The Middle

I'll try not to lie, but I do have a tendency to exaggerate. For example, most people think I look a lot like a young Harrison Ford, only "a little more manly". Must be the stubble.

Old-School Me Well, I grew up in the annoyingly perfect town of Wadsworth, Ohio, Very small, very quaint, very "we-have-to-be-better-than-the-next-town-over". In this bustling metopolis, I had the dubious honor of attending Wadsworth High School, where I met the aforementioned J$, TK (TK doesn't do websites, sorry>, Scott, and a few hundred other random people to which I haven't said a word in years. It was high school, it's already gotten about three sentences more than it merits. It was a good time, plenty of fierce foos was played at Johnny's, yadda yadda. So we're done here, okay?

A Little Less Old-School Me So, I left The Wad after high school, in an attempt to learn some cool new stuff at Case Western Reserve University (Yeah, I know I should've gone to OSU, but I fell for the whole engineering gaf). Sometime during my freshman year my roomate (you guessed it, that stinking J$ guy again) and I got conned into this den of hoodlums by the silver-tongued D.R.E. Did the frat thing for a few years, and spent my fifth and final tour of duty living in "The Hive" with J$ and gnubbs. The Hive was a blast, lots of foos was played 'round the ol' Tornado, you get the idea.

In a typically smooth Andy segue fashion, I should bring up the foos. I'm good. Like really good. I'm playing at a level you couldn't possibly understand. Well, at least good enough to smoke J$ six days a week. I have one of these at home, which doesn't get nearly as much play time as it should, I mostly play on our table at work.

Current Old-Man Me So, speaking of work, upon my graduation from CWRU with a BS in Computer Engineering, I took a job with IBM, where I've been for the last 6 months or so, working on some funky java "web-thingy". It's a lot more complicated than that, but that's the description my relatives get, so that's all you're getting.

Concerning relatives, I have a lot of them. I see them less than I should. They live places. What'd you want, a list of names and email addresses?

Wow, that's about the most boring biography I've ever read. I really was expecting my life had been a lot more interesting than that. Well, I did leave out most of the juicy stuff , it's a family blog, after all.

Random Tidbits About Me Computers:If my spending the time to put this all together hasn't tipped you off yet, I'm really into that whole computer thing. My current weapon of choice is an IBM Thinkpad T23, with a GB of RAM, "Just in Case". I've got about 3 more in various states of disrepair in my apartment, none of which have been turned on in at least 4 months. I've become a complete wireless snob, I refuse to use a computer if it's not on my lap radiating the internet straight through my torso. Ahhh, wireless.

I spend most of my time these days working with Java Application Servers on various Unix platforms, DB vendors, that sort of thing. I've certainly gotten to know my Oracle a lot better, not to mention DB2, Sybase, Informix, SQL Server (obligatory nod of that hat to Rimas), Solaris, AIX, yadda, yadda. It's nice to come home to a plain old Win2k/Debain box at the end of the day. Considering that all the java I'd written in my life would've filled about 3 lines before I started the IBM gig, I've been doing quite a bit of that recently as well.

My Car: I drive a 1997 Toyota Corolla. DX. With gold trim. And a spoiler. And a mahogany dash (okay, it's plastic, but the stickers really make it look like mahogany). I'm okay with it. Admitting you have a problem is the first step. It's not one of these, or one of these, or even one of these. I press the accelerator, kick empty air reaching for the clutch, a single tear rolls down my check, I yearn for a new car, and finally arrive at my destination. Unfortunately, new cars are really expensive. If only I had some means to quench my thirst for a new mode of transportation...

My Crack Habit: I play a lot of video games. I've been working way too much now that I'm an "adult" to get the crack time I desire, but I'm trying to work on that. I've been a Miyamoto junkie since my youth, and that's not showing any signs of slowing. I've got the Sony side of things covered too, and I'm still fighting the urge to get an X-Box, although I don't know how long I can hold out.

My Tunes: So, I've had this weird The Beatles --> The Grateful Dead --> Phish --> Perl Jam --> Stone Temple Pilots --> Soundgarden --> Crystal Method --> Chemical Brothers --> Dave Matthews --> Bad Religion --> James Brown --> At the Drive In --> Miles Davis --> The Alkaline Trio thing going on over about the last ten years or so. I settle into some niche for a year or so, then I find something new and get really into that for awhile, lather, rinse, repeat. I'm on a punk rock/funk kick recently thanks to gnubbs.

So, I've put together a nice little setup for enjoying said musical interests, comprised principally of Martin Logan SL3 speakers, a Rotel RTC-965 processor, a Rotel RB-985 5-channel amp, a Rotel RB-956AX 6-channel amp, and a California Audio Labs ICON MKII CD player.

Alright, that's enough rambling for now, maybe someday in the future I'll elaborate. Don't count on it.