Businesslike...

This portion of my website is dedicated to the drier part of my life, those tasks which pay my bills. Drier is a relative term, for I must admit that I really enjoy my field of work. I was first introduced to computers at the age of 13 and I've been working with them ever since. I taught my first computer class to schoolmates at the age of 16, taking $20 a head to teach abstract assembler on the Commodore 64. I've never had a problem using my skills for fun and profit. :)

Long before the dot-com revolution my skills were respected enough that I could maintain a flamboyant work persona. In 1994 I was hired by APL, a fortune 500 ocean shipping company, with the title of Court Wizard. As the revolution grew, my disassociation with the corporate mentality became an asset when bidding new projects. What a country!

In late 1996 I was living the ultimate Bohemian Geek life-style. I was living in a school bus, working renaissance faires during the weekends and writing web pages and CGI scripts during the week. I wouldn't trade that experience for stock options in any dot-com.

I eventually returned to California in search of a better network connection and fresh sushi. After working on making APL's web presence useful for customers I took a job as one of Network Computer's Men in Black.

Men in Black? It was the name Robin, Nick and I were given while working on a Quality Assurance¹ project for Network Computer, Inc. We were pulled in on a deadline, and succeeded in our task of "Protecting the Universe from the Scum of the Earth" After the security audit was complete we were kept on fairly continuously for similar projects and I eventually accepted a full time position.

For the most part, I am a Jack Of All Trades, and suffer from a condition rarely seen in the corporate world: I derive a perverse pleasure from the act of learning. I do not pick up new skills because my career depends on it, but rather because I enjoy it. It is this odd malady, which I share with the rest of the CLIQ gang, that I believe to be the major factor of our success. I decided early in life that learning for the sake of someone else was not the best way to learn, or the best way for our schools to teach. I believe I have never seen my feelings put into words better than The Conscience of a Hacker by The Mentor.

My Resume: It is provided as an Adobe Acrobat PDF, and you will need the Adobe Acrobat Reader Software to appreciate it. If you are a Bad Recruiter, please don't bother contacting me.

Yes, I do web design. No, it is not my living and please don't call me Webmaster. Think of me more as a WireHead: I do web design the way an auto mechanic does oil changes, just a necessary piece of the larger picture. I do it all, and I really dislike it when someone tries to pigeonhole me.

Just another perl hacker... Some tidbits that I consider worth sharing.

Projects: A partial list of the projects that I fiddle with occasionally..

I was embraced by Microsoft, and Bill didn't even kiss me afterwards.

The Archives: The dark corner of the cellar where I hide the dead stuff...

Why I'll never work Tech Support...