In general I just love to create stuff. Whatever I encounter I usually try to figure out how someone could build such a thing. Sometimes I even try to do it myself. I pick up a lot of really useless skills this way, but I've never been one to wander the streets, either.

Starting November, 2003, I have worked at GoodContacts Research Ltd., doing typical software development tasks. There is a rather long commute to endure, but they have done a good job of setting things up so I can work from home, so occasionally that's what I do. Interesting business-related product, a bit of a departure from the scientific and engineering software I usually prefer. Lots to learn.

Before that, I worked at Celeris Aerospace Canada Inc. to write software to gather data from flight recorders mounted in fire bomber aircraft. This was shaping up to be a pretty cool project, but government politics has slowed it down. Nevertheless, I am very grateful for the opportunity to work with good people in a pleasant environment. Bonus: It's close enough to home that I could bike to work in about fifteen minutes!

Until June 2003, when I was abruptly laid off, from August 2000 I worked for Optiwave Corporation. I was the project leader for a simulator called OptiFDTD, Finite Difference Time Domain. It does a simulation of light propagating through various types of materials, and is based on Maxwell's equations.

From August 1994 to August 2000 I worked for W.R. Davis Engineering Limited as a Systems Analyst. The project I worked on was called NTCS, which does a 3d simulation of the infrared signatures of ships and helicopters in a maritime background (a fancy way of saying "no land"). I have learned a lot working on it but man my head sure hurt some days!

I graduated from Acadia University in 1986 with an honours degree in math. There's not much you're qualified for when all you have is an undergraduate degree in math, so after a brief period working days as a draftsman and spending evenings playing with my computer I landed a job as a computer programmer. I enjoyed it so much I've been doing it ever since.

While doing the math degree I also studied quite a bit of music, almost all classical. I'm one of the few people I know that gets a kick out of the stuff I do, but now that I'm no longer in high school it's not really a problem. I like to write music, usually in the classical style, have conducted a small choir in the past (and a large one of about a hundred people on one occasion), and play the piano regularly in church. Recently (late 1990s) I've curtailed my solo performances at special church events to take more time out for my children. Hopefully I can pick it up again in a decade or so.

In the last couple of years I have been heavy into woodworking. My dream of having a workshop has come to fruition and I now have enough power tools to trip half the breakers in the house if I run them all at the same time. I have made a few nice pieces but somewhere along the line I realized that my true love wasn't necessarily building nice wooden furniture (which I intend to continue to do), but to build all sorts of nifty gadgets and machines. All the freaky experiments that I wanted to do when I was a kid but had no money are exciting me once again. A need to build, borne out of a lack of resources to buy, has shaped my life. I'm at my happiest when I'm making something that works. That's why being a programmer is so great. I assemble ideas for a living; it's great to get paid for what you enjoy!

From August 1998 to March 2000 I took a part time contract with Celeris Aerospace Canada Inc. My friend Stephen Hall is the president, and he asked me to do the graphics programming for a new program to analyze cockpit voice recordings. It's way cool. I learned a lot of technical stuff, and also learned how hard it is to work full-time, part time, and raise a family, too. Early 1999 was especially crazy because I also agreed to co-author a technical paper on some of the work I did at Davis. I must be NUTS!

If you're inclined to give me a gift, here's what I would like for Christmas. Warning: I have a lot of interests; it's a big list!