Welcome!
I graduated from the University of Tennessee, Knoxville, in May of 1994, with a BS in Computer Science. The ability to host a personal website was one of the perks bestowed on me as a CS alumni. I use this page to keep the world up to date on where I am, what I'm doing and, what's going on.
I currently live in Bradenton, FL with my wife and two daughters.
I work as a software engineer for Teltronics, Inc.
in Sarasota, FL where I write Windows based telecommunications monitoring software.
What I do...
Here in Florida I've learned to enjoy the outdoors a bit more and suppress my natural pasty-white, hacker instincts.
I love riding my mountain bike. I found out I live just a few miles from one of the best parks in Florida for mountain biking. It's reclaimed mining land, so the terrain isn't what you'd expect in Florida. I was shocked the first time I rode some of these trails.
The beach is a natural activity here, and why not, it's only a few minutes away. I love playing with my girls in the surf. They've taken quite a liking to the ocean.
What else do I do, well let's see, I'm a CS graduate so odds are I have programming tendencies. I've discovered the wonders of Mac OS X. If you haven't played with it, try it, you'll like it, especially if you have some UNIX background. That and the downright beauty of the hardware, and I've got a great reason to spend hours writing code.
Disclaimer: These web pages were written to be best viewed on a standards compliant browser. I can guarantee that these pages look perfect in Safari, Opera, and Firefox.
IE users, your milage may vary and the screens will probably not be laid out as I had intended. I'm not going to fix the pages, they are fine ... your browser is the problem. I suggest you get Firefox. You'll be glad you did.
Remember: "Friends don't let friends click on the blue e."
Where I've been...
I've been fortunate enough to have worked for some companies that believed that engineers show visit customer sites. And that means I've been to some pretty interesting places.
Most recently, in June 2006, I was sent to Almaty, Kazakhstan. I know ... Kazawhere??? Let's just say it's a really long plane ride. All I can say is stay away from the fermented camel's milk, they may say it's a traditional drink, but OMG ... stick with the bottled water!
It's really a beautiful place, Soviet influenced architecture and all. The mountains give Almaty a gorgeous backdrop, and the city itself is very nice. It really sucks if you don't speak Russian however...
In 2003, I spent two months on the island of Okinawa in Japan. Now THAT was an adventure. We were doing an installation for the US military and basically had access to places that normal civilians just don't. That included being able to climb the radio towers in our spare time, the views from the top of those things is spectacular.
Two months was a bit much though, I was only supposed to be there two weeks... But I did get to see the entire island from end to end, and learned a lot about Japanese culture.
Misc crud...
I graduated from Germantown High School, Germantown, TN in 1989. Out of a class of, what was it, 700 or so, I've managed to keep up with a total of 0 of my class mates. Shows you how much I enjoyed high school. Maybe I'll attend a reunion one day, maybe I'll even get an invitation one year... LOL.
I worked for Gallagher Financial Systems from 1994-1999 in Brentwood, TN. I was a systems level software engineer responsible for many of the communications products.
Minha familia
We've had a bit of a change around the house lately, it seems a whole lot quieter. In July we made the gut wrenching decision to put our dog, Shelby, our "starter child", to sleep. We've had her almost as long as Tamara and I have been married. For those that knew her, Shelby was a incredible dog, pet, and companion. We miss her presence enormously...
"May your days be spent chasing rabbits..."
The SO and yard apes are what get me out of bed every day. What would I do without them...
My Kids, Lauren and Anna, are probably two of the best little twerps I could ever have asked for. The get along like siblings shouldn't, they're smart as can be, and yet as different as day and night. I wouldn't trade them for the world. ( Though there are days I do admit to thinking about it :) )
My wife, Tamara, has been by my side through thick and thin, and for better and for worse. I wouldn't be a fraction of the person I am today without her influence.
She has recently helped me through one of the most difficult periods in my life. She supported me even though I was self-destructing and taking her with me. I repaid her kindness with pain and misery, and for that I owe her dearly. She has my earned love and adoration many times over, and I'll be there for her no matter what.
