Intro

I am currently the Software Engineering Support Manager at Saatva Mattress where I manage an elite team of software developers who are primed to react quickly to infrastructure or site related issues with Saatva's entire production line. I am interested in pretty much anything that has buttons or blinks with a particular affinity to classic video games. Oh and I also like cars.

Currently

At Saatva, I have learned how to build teams, manage people, shape culture, improve inter-departmental communication, manage inter-state product production, transportation and logistics, and build on-line predictive monitoring and alerting tools. My background is in full-stack software development, all the way down to the bare-metal base (where still applicable).

Some history

• My dad bought an original Mac Plus (including the cool, denim carry bag that weighed a TON) in 1986, complete with dot-matrix imagewriter. I promptly learned how to program small applications with HyperCard and distributed them to all of my friends on the terribly underrated 3.5" floppy disk.

• I received my first "personal" (not family) computer for my 15th birthday in 1993. It was a Compaq Presario 486 DX2 66MHz with 2mb(!!!) of Ram memory and an 80mb hard drive. I promptly took it apart and put it back together (mostly successfully) because I wanted to see how it worked. I was mostly successful.

• In early 1994 I walked past a store with the demo of the largely unknown "SHAREWARE" game, Doom playing on a computer. I was quickly compelled to enter said store and drool on the keyboard. A helpful store clerk handed me a 3.5" floppy disk with the DOOM logo emblazoned on it and then quickly shoved me out the door. I spent the next year playing that single level over and over and learning how to work with the game files and make new, better maps... at least I thought they were.

• In 1994, I was bequeathed a 2400baud modem expansion card from a friend of mine that he handed me with another floppy disk with AOL printed on it. Once I convinced my mom to not pickup the phone for the next hour, the magical symphony of noises coming from that little speaker marked the beginning of what I would be doing for the rest of my life.

• In mid of 1995 I received my first 28.8k modem and subsequently graduated from AOL to the world wide web with a "dial-up" account from a local provider. Upon hearing this, a friend of my Dad's gave me a copy of a book... HTML For Dummies, complete with yet another floppy disk. Intrigued, I read the book from cover to cover about 300 times, and with the help of Windows Notepad, created my first website.

• 1996 was the year of learning basic HTML development as well as my first attempt with making graphics with Photoshop thanks to a gratis copy from a friend of my Dad's friends who just happened to work there. I definitely wasn't great, but I knew more than most and word got around that I could build websites and I quickly began making side-money by making various sites for local businesses and individuals. I quickly realized what I wanted to do with the rest of my life.

• Having figured out my niche and making pretty good money for the time, I turned down interview requests from some very oddly named companies. I mean, Google, Yahoo, Amazon.com... How can a company with a name like those ever be taken seriously? I ended up taking a job with a local telecom company who specialized in sites for LOTS of local businesses, so I felt right at home.

• From later in 1997 through 2001 I started multiple small business ventures which centered around small internet projects that I promptly sold. I began building custom desktop computers for customers as well and in mid 2001 was hired by a local health insurance broker building their website and managing all of their workstations and servers.

• In 2002 I received my MCSE and CCNA certificates which I think I used all of twice while they were valid because working with an established company with fixed needs didn't bring much use for expanding. Totally worth the $10k cost! However that experience took me into aome really cool co-location facilities of which I got trapped in as the HALON system went off not once, but twice(!!!). I haven't been the same since.

• From 2003 till 2011 I worked at, developed and eventually ran a division of the insurance brokers company that specialized in self editable and managed secure websites for distributing health insurance related (or any) sensitive documents using one of the first WYSIWYG editors available on the internet.

• Eventually the insurance broker wanted to retire and allowed me to take over the business in it's entirety, so in late 2011 I started IntellAgent Benefits Solutions (yes, it's spelled wrong on purpose!). I maintained that business in one form or another until mid-2022.

• 2014 brought me and my family to beautiful Austin, TX, of which I call home today.

The rest of the timeline is available on my resume so feel free to take a peek, or reach out directly if you have any questions.

Favorite Linux Distro

• Ubuntu for dekstop/laptop use
• Ubuntu Server/Debian for server use
• My current home workbench is made up of 6 small Dell servers configured as a pool with Proxmox or Ubuntu Server.

I like

• Video Games
• Collecting various incarnations of digital media
• Classic Gaming history
• Video Production
• Cars & Driving
• My fur-babies!
• Good design

Fun facts

• I have owned every Nintendo console ever including every permutation of each portable console ever.
• I have owned every Mario & Zelda game that Nintendo has ever released and beaten them all.
• I almost always have a laptop with me because work likes to pick inopportune times to have a problem.
• I almost always also have a cable organizer pouch full of every type of cable or charger you might need.

Sites I find interesting

• First design of my first website, The Dead Link (however broken the Wayback Machine is): Wayback Machine Link
• First actual Telecom company that I got at job at right out of High School, Galaxy Net Telecom: Wayback Machine Link
• Joke Website archive that I used to run, The Joke Forum: Wayback Machine Link