The obligatory 'about me' page...
Family
I currently live in Eagan, MN, with my lovely wife Karen, and a couple of cats. Karen is working on her Md Phd degree at the U of M, and I work at a regular white collor job full time. This picture was taken on a short weekend excursion in the fall of 2004.
Career
I currently work as a Senior Software Engineer for Motorola. The division that I work for used to be known as Next Net Wireless. I work on the software that enables high speed wireless internet connectivity . Our products are sold to ISP's, such as Clearwire.
Previously, I worked for Mayo Clinic, in Rochester Minnesota, as an Analyst/Programmer (and eventually, a Sr. Analyst/Programmer). I worked with a team of programmers in the Biomedical Informatics Division to support informatics research efforts. In my last few years at Mayo, I helped design and implemented much of our open source LexGrid terminology tooling.
The core LexGrid software that I wrote is now in used in places such as the National Center for Bioontology (it is the server software that enables this app). It is also being being integrated into tools at the National Center for BioInformatics and the Centers for Disease Control.
Education
I completed my college degree (BA in Computer Science, with minors in Management and Physics) in 2001 at the University of Minnesota Morris. Before that, I attended high school at Martin County West in southern MN.
Earlier...
I grew up on a family farm in southern MN, raising corn and soybeans, along with a few cattle. My dad and brother still farm in the same area, and I still help them out a few times per year. So, I'm a part, part, part time farmer.
Basic Transport
These days, I drive (or push, as necessary) a 2002 Chevy Impala with just over 100,000 miles on it. It is a nice car, when it works, but this particular car has been kind of a lemon - costing me a lot of money to repair things that should never have to be repaired - certainly not at this mileage. Such as:
Catalytic Converter (3 times, under warranty)
Ignition switch / security system ($600)
Front Wheel Bearings ($800)
Charcoal canister (fuel system emissions crap - $600 - plus, this was a mis-diagnosis of the
Catalytic Converter problems to boot - in hindsight, I would not have had it replaced.)
And, it is constantly leaking oil all over my garage. When I talked to Chevy trying
to get at warranty coverage for the ignition switch (I was out of warranty at the time), or at least the
opportunity to be able to buy the ignition switch parts at cost, they told me in no uncertain terms
(after giving me a very friendly runaround for 2 weeks) that it is normal for ignition switches to fail
on their cars at about 100,000 miles. That was when I told them in no uncertain terms that I would not be
buying any more Chevy vehicles if their ignition switch has to be replaced at 100,000 miles (at $600) in order
for the security system to allow me to continue to start the car.
Fun Transport
I currently own a Suzuki 2006 DRZ400S. It is the bike in the front of this picture take last summer in the sand dunes of Walden, CO. My brother and I have been taking yearly trips out to Colorado for the last 4 years to do some offroad riding. You can see more CO trip pictures here. Now that my job is only about 10 miles from my house (instead of the previous 70) - the DRZ will probably be doing some commute duty as well.
Previously, I have owned a 1993 Kawasaki KLX 650 (this bike went to Colorado 3 times - I can't believe it didn't kill me - it certainly tried) - It was a lot of fun on the street, had huge amounts of power, but unfortunately, it also had a lot of weight. Weight and offroad fun don't go together very well. It just ends up being way too much work to enjoy yourself. I bought it in almost new condition in 2001, and sent it on down the road early in 2006.
Before the KLX, there was a 1991 Kawasaki KLR 250, which I owned from about 1994 until 2001. This bike was a ton of fun to have while growing up, and was pretty much bullet-proof. It just ran and ran, with no problems what-so-ever. At least, none that I didn't directly cause ;-).
Finally, before that, there was the bike that I learned to ride on - a 1986 Honda Fatcat. Which my dad still owns - so I still get to ride it once in a while. And in this picture on the left, Karen is learning to ride it :-)