Now working for a small biotech firm as the system administrator, odd job man, and electronic repair technician (I got to solder medical equipment back to working condition), I was faced with a decision: seriously give up on college, or give it another go. I decided to give it another shot, enrolling in Baton Rouge Community College (college, round 2) as a way to test if I had grown up at all. My job at the time was great, my coworkers (all three of them) were great to me, and I took night classes, and proved that I could actually do well in school if I tried.
Cute kitten, or crazed killer?
BOTH! While kitten-sitting for my parents, this cute little kitty named Bunny (photo taken after incident) was caught trying to kill my roommate by sleeping on her face!
Cliche travels part 2
In the summer of 2005, I took a plane to England, met up with my cousin, and basically threw darts on a map, then went there (although I wouldn’t outright admit to going to France).
I returned to Europe in 2008 for a honeymoon in Tuscany. I feel this trip could have been a lot more awesome, and hope to try it again sometime.
My second career choice was NINJA
At ULL, I finally (after being brought up on video games and cartoons) started taking some martial arts classes. I started with Tae Kwon Do at the University.I thoroughly enjoyed the classes, but was looking for something more than just a sport. After a year of TKD, I found out from a fellow student about a Hapkido class in town that blew TKD out of the water. I stuck with both martial arts, and quickly became one of the better students in class (TKD and Hapkido are similar with respect to their strikes, and that the are both Korean).
During this time I learned a lot about myself, my body, my physical limitations, that flipping out like a ninja is way harder than it looks.
On moving to Denver, I started studying Krav Maga, which is as drastic a departure as you can get from TKD. While I enjoy Krav Maga the philosophy of a practical martial art, I fail at being aggressive, and miss some of the formality of TKD and Hapkido.
Coding wiith object oriented and imperative programming languages.
Two monitors are better than one.
To do pretty much anything with Linux.
How to whistle while inhaling, and exhaling air.
Tying my own shoes.
HTML/CSS/PHP/Apache, and all that stuff.
Velcro is easier.
System and Network Administration for Linux and Windows.
Slip ons are even easier.
If it weren’t so cold here, I’d be in flip flops year round.
Agile programming methodologies.
Ages 0-18 (1982 - 2000)
Not too much happened here. Just a kid growing up. Around the age of 12 or so, I got my hands on some old manuals that taught some basic programming, and went at it. I was informed that one of my first words was “puter”, which I hope was short for computer, around this time as well. I knew I was destined for geekdom (but I wouldn’t learn what that was until high school).
Other than that, the most memorable things for a burgeoning computer geek in south Louisiana were Boy Scouts (hey, I like to get out too), and those acting classes I took my senior year.
College, Round 1 (2000 - 2001)
Louisiana Tech was a fun experience, where I learned a lot about myself, and exactly how prepared I was for college (not really). I ended up teaching my self some system administration, and after impressing a Baton Rouge businessman at a Baton Rouge Linux User Group (BRLUG) meeting, I scored me a job! (I stopped going to college by the way).
College, Round 3 (2003)
Fresh from the working world, and community college, I started off at ULL with a bang. Unfortunately, I would eventually be harassed by medical issues, and, while never actually failing out, actually finishing semesters became difficult.
Cliche travels part 1
It was summer 2004, and a friend of mine and I decided to jump on a train and see parts of America we’d never seen before (which is still quite a lot). We took Amtrak to Chicago, Seattle, then San Francisco. Fun Fact: It only rained once for the whole week we were in Seattle.
Things I found interesting (Martial Arts)
Precursor to the tango. I am not sure who is leading, but I think the guy on the right will be stuck paying for dinner.
A list, of things that interest me, or make me smile
Martial arts
Whatever it is that cats are stalking when you are watching them and can’t for the life of you figure out what it is (this currently seems to be the wall)
Philosophy
Music (you know, the good kind, all of it, none of the bad stuff)
.png)
.jpg "Positively Matt Fried, in New York and Elsewhere")
.jpg "10 Ways To Ensure A Successful Move")
.jpg "Guidespud Goes Ninja")
.jpg "Lust, Love and Deceit: The Flower Code")
.jpg "Guide to Post-College Dating")
.jpg "Springbrook Golf Course")
.jpg "technogeek")
.jpg "Choosing the Martial Art that is right for you")
.png)
