About.Bio
Last updated on Mon Apr 21, 2008 |

As you already know just from looking at this site, I have a very big interest in technology and in music. Read on if you would like to know a little bit more about where my interest in these things came from or if you'd just like to find out more about my general background.

I've been a professional software developer for over 9 years. I mostly work in web-, network-, and Internet application development, but I've also had a chance to work on writing some desktop-based software, too. My interest in computers and technology started the same way for me as it seems to have started for nearly every other programmer from my generation — playing around in BASIC on the Commodore 64. From there I moved to an Intel 286-based "IBM clone" and learned Turbo Pascal and followed up with ANSI C a few years later.

The programming I do for my job has been changing for years, as the Internet and its related technologies have grown. These days I mostly work in a combination of Perl, Python, and Java, and I've recently begun adding Ruby to my toolbox. And, even though my job has given me the chance to try working with a lot of different languages and frameworks, I enjoy working with open source tools the best. I have great respect for open source principles and the people who came before me to make it as powerful of a community and culture as it is today.

The only other serious interest that I've had for as long as I can remember has been music. When I was in the third grade, I wanted to play the trombone in my elementary school's band. The band teacher told me that you had to be in at least the fifth grade for that, because in the third grade your arms just aren't long enough. I was disappointed but figured I could probably be pretty happy playing violin for a few years while I was waiting for my arms to grow to the prescribed fifth grade length. Apparently, though, the school band already had too many violin players, so it was strongly suggested to me that I play the drums instead. Honestly, I really didn't want to play the drums at first, but I eventually grew to like them. And, even though I don't get to play them nearly as much as I would like to, I can't imagine being without my electronic and acoustic drumsets, tablas, bongos, and all the other pieces in my extensive percussion collection. Over the years I've played in everything from punk rock bands to jazz trios and a lot else in-between. These days, I don't really have a favorite style of music to play; I'm pretty much happy to play anything. And, while I think there are a lot of fantastic drummers out there that I really enjoy listening to (like Stewart Copeland from The Police), without a doubt my favorite drummers are Neil Peart from Rush and Art Blakey from The Jazz Messengers and his other incarnations.

Listening to and consuming music has been as big of a part of my life as playing it has been. I listen to songs from nearly every genre of music that I know of. (You'll just have to decide for yourself which genres I don't listen to.) It would be hard for me to single out specific bands or artists as my all time favorites. There are really just too many that I like, and what I listen to really depends on my mood and what else I'm doing while listening to the music. A very small sample of some of the musicians that I've listened to the longest would, of course, have to start with Rush. I'd also include the music of Gustav Mahler, which I've been hooked on since my childhood friend Dave Mergen (who was a member of the Cleveland Orchestra Youth Orchestra at the time and is now, I have no doubt, a fantastic cellist somewhere in the world) made me listen to Mahler's Symphony No. 2. And, lastly, I'd include KRS-ONE, who I started listening to when Boogie Down Productions' Criminal Minded album came out and continued listening to through his solo career. But, just to prove that I'm not living entirely in the past, a quick search of my most played tracks on Amarok shows that the bands I listen to the most these days are Ladytron, M.I.A., and Lali Puna. So, that's slightly more modern anyway.

So, what else do I do when I'm not on the computer or drums? My wife and I move around a lot, so I seem to spend a lot of time either packing or unpacking. In the 13 years we've been together, we've lived in Ohio; Washington DC; Providence, RI; Boston, MA; Brooklyn, NY; and Seattle, WA. I've also even lived in Germany and Austria. We recently returned to life in Brooklyn after a two year hiatus on the West Coast. This is the first time we've ever moved back to somewhere that we previously lived, so maybe Brooklyn has what it takes to end our gypsy ways?

And on that note, I can't imagine that anyone reading this would actually want to know more about me. If you do, just read through the rest of this site, and I think you'll have a pretty good idea about anything else you may be wondering.