About Dawn - Biography

So who is Dawn Emord Bushong?

Dawn hard at work on a telecommute day I'm currently working as an independent contractor in the realm of web design, but was most recently (until November 2001) employed full-time for a small company called Euphorion (formerly DataMain), located in Milpitas, California. I had no official title (that I knew of), but whenever somebody asks, I say I'm a "Web Designer". What I actually did ranged from graphic design to JavaScript and perl programming, to HTML coding (which was by far the meat of my job) to the occasional Flash animation. (Visit my resume page and my portfolio for more juicy details.)

That I had joined the ranks of the full-time employed means that I am no longer working for the Haas School of Business and that I have actually graduated from the University of California at Berkeley. I received my Bachelor of Science degree in Electrical Engineering and Computer Science (EECS for short) with an emphasis on the CS part in June of 1998.

Where did Dawn come from?

Before going to Berkeley, I lived in the relatively small community of Camarillo, California, located in sunny Ventura County. I have lived in Camarillo for most of my life, but I was born in the great state of New York. My family moved to California when I was about five years old, so I don't remember much about the East Coast. Then, when I was almost 13, my family decided that Las Vegas was the place for us, but only for about 3 years, after which it was decided that, no, in fact, Camarillo was the place for us after all.

Dave and Dawn on their wedding day I moved back to Camarillo just in time for my Junior year of high school. Despite all the moving around (or maybe because of it?) I managed to graduate from Rio Mesa High School as one of three co-valedictorians in June of 1994. Then I started my higher education at Berkeley.

On my first, rather intimidating day of orientation at Cal (aka, UC Berkeley), I met my husband-to-be David Bushong. Ironically, we met over one of those stupid ice breaker things they always make you do at large gatherings of strangers that I always hate doing. David and I were engaged in July of 1997, and then married on June 6, 1998. We decided to spend our week-long honeymoon on an Alaskan cruise. Alaska is beautiful; visit it if you get a chance.

Who else is in Dawn's family?

Pablo looking happy in a sunbeam Our family started growing even before we were married, when I decided that what our tiny, one-bedroom apartment really needed was a kitten. So in August of 1996, we trooped over to the local animal shelter in Berkeley on our bikes and picked up a 3-month old little grey tiger, who we named Kirby. Then in October of 1999, our family had its second addition: a little ball of fluffy calico kitten fur named Cammy. We flew all the way to Maine to pick her up from my parents (and visited them in the meantime =). Our first dog, Pablo the big and black, joined our family from the Oakland SPCA in April of 2001. He has fit into the family quite nicely, and now knows more tricks than any other dog I've ever met. Our latest addition is Penny, a black and tan mix who came to us in August of 2005 through Smiley Dog Rescue in Oakland. She is still a puppy, but is smart as a whip, and should quickly catch up to Pablo in the trick department.

Kirby, Cammy and Dave decide that it's nap time David, Kirby, Cammy, Pablo, and I moved on February 1, 2003 to Hayward, CA, and a nice house with a view. Although we still don't have air conditioning, at least now we have the option to change that. Ah.. the joys of home ownership! For the last four years or so, we lived in Fremont, CA, in a two-bedroom apartment with a view of a big park and a distant lake, and for the three years before that, we lived in a cramped one-bedroom apartment in Berkeley.

That brings us to the present. Enjoy the rest of your journey, here, in The Woodlands @ Dawn.