Personal | Work | Site

I am currently living in Bozeman, MT, but before moving to Bozeman I lived throughout the San Francisco Bay Area. This isn't the first time I have lived in Montana however, and my love of the outdoors has drawn me back again. In the summer I try and spend as much time as I can outside, and the longer I live here, the more I seem to enjoy the winters as well.

In March of 2006 I began traveling quite a bit for work which turned me onto photography. It wasn't until June of 2006 however that I purchased my first DSLR, the Nikon D50. Initially I shot with the kit lens (Nikkor 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6), but I ended up purchasing the Tamron 28-200mm f/3.8-5.6 in August, 2006. It turned out to be a good zoom lens for a beginner and I definitely got a lot of use out of it, being my primary lens for about a year.

This year though, I decided it was finally time to buy some decent glass and I purchased the Sigma 10-20mm f/4-5.6 and boy was it worth every penny. I take a lot of landscape shots and I think I've only gone on one outing since I bought it where I used a different lens. If you enjoy photography and taking landscapes, it is definitely the right lens to buy!

I am currently employed as an Application Engineer in Professional Services for RightNow Technologies, also headquartered in Bozeman, MT. My role here is much like that of a consultant as I work with a variety of clients spanning many industries. Most of my job involves writing code in PHP and other web languages such as JavaScript, HTML, CSS, XML, etc. This includes using technologies such as AJAX and Web2.0. However, I also have some experience working with C# .NET, C, Ruby and Perl.

I primarily work on projects ranging from a few hours to upwards of a thousand hours per project, and my load will range from one to a dozen or so different projects at a time. This has given me the ability to refine my time management skills as well as enhance my ability to multi-task.

Working for a company with a world wide presence and having the ability to work with a variety of clients has not only provided some wonderful travel opportunities in the United States but in other countries as well. Overcoming some of the challenges presented through cultural differences has been a learning experience however. It is something I hope to continue to work on throughout my career as international business culture is something of interest to me.

I am always available for contract work . Feel free to contact me regarding potential opportunities using the contact form.

This site was written in PHP, using Code Igniter. For those not familiar with Code Igniter, it is a lightweight MVC framework. I have used other frameworks such as Ruby On Rails (RoR), but I really enjoy the simplicity of Code Igniter. The draw back for some though is that Code Igniter relies on the developer, where as with RoR you get a lot of freebies. Obviously though, it always comes down to what works best for the job, and in this case that was Code Igniter.

If you check out my photography page, you will notice that it is using flickr as it's backend. I have been a long time user of flickr and I enjoy working with their API. Plus, having them host my images (for bandwidth and storage considerations) seemed well worth the money they ask for their wonderful service. If you have any questions regarding the flickr integration feel free to drop me a line.

"Yes, but you didn't design this site!!" Quite right! I have never claimed to be a designer, I am a developer, and there is definitely a difference. Coming up with a design such as the one I'm using is not something I enjoy or am interested in. Thankfully there are folks out there like NodeThirtyThree that do enjoy design work and offer free designs for the rest of us!

Lastly, this site contains some AJAX and JavaScript lovelies. As a long time supporter of YUI! I'm sad to say that this site is not using the YUI! framework (again, use what works best for the job). Instead, I have opted to use MooTools. I really like the way they provide their framework for download, allowing you to just select what you need. Like Code Igniter, I find their framework simiplistic and elegant to work with.