Exploration "Travel isn't always pretty. It isn't always comfortable. Sometimes it hurts; it even breaks your heart; But that's OK. The journey changes you; it should change you. It leaves marks on your memory, on your consciousness, on your heart, and on your body. You take something with you. Hopefully, you leave something good behind." - Anthony Bourdain view travel stories - Steve Jobs Engineering “The first solutions you come up with are often very complex, and most people stop there. But if you keep going, you can arrive at some very elegant and simple solutions. Most people just don't put in enough time or energy to get there." view engineering stuff - Jane Marczewski Performance “You can’t wait until life isn’t hard anymore until you decide to be happy.” view acting stuff improv - Robin Williams “Age makes you more confident. When you realize that it’s time now to just do things. When there’s not the pressure to perform on some level of expectations, there’s more to just explore.” view improv stuff sailing - John Fisher When you're feeling the pain,
And you're sick of the game,
But you're young and you're brave and you're bright,
You pick yourself up and dust yourself down,
'Cause it's the carrying on that's hard.
David Witt, in memory of: view sailing stuff

ON THE COVER

It reads like a book, not a website.

(the above title, that is, not the entire website). Afterall, this website may very well likely BE my book. I struggled with the design of this “cover” for a while. Landscape photos that I took? Nice, but not indicative of a “person site” unless you’re Ansel Adams. Revolving images of me in my varying pursuits in life? Sure, now it’s indicative of a personal site, but also is just so gawd damn vain. Having a website and domain at tommyschaeffer.com is already vain enough. So I chose this array of inspiring souls to be your backdrop.

Why I chose this lot of incredible people.

Why them, you ask? Every one of these incredible humans were experts in their field and masters of their craft. Each of them inspired me and moved me on multiple levels within each of the disciplines over which they reign. All of them left this world far too soon. I chose each person not because I aspire to be or be like any one of them, but because they–both individually and collectively–inspire me to be and become uniquely me.

Click the copyright info in the corner.

Learn more not only about the person behind the image, but also the artist behind the lens who created the image itself.

A SHORT AUTOBIOGRAPHY

Hiya!

I am an engineer, actor, sound designer, sailor, cook and gardener.
*some more than others, so your mileage may vary here.

I graduated from Lehigh University with degrees in both Mechanical Engineering and Theatrical Production & Design.

In addition to that formal education, I have also studied music composition, film production, acting (Meisner method), improvisation (longform), web application development, digital marketing, and search engine optimization (SEO).

In 1995, I started my career as an aerospace engineer. Each role demanded more and more software & systems expertise until I eventually evolved fully into software development. I have been working as a software engineer since 1999. I added audio engineering in 2007 and since then have held several roles in on-location audio recording, post-production studio mixing/mastering, original music composition and live performance mixing.

This is the first time I have re-written my bio in the first person. A fascinating thing stood out to me during this process: It is much easier to list your accomplishments in the third person! Upon switch to this first person view, I wanted to cut half of it out because it sounded like an arrogant a-hole speaking, haha. This site is going to be an exercise for me!

See more about my software and audio engineering company, Polymathus, LLC. here.
See more about my latest nonprofit pursuit, Sailing for Good, Inc. here.

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