Quick Hits
- 22+ years working with computers in one way or another,
- About 15 years of interest in photography, about 6 taking it more seriously
- Roughly five years being a family man.
- About five years of home ownership and and uh...home improvement it...
- I'm not really very evil, so why evilrob?
Technology
I'm currently a senior developer at a large financial institution. Our development group is primarily responsible for maintaining and adding new features to the company's website, including the online banking. It's a big, large scale Microsoft based website that handles a lot of traffic and does a pretty good job of it. Before that, I worked on our Java applications both as an administrator and a developer, which were all smaller load-wise, but had interesting challenges of their own.
My focus has always been delivering technology for business purposes. So anything I say applies to that arena, not real time embedded systems or giant DoD development projects.
In the past I've built tools for network engineers, run unix and PC workstation networks, designed and built infrastructure for large scale websites. So I've developed software independently and in teams, administered unix and windows servers, and helped build mid-sized networks. A lot of that experience in automating or improving how things where done.
Photography
I started in photography with my Dad's Canon FTb-1 and 50mm f/1.4, which served me for a long time. About 1998, I had the means and decided to get back into photography more heavily. From some dabbling in the darkroom to digital, I do a little bit of all styles. These days, it's primarily working to take better portraits of my kids and family. I still have a ways to go, but have picked up a tip or two here and there.
Finding the strobist website last year turned me into a flash-head, took my thinking about photography in a totally new direction, and resparked my interested again.
Family
I've got a wife, Cyndie, two wonderful children, and Miles the Totally Crazy German Sheperd Dog™. I love 'em all dearly, and they are definitely not for sale. While I may only have about two and a half years of expierience raising kids, having two of them 20 months apart requires that you become a fast learner, and I like to think I'm doing at least a credible job so far.
Home Improvement
Owning your own home either gets expensive paying for all the things you want to do with it, or you can come down with Home Depot syndrome and learn to do it youself. After all, it's in books right? If they have books about it, it must be possible to learn...so I've picked up a variety of things; mostly wiring, tiling, and painting.