Congratulations! Despite the lack of any obvious navigational device, you've found your way to this page. I’m Professor Heimann (Prof. H) and I’ll be telling you more about my family, hobbies, and other interests here on this page. BTW, the little caricature on the left was done by a student and left on the white board in the IS project room. I liked it and took a picture of it. It does fit well in that (1) I currently have a very short and trim beard, (2) am the IS faculty member most likely to wear a tie to class, and (3) am a big Star Trek fan (notice the badge on the chest). I don’t know who did this or why, but thought the picture was nice enough to include here.

To the right you see a picture of my favorite people in the whole world -- my family! My wife’s name is An (spelled correctly) and we've been married for 14 years this October. All good marriages require work, but I am so happy to be married to my lovely wife. In fact, I was once asked what was my favorite holiday and my first response was my anniversary. Being married to An has been more joy than I could have imagined on the day I said "I do" and I consider every day with her to be a blessing. In terms of blessings, we also have 7 year old twin boys. Alex is in the red shirt and Mark is in white. And yes, in this picture I have no beard. I shave it off and regrow it from time to time. An likes me better without it, but I keep telling her that every good Klingon needs to have a beard. (According to a Klingon proverb, a beard is a sign of courage.)

One of my favorite pasttimes is to go fishing. I like fishing because it is peaceful, the woods and water are beautiful, and having a fish on the line is a thrill. I know this last point really bugs some animal rights activists; if you are one of them, just skip ahead. Anyways, my best memories with my dad involve fishing and it is an activity that I gladly pass on to my kids. The pictures to the left show a couple of examples of some of the fish they’ve caught. This summer has been good for fishing and we’ve had a lot of success. Alex caught a 12 inch rainbow trout at the start of the season. In addition, we've caught a number of large bass and other trout. Mark recently caught two bass (12 and 14 inches) and they made a fabulous dinner. When we fish nowadays my job is mostly to help the boys, but they are getting better doing things themselves and I’ve been able to get in some fishing of my own from time to time. Right now we are worm-slingers, but as the boys mature I’m sure we will do some fly-fishing as well. For my dad, fly-fishing was real fishing, but other forms were still acceptable. I'm sure that if my dad were still here with us, he would be proud of the fishermen his grandsons have become.

One of my other favorite activities is chess. I currently teach chess to homeschool students in the Pittsburgh area. Classes take place during the homeschool Enrichment Day program on Fridays during the school year. When I first proposed chess as an Enrichment Day class, I was worried that no one would sign up for the class. I was surprised when we had 36 students in two classes the first semester. In the spring we had even more and were able to offer not only a basic principles class, but a intermediate level class on chess tactics. This fall we have three levels of classes and I expect they will all fill up. We also fielded a homeschool team in local chess tournaments last spring. The team did very well and in June the team won the first place team award at the Western PA Scholastic Chess Championship! I am proud of all my students, but especially of the two in the picture above -- Alex and Mark! They are the top rated second graders in the Western PA area (Mark is first and Alex is second).

Another area in life that I’m active in is Kids Ministry at my local church (Northway Christian Community). I first got involved with Kids ministry at Trinity Church in East Lansing, MI. To make a long (very long) story short, I agreed to be a teacher's aide for toddlers (which my kids were at the time) and ended up being the lead Kindergarten teacher one summer. It was a great time; the kids loved me and I loved them. As a christian, I believe that Jesus was the Son of God and through His sacrifice on the cross all people can be redeemed and forgiven (and we all need forgiveness!). To be able to share this message and the love of Jesus with kids each week is a real priviledge. Besides, when I teach kids, we don't do the stereotypical boring stuff that most people think Sunday School is all about -- we rock (literally)! I am not much of a traditionalist anyways, so we do things that most people wouldn’t think you ought to do in church. (When people at my church ask about Kids ministry, I tell them it’s more fun than a person should be allowed to have in church.) Hey, it’s fun for me, fun for the kids, and gets the message across to them that Jesus is the Way, the Truth, and the Life! What more could anyone ask for?

As you found out on the first page, I am half-Klingon and an avid Star Trek fan. I’m not old enough to remember the original series when it ran on prime time, but when I was a kid I used to watch Star Trek every day in syndication. When ST:TNG came out with its first season, I hated it -- the acting was poor and the stories were either poor rip-offs of the first series (like "The Naked Now" ripping off "The Naked Time" in TOS) or they were just goofy. Half way through the season I couldn't stand it and gave up on it. A friend of mine encouraged me at the end of the second season to give it another shot (it’s getting better, he told me) and so I did. It was better and when TNG hit its third season the acting and writing was great and I was totally hooked again. I am particularly fond of Klingons, but must admit that I only have a Star Fleet uniform and not a Klingon one.

One reason I like Star Trek is that I’ve always liked astronomy. Actually, I like science in general, but in terms of favorite sciences subjects, I’d have to say that chemistry and astronomy run neck and neck for the top spot. The boys are still young for detailed lessons in astronomy, but I take them out for starwatching when I can. (Pittsburgh does not have the best skies for observing, unfortunately.) They know quite a bit about the solar system as well as some of the major stars and other deep-space objects. Right now we are starting work on constellation identification so they can find their way around the night sky by themselves better. It also gives us a chance to talk about the Greek and Roman myths that are connected with many of the constellations (kill two birds with one stone).

As for favorite movies, I like comedy such as Monty Python (my students get lots of that in class -- I especially love the Holy Grail), Buckaroo Bonzai (a great movie, but amazingly underappreciated), and the Princess Bride. On the more serious side, I love Braveheart (best movie ever), Chariots of Fire (inspirational), the Matrix (awesome movie) and Dead Poets Society. Well, I'm going to sign off here, but if you make it this far, send me an e-mail and let me know; I'd like to know who finds this page first and how long it takes for someone to discover it. Thanks.

Qapla'