An Interview with the Inventor

Tom grew up in San Diego, California, the son of an aeronautical engineer father and a mother who managed the eight-sibling Piszkin household.

 

"Being the oldest, I kept my siblings in line and acquired all the first-born personality markers. Thanks to Mom, we were a very athletic family. My poor Dad however, with ten mouths to feed, was trapped in a lifestyle that left him little time for his own health. Tobacco was his stress-management partner, contributing to his first and fatal heart attack at the age of 41."

Ironically, a year earlier Tom was shot in the chest at point-blank range with a .38 special on his way home from college ...but it wasn't his time to check out.

"The Man upstairs had other plans! I managed to graduate from U.C. Berkeley with three degrees and went to work for the Ford Motor Company in Michigan. Working in their Product Development Group was a lot like being recruited for some of my Dad's home projects like; conducting air foil tests while strapped to the tailgate of the family station wagon with an 8 mm home movie camera in hand, restoring a 1956 Austin Healey, nursing a Corvair van ("Road Oiler") through my first driving years, building an experimental (Thorpe-18) airplane, etc."
 

Four years of fast-track automotive experience in Detroit gave way to a chance to work in the computer business in Hawaii! Unfortunately, the Big Island wasn't big enough to support a time-sharing venture in the early 80's.
 

"Fortunately, I made my way back to San Diego and helped a small software company grow in the DEC (Digital Equipment Corporation) world. By the mid-80's I discovered triathlons--not difficult in San Diego."
 

Having served in the Club's leadership for 13 years, Tom was inducted into the Triathlon Club of San Diego's Hall of Fame in 2004. He is certified as an Olympic Triathlon Coach and currently coaches the Masters Triathlon program at the University of California in San Diego. Triathlon is at the crossroads of human performance and technology. As such, everything you see at this Site has sprung from a personal experience: The inadequacy of sunglasses for a contact lens wearing cyclist; the discomfort of conventional bike frames for a back-surgery patient; the challenge of training/re-gaining lung capacity for a coach/gun-shot victim.
 

"It's all classic necessity...mother of invention stuff. I hope you find these concoctions--if not personally useful--interesting and entertaining. Who knows, they might inspire you to apply your God-given talents to the pursuit of your passions! "