Carolyn Sienkiewicz, a book procurement editor for the Independent, is a freelance writer and musician. Currently co-principal oboe with the American Balalaika Symphony, she received her degree in music performance from the Peabody Institute of the Johns Hopkins University and held positions for many seasons with the Annapolis Symphony, Gettysburg Symphony, Baltimore Chamber Orchestra, Handel Choir (and on and on), and performed as guest oboe with the Baltimore Symphony Orchestra and the Baltimore Opera. As a freelance writer, she has written about sailing adventures and nature encounters while living aboard a sailboat for eight years (cruising full-time for three of those years) for Cruising World, Chesapeake Bay Magazine, Living Aboard Magazine, and SpinSheet. She has also been a geek with an M.S. degree in computer science from Johns Hopkins, 20 years experience in computer systems, and was a substantial contributor to the tech book UNIX Unleashed, 4th Edition.