave up my NY residency and moved to Ft. Lauderdale, FL to
be with Jared where I raised money for the Jewish Federation of Broward County
and then for Nova Southeastern University's
School of Business and Entrepreneurship.
In October 1996, Jared and I were married in New York (see
wedding pages).
Jared and I returned to New York City in 1997. From October 1997 until
September 1999 I served as Director of Major & Planned Gifts for Baruch
College. During that time I was enrolled in Baruch's MSEd program in
Higher Education Administration. In the fall of 1999 I began as a
full-time student at the Graduate School of
Education at the University of Pennsylvania
in its Ed.D.
program in Higher Education. I completed my Master's degree en
route and currently maintain the dubious distinction of ABD (All But the
Dissertation). I hope to finish my degree by June 2003.
My hobbies include cooking, poetry, reading, NYC's cultural activities and
spending time with Jared and our dogs, Sabrina
& Annabelle.