Random Stuff

Yep, it’s really all about me! Just what you wanted to read, right? It is, after all, the “About” page. OK, enough rambling, let’s get on with what you came here for.

From the beginning..
I was born in Naha, Okinawa, Japan. I have one or two memories that I confirmed with my father just recently, but otherwise I left when I was too young to remember much. From Okinawa, my family moved to Astoria, Oregon which I don’t remember at all. From there we moved to Cougar, Washington where my dad started working for the Washington State Department of Natural Resources (from which he would retire some 30 years later).

My parents divorced when I was about five years old. At that time I moved with my father to White Salmon, Washington where I lived until about 10 years of age. With one more transfer, my father and I moved to Colville, Washington where I lived until 19.

When I hit 19, I threw everything I had into the back of my 1957 Ford pickup and headed off to Seattle to live in the big city. I didn’t make it though. My pickup broke down in Spokane, Washington where I stayed for the next several years.

During that time I got married, went to college, started working with computers, got a job at an Internet company. In 1996 Microsoft called me up, interviewed me, hired me, and moved my family (now with a son and step-son) to the Seattle area.

I am now divorced. My step-son lives with his grandparents, and now his mother as well in Boise, Idaho. My son and I still live in the Seattle area and I still work at Microsoft.

What do I do at Microsoft? I am a Build Engineer. I could try to explain it, but most people who’ve never worked for a large tech company wouldn’t understand what one is. It’s not even on wikipedia. It’s best just to say I am in the middle of everything. I’ve worked on DirectX, Services for Unix, Windows NT Terminal Server, Windows 2000, MIS, NT DDK, Exchange, and Windows CE. I’ve worked on some things that I can’t talk about. I’ve been involved directly in two things that made international news (other than just releasing products).

My Car Collection: 2006 Suzuki GSX-R 1000, 1985 Kawasaki Ninja 600, 1970 Ford F100 pickup with a 450 horse 429, a 1985 Nissan 300zx, a 1985 Dodge Ramcharger, a 2006 Honda Accord EX. Yep, that’s two cars, two trucks, and two motorcycles.

My Computers: Right now in my house, I have one workstation, two servers, and a laptop. My son also has two computers. I also have a server sitting on a friends T1, where this blog is hosted. Soon there will be four more computers running. Yes, I do have a reason for all of this. Part of it is learning. I have always done a lot with network setup and programming. So when I write a program I am always thinking about one part client and one part server. But there are other reasons which may or may not hatch.

Travel: In the last couple of years, I’ve been bitten hard by the travel bug. It started with a trip to Hawaii. Then a trip to San Francisco. I just spent three weeks Exploring southern Japan, and took in the Uchinanchu festival in Okinawa. I would like to be in Spain in July of 2007, but I don’t know yet if I’ll make it. Depends on budget, but otherwise you can count on me going to a few local places in the US.

Seattle: Seattle is a wonderful place. Between the mild climate, the endless things to do, and the laid back nature of this area, you just can’t beat it. Even with the places I have been, I can’t imagine calling anyplace else home.

Me: For the most part I am an upbeat person. I prefer to keep my work separate from my personal life. There are quite a few people I know, but my circle of close friends is very small. These friends I consider to be life long friends and would do anything for them as if they were family. I am easily distracted, quite often forgetful, and messy. I am extremely open about myself and will tell you anything you want to know about me. I sometimes shock people when I actually answer a personal question. I won’t however say anything bad, or personal about my friends.

I think that covers the basics. It’s impossible to sum up everything about a lifetime in just a page or two.