Stephanie Maks

"There's only one thing that I Know
how to do well, and
I've often been told that you only can do what you Know
how to do well,
And that's be You.
Be what You're like.
Be like Yourself."
- They Might Be Giants

So Who Am I?

I am an Artist. I am an Author. I am a Canadian. I am a Cat Lover. I am a Computer Expert. I am a Cutler. I am an Entrepreneur. I am a Geek / Technophile. I am Green. I am an Horologist. I am an Oenophile. I am a Photographer. I am (probably) an Aspie. I am Prosopagnosic. I am a Radio Ham. I am a Sales Rep (although now that I understand Prosopagnosia and Aspergers, I realize why I really, really shouldn't be in sales). I am Self Employed. I am a Serial Hobbyist. I am a Website Designer. I am a Witch. I am Stephanie!

The brain is like a muscle; if you don't excercise it, it goes soft.

One of the basic tenets of my life is to always learn. As long as I am learning something new, I am living. This basic rule of my life has led me to develop a wide base of knowledge on many various topics. I have listed below (in no particular order) a few things I have taken courses in or participated in over the years. It's not a comprehensive list, just the things I can remember at the moment.

Micro Computer Repair & Maintenance - NRI Correspondence Course

Locksmithing & Electronic Security - NRI Correspondence Course

Photography & Videography - NRI Correspondence Course

Home Beer Brewing - Self-taught / books

Home Wine Vinting - Self-taught / books

Skydiving - Parachute School of Toronto

Playing Violin - Private Classes

Chemistry - Board of Education Correspondence Course

Physics - Board of Education Correspondence Course

Creative Writing - Scarborough Board of Education

Glassblowing - College Night School

Gunsmithing - CSI Correspondence Course

Private Detective - CSI Correspondence Course

Amateur Radio - Peel Amateur Radio Club

Morse Code - Peel Amateur Radio Club

Electronics R & D - Self-taught / books

Playing Hand Drum (Djembe / Ashika) - Self-taught / Instructional videos

Painting: Oil & Acrylic - Mentored by my friend Lezley

Heritage / Historic / Archival Research - Peel Archives

Knowledge of Wines, Spirits & Beers - LCBO Correspondence Course

Playing Electric Bass - Instructional Books / CDs / Self taught

Knowledge of 19th Century Military Swords - Personal collection & online research

Watch Making - Self taught / internet research.

Embedded Linux Devices - Self taught / internet research.

Lasers!! - Self taught / internet research.

Knowledge of Japanese Swords - Books, online research, & personal collection

LSL scripting, 3d Graphics tools, 3d Animations - self taught while playing in SecondLife for a few months.

A Biography...

Stephanie was adopted in early 1970 by a family living in the windswept arctic wasteland of Scarberia - the true details of her birth are still shrouded in mystery. Although her scholastic achievements were merely average, Stephanie showed a surprising talent for things complicated and electronic, including the nascent industry known as programming. Moving to warmer climes, she spent the latter part of her adolescence and early adulthood trading chunks of computer programming for scraps of food, on the harsh streets of Silicone Valley North East. By her mid 20's, Stephanie was gripped by a compulsion to learn more and expand her horizons.

Travelling the world, she picked up many skills by holding brief jobs in diverse avenues such as radioroom clerk in London, cutler's assistant in Solingen, apprentice gunsmith in Moscow, audio technician in Berlin, apprentice watchmaker in Geneva and Chistopol, grape-harvester in Bordeaux, apprentice brewer in Melbourne, junior private investigator in Los Angeles, philosopher's assistant in Memphis, basket-weaver in Maui, and artist's assistant in Prague. Weary of travel by her early 30's, she chose to settle into Canada's cultural hotspot known as Brampton, Ontario. From there, she continues to persue her varied skills and interests. Primarily though, Stephanie has returned to her roots, trading chunks of computer programming for food.

Stephanie is fond of cats, nice wine, fine dining, the outdoors, her home, and all manner of technical jiggery-pokery. Her dislikes include incompetence, intentional obstinancy and loud noises. Stephanie wishes it to be known that she does not reward bad behavior.

Stephanie currently lives in an old home in Brampton, which she shares with a small black panther, a feral cat, several computers, about three and a half million spiders, and an unknown number of spectral entities.