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A Profile of Myself

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Short Summary of My Life

A rate photo of me in a suitI grew up in North Brunswick, NJ, and attended North Brunswick Township High School, also known as NBTHS.  While in high school, I participated in the robotics clubExternal Content, school newspaper, and was captain of the swim team.  Following that, I attended Rensselaer Polytechnic InstituteExternal Content, picking up a Bachelor's of Science degree in Computer and Systems EngineeringExternal Contentas well as minors in Computer ScienceExternal Content and PsychologyExternal Content.  I became involved in the Rensselaer Student Chapter of The Association of Computing Machinery (ACM), and held the position of Chairman of the Systems Administration Committee (SAC).

Following my undergraduate education, I worked as a security operations center engineer at igxglobal Inc.External Content, and later moved on to carry several titles at Time Warner CableExternal Content in Charlotte, North Carolina for over nine (9) years.  I currently reside in Seattle, Washington working for the cloud servicesExternal Content department of the world's largest retailerExternal Content.

I enjoy computer networking, programming, photography, swimming, and trance music.  I typically spend an inordinate amount of time on the computer and never have understood how people can say they're bored.  I have a thirst for knowledge and understanding and I believe others should have the same.  Nothing bugs me more than people saying things like "it just works, I don't care how."  I feel that is a defeatest and lazy attitude.  This also highlights my attitude toward life, since I believe things should be earned, not given freely or provided via so-called entitlements.  You'll never see me buying a lottery ticket or purchasing a piece of technology that has a warranty I'm not willing to void.

IPv6Back at RPIExternal Content one of my friends introduced me to LinuxExternal Content via the SlackwareExternal Content distribution.  After much pain and many headaches (figuratively speaking, of course), I finally got the hang of Unix-based operating systems and now embrace open-source software and associated viewpoints.  Linux has come a long way in the last decade, from barely supporting USB, to working with the newest hardware and bleeding-edge network protocols.  Don't get me wrong, I'm not a complete Linux fanatic, I also have a great respect for the FreeBSDExternal Content operating system and various OpenBSDExternal Content projects such as PFExternal Content and OpenSSHExternal Content.

The XicadaExternal Content network project at RPI introduced me to the world of networking.  It was the first time I heard terms like GRE tunnels, OSPF, and multipath.  I was definitely interested, and since then have put forth an effort to keep myself actively up to date with the latest networking technologies, even when the country I live in is hopelessly behind in some of them, like IPv6 (although it's finally getting back on track).

On a typical day, I'll probably spend a good amount of time working on a variety of network equipment and Unix scripting.  I try my best to stay away from MicrosoftExternal Content products, but am forced to run some of their software at times.  I typically read SlashdotExternal Content and EngadgetExternal Content, as well as the Drudge ReportExternal Content if I feel like depressing myself with world events.  I try to stay on top of networking technologies by also reading the NANOG, IPv6 operations, and various NSP lists.  When home, I'll either continue hacking on my own network devicesExternal Content, try to stay on top of my reading list, or stream any number of sci-fi titles to my TV over the network.

I try to hit the poolExternal Content (swimming 2,600 meters at a time, at least in Charlotte) at least three (3) times per week, usually on the weekdays.  On the weekends I'll jog 5-7 km.