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I am a 35 year old father of a 5th grade girl. Everything else is trivia. Information about my experiences in and perspective on fatherhood can be found at either of the external links below.
[edit] Profession
I am a computer programmer, currently working for American Electric Power, where I've been employed since 2003. For the 6 years prior to that, I was employed in the electronic commerce company Sterling Commerce, officially as a telecommunications troubleshooter and script writer, and unofficially as a System administrator and maintainer of some custom JCL used to report configuration information for large customers.
My long term goal is to leave the IT world after I make my fortune, and open a small day care center that I can operate according to my philosophy of constructive care giving.
[edit] Hobbies
[edit] Volunteering
All my volunteer work involves kids, most involves working with them in a school setting.
I first started volunteering in 2002 at a local elementary school. The organization Tech Corps Ohio placed me with a school where I taught three 5th grade classes basic computer skills and how to create PowerPoint slideshows, and Excel spreadsheets. I taught the same class for a second year, and then stopped volunteering with Tech Corps.
In 2003, I responded to a request in my daughter's school to teach a four-day spreadsheet class to 4th and 5th graders. This class was part of a stock market project for the school, where each grade level picks a company to follow. This spreadsheet is the final one we ended up with.
I have also helped my daughter's Brownie troop with a pair of technology related badges.
Lastly, I am currently volunteering with a local counseling group as a mentor to a teenaged boy. For his privacy, I will leave out identifying details, including the name of the group. This last gig is the one that I value the highest. My mentee and I have been matched for about 3 years now, and I watched him grow from a sullen pathological liar with an anger problem into a respectable young man. I'd like to think that my influence helped him achieve such a drastic turnaround, but I suspect he was destined to outgrow the chip on his shoulder in any event.
[edit] Science fiction
I started becoming interested in Science fiction later in life than most geeks do. I never enjoyed reading until my early 20s, and hence didn't have a taste for young-adult space opera fiction. Instead, I was drawn towards writing with substance. Here are some sci-fi books that I've enjoyed, some not traditionally classified as sci-fi:
[edit] Indie movies
Here are some fine examples of independent(ish) films, some more gruesome than others:
[edit] Truisms
- This is a phrase used mainly as political rhetoric, but my use of it is not. To retreat from victory is to be wary of easy wins, and to avoid the desire to see your opponent detroyed. If you seem close to achieving victory, either it's a trap, or you are acting like an animal.
- Don't rush through life seeking novelty, sensation, and today's trends. Find the things you enjoy, follow your bliss, as Joseph Campbell would say. Read a book, bake some bread from scratch, sit down with your kid and talk to her. Exciting has its place, but fulfillment trumps it. You can't stay the height of cool forever: Coolness, like beauty, is an uphill battle that will always wear you down in the long run. Find something you're happy with, not something that makes you look good.
- Simple as that. Watch after your family. Help the old lady cross the street. Give when you can. Don't hurt anyone. Leave an issue unresolved if force is necessary to resolve it.
- The modern world will take shameless advantage of you if you can't crunch the numbers. A $10,000 credit balance at 10% APR will cost you about $80 a month to carry. $80 a month is about 45ยข per hour off of your pay. 15 miles to work at 55 MPH will take you 16 minutes and 22 seconds. 15 miles to work at 80 MPH will take you 11 minutes and 15 seconds. You can't get much work done in 5 minutes and 7 seconds. You can get pulled over and charged a hefty fine. 90 days is not the same as cash if you don't pay it all on time, it is a ridiculous interest rate retroactive to the date of the contract signing. And so on. Crunch the numbers, and don't be taken for a sucker.
- They're a lot more interesting than you might think. Leading by stoic example is a lost cause to a kid. Interacting with them gets the job done.
[edit] External links
Homepage
Blog
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