| Odd Facts About My Day of Birth: 1828 - Noah Webster copyrights the first edition of his dictionary. He will state later on that his invention is one of the biggest mistakes of his life.
1831 - Soldiers marching on a bridge in Manchester, England cause it to collapse.
1846 - The Donner Party of pioneers departs Springfield, Illinois, for California, on what will become a year-long journey of hardship, cannibalism, and survival.
1860 - The first Pony Express rider reaches Sacramento, California. Ironically, they are carrying documents used to build the rail road system that will put them out of business.
1865 - U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth.
1894 - Thomas Edison demonstrates the kinetoscope, a device for peep-show viewing using photographs that flip in sequence, a precursor to movies.
1912 - At 11:40 pm the words, "Iceberg right ahead!" will be issued and the British ocean liner RMS Titanic will end up plunging beneath the waves and taking with it over 1,500 lives at about 2:20 a.m. the following morning.
1935 - "Black Sunday", the worst dust storm of the Dust Bowl.
1956 - Videotape is first demonstrated at the 1956 NARTB (now NAB) convention in Chicago, Illinois.
1958 - The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days.
1970 - One of Apollo 13's oxygen tanks explodes, causing a cancelled moon mission. The explosion occurrs on April 13th in several time zones. It is the first time the words "Houston we have a problem" will be uttered. |
Based on this ... you probably should not stand too close to me. In a way, it's very fitting that all these bizare occurances happened on my birthday. I've lived a very full life which has included a number of near death experiences, misadventures, and a wealth of fun along the way. I've been a Radio DJ and News Reporter, Special Effects Designer, Asst. Property Master, Pipeline Radiologist, Construction Worker, Chef (yes I was paid to cook), Janitor, Fast Food Manager, Security Guard, Firewatchman (it's a like a Security Guard that fights fires) to name but a few titles I've had and jobs I've worked.
I've worked in almost every climate, condition, and stressful sitution you can imagine in the name of a paycheck and had misadventures no one should really have to repeat over my many years... a kind and decent man would not subject you to a biography such as mine. So - without further comment... My Biography...
1962-1996: The Wonder Years
Which... makes me sound pretty much a walking danger zone. But truth is - I grew up in what is sometimes refered to as "the American Outback". Times are tough, the environment is tougher and you get to work in conditions no one in their right mind would even consider. People from there I've found are - somewhat more resourceful. Kinda have to be when the Sherriff in the town is known for being able to out draw the fastest gun in the Guiness World book of records, and if you're injured the next nearest town with a hospital can be 90 miles away. So I did what every good kid in Rock Springs did ... I got the heck out of there, attended film school and eventually worked through odd jobs until I got a screen credit on a motion picture.
1984-1996: Making Movie Magic
The problem with being in the film industry is that whole paycheck to paycheck thing. I probably could have survived it - but my family needs outweighed my own. My father was ill (2nd open heart surgery) so ... Wyoming seemed to be my destiny for the time being. I opened my own little business doing computer work while I did jobs in among other things the oil and gas industry. I was already a computer nut back then. I had a reputation for being one in fact and I'd write accounting applications - build networks for side money. Time went by... and eventually my "side business" was doing well enough that I got calls from contracting companies asking me to do work. I had a pretty good name as a code monkey so when the Internet came calling... people who made money in the Energy Industry bought up an Internet hosting company and needed someone to run it. I brought the company through the years of ISP - and into ISV and Web Hosting. I was happy - a big fish in a small pond who took calls from time to time from the big fish.
1996-2000: The M.I.B. Come Calling...
Eventually I got a call from the Senior Archtiect for IBM Global Services on the Lucent Technologies account. He made me an offer I couldn't refuse. He told me I'd hate my job. He told me I'd put in incredible hours the pressure would be massive and ... I'd have total access to the biggest hardware and software on the planet. I took the job of course.
Time went by... I was assigned as a "Web Guru", and a dozen other titles - from Web Designer to Architect to ... it went on and on. The accounts got bigger and bigger - along with the challenges... Lucent Technologies Global Account, State of California, Johnson & Johnson Global, Avaya, American Express, Rational Software ... it was a great gig.
2001-2005: Best of the Best
I just needed one thing... more money. So I did what every good contractor at IBM does when people want more money and permanent job. I quit. Got a sweet job with a dot com in Vancouver, BC., and by the time the assignment was over - IBM decided they couldn't live without me, gave me a job at double my previous pay and made me a true blue IBMer. Now... this in many cases might be the end of the story. I wind up a Senior IT Specialist - I work on top accounts doing critical situations, even called to handle the 911 crisis for one of the top financial clients of IBM that lost their entire infrastructure. I'm now considered one of the best of the best. A Top Gun Consultant. From here I go on to design a number of tools and applications - that have been used all over the globe. But as with all good things... had to end.
2005- Present - SUN Shine and Turning to the Dark Side IBM's services groups were re-org'd over and over. Eventually - it became my turn. I was, thanks to my background picked up by SUN Microsystems to help them engineer heterogeneous solutions for Windows and Linux. Was a lot of fun... but contractors... are contractors. I was looking for something more permanent. So... I kept looking.
Now, in all my travels - I enjoyed the Pacific Nothwest. But had a wife and kids who, well the idea of leaving the Rockies was right up there with leaving Earth. Wasn't gonna happen.
One day - I got a call. From Microsoft. Now, my wife had known I'd wanted to work for them for - a decade at least. Let's face it - I'd worked at IBM, I'd worked at SUN, I'd worked for several of the top IT firms as a contractor - the only one left... was Microsoft. It's like the crown jewel of the IT profession, despite the fact all my friends at IBM and SUN would, hence forth refer to my work as "Going over to the Dark Side".
But here it was. Only one catch... I had to move to Redmond, Washington. My wife and kids decided they'd give it a try for me. What can I say? I got a great family. We haven't regretted any part of the decision. I work for the greatest company in the planet - doing what I love - with the ultimate challenges every day... and for the record, I was right about living in the Pacific Northwest ... my family wishes we'd moved here years ago.
Traditional Fairy Tale Ending... That's my story and ... for the most part I'm sticking to it... the parts about winged flying monkeys and dropping a house on the Wicked Witch of the East? Well - I may have fudged on that part - but I still wound up in the Emerald City...
Updates.... In 2006 I left Microsoft for about a month. Naturally I then... came back to Microsoft because I got offered something which was beyond cool to work on. Getting Windows to work on the OLPC XO. That's what I've been up to... which is still the coolest thing ever. And yes... because I can't get enough of it... here is more video. :-)
|