John’s life took a sharp turn to the different on April Fools’ Day 1991 when he accepted a position to teach computers and math at United Arab Emirates University located in the desert oasis city of Al Ain.  On the Men’s Campus his first year, he taught on the Women’s Campus for the next seven, one of the first unmarried Western men permitted to do so.

He returned to the UAE in 2001 after the Higher Colleges of Technology hired him to develop a CAD/Interior Design program at Sharjah Women’s College.  It was there where he met Sue, a native of Canada and his wife-to-be.  With the program in place, John transferred to Dubai Women’s College to again teach computers and math while developing and writing subject-integrated student projects that became a model for the 12-campus system.

In 2007, John retired, he and Sue moving to their riverfront property off a dead-end dirt (they aspired to gravel) road in the mountains near Vilcabamba, Ecuador, where they currently reside.  In 2017, they purchased a property on the Haida Gwaii archipelago in British Columbia, Canada where they will one day make their last international move.  

Two years after moving to Ecuador, John began a five-year association with a company catering to expats and wannabes.  Writing articles on life overseas, he was also the company’s top-rated conference presenter.  At Sue’s suggestion, he began writing for himself, resulting in a book series featuring his make-you-laugh, make-you-cry, make-you-think stories. 

A native of Wisconsin, John graduated with honors from the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee earning a B.S. in Architecture, a B.A. in Economics, and a Master of Architecture degree.  To help finance his education, for 10 seasons, he captained the Chief Waupaca, an authentic sternwheel paddleboat based at Clear Water Harbor on Waupaca’s Chain O’Lakes.