I am a Chief Architect and Senior Software Development Engineer specializing in the Microsoft .NET ASP.NET stack for high-perform web applications. My profession since 1994 has been in computer science in one way or another, self-taught since hacking the grades using BASIC on my 4th grade's school computer.

I was born and raised in Chattanooga, Tennessee with a population at the time of 250,000, and a proud Tennessean with a bit of the southern twang. During high school, I received a scholarship for college in Automotive Technologies where I graduated top of class. But my love for automotive expertise and the adrenaline rush of my supercharged and nitrous-fed cars did not fuel my creative lust enough. I wanted more control over my car’s performance. I wanted more control in saying what it does, how it does it, and what to do when this or that happens. So, I changed my career to computer sciences and decided to make things happen, for me, in code. Partly because I could not afford the hundreds of thousands of dollars for the specialty machines to create the physical automotive parts – that anyone else could make. You can read: there's always someone with a bigger wallet. So I decided to use the creativity of my mind to set me apart.

I am not someone who does things like everyone else. When the crowd of thousands of people marches forward in unison, you can catch me walking sideways – to see what’s around the corner or what else is going on to make it work. I stride to be unique, not to stand out in the crowd but to think outside of the box. I love exploring the inner workings of everything in existence, from aeronautics to electrons. I do not believe in magic and will study the phenomenon until I understand and grasp the concept, sometimes with an unhealthy dedication. Maybe I should look into quantum mechanics next...

To paraphrase a good friend of mine; I love programming. It makes you feel a little like a god because you are creating a world and giving instructions on what that world does. I really enjoy creating little groups of entities that go running around doing work for me. If you would ever like to try out this sensation, I highly recommend logging onto http://www.alice.org and trying out the creativity of that. It’s fun, it’s free, and is designed for everyone from artists to musicians that can get involved in creating worlds using simple commands.  If you have never heard of Alice, or want to get a glimps into my mind, I recommend the book The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch (October 23, 1960 – July 25, 2008).

-E