About Me
What else would you expect at a vanity domain than something about me?
Why the Web?
I am drawn to working on the web because of it’s immediacy. The web allows you to touch the smallest to the broadest audience, while maintaining a personal connection. Another beautiful quality is you can make changes rapidly; be it a fix or a feature. You can try things out, tweak them, or roll back if the reaction is poor. The greatest aspect of the web is you can change the world for the better, help someone, in a positive way. This makes you part of something bigger; something that matters. The web is a platform for creativity.
In short, I am drawn to the web because of immediacy, reach, and creativity.
Philosophy
I like the web like I like my own life. Organized. I am very organized. My most useful tools for this are Dropbox and Evernote. Both are simple, and they just work.
In work I prefer to understand the entire story, not just the entire technology stack, but I want to understand how product, customer support, etc. are involved.
I strive for consistency. I want a logical order on everything, use alphabetical if nothing else.
For development I feel you have two ways to go. One, fail forward. Get things out often and evolve them quickly. Two, keep the target finely focused and perfect it before pushing it out.
I like to delete. This goes with my minimalist attitude. Less things. More focus to what’s really important. Less interruptions. It helps keep you focused. This attitude goes for myself, and my view of users. Hide as much minutia from users as possible, corralling them into a limited framework. Keep it short and simple. Less confusion.
What am I?
Here are some of my favorite tech podcasts:
- Back to Work – Merlin Mann
- Hypercritical – John Siracusa
- The Talk Show – John Gruber
- TEDTalks
- Tekzilla
I recently have become interested in gamification.
I have tried Bikram Yoga, sky gliding and skydiving.
Personal
I am originally from Buffalo, NY where I met my wife at a local volleyball club. Before we got tied down with anything we moved to Portland, OR. We really enjoyed Portland. Having taken the first opportunity, when we arrived, after a year I began looking for another position. That position turned out to be Yahoo!, so we packed up again and moved to Sunnyvale, CA. Since here we have adopted a second dog, morphed into veganish fish vegetarians, and volunteer for Furry Friends Rescue.
Trivia
Being from Buffalo I am a Sabres and Bills fan. I was a mail carrier (casual carrier) back in Buffalo for a winter. Some things I learned in my short time as a mail carrier:
- Even if a signature is not required, always go to the door. You never know what you will see.
- If you have a mail slot your mail carrier hates you.
I have two small dogs, both adopted, one is missing an eye. I watch a lot of movies, making extensive use of Netflix. Lastly, I was an Eagle Scout (different from Boy Scout).
SSDC
I am co-owner of a small publishing company. SSDC is only a two-man in-your-free-time operation, hence I am always looking for ways to streamline. I was originally involved to facilitate learning HTML back in the early 1990s. Now I manage operations and design. We primarily create and publish roleplaying (RPG) games. RPG design requires a lot of creative thinking, which goes hand-in-hand with how I like to look at the web. You need to think outside the box, and develop creative solutions. My experience has help me develop a business sense, and I’ve acquired a registered trademark.
Sandbox
- HolaPoly Demo – web app version of my first iOS app using canvas and local storage
- (Mock) Future Press Release – exercise in writing a press release for a project as I envision it a year in the future
