Interests

I'm a big fan of reading; I always have been. Probably the segment of literature that most occupies my time spent reading is technical documentation related to software. Like everyone else, I tend to take my work home with me. I also spend a fair amount of time reading tech-related web sites to get my fix about all things related to technology, gadgets, science etc. I can recommend Wired as well as Ars Technica as two solid web sites devoted to news in the tech world. Growing up, I always enjoyed reading novels grounded in the tradition of fantasy, e.g. Tolkein. I've continued that taste into adulthood, and supplemented it with a bit of sci-fi. I recently finished up Robert Jordan's epic Wheel of Time saga.

Of late, the stories of Neal Stephenson have really taken hold of me. I was introduced to Stephenson's work through a friend a number of years ago, and I make it a point to pick up his new material soon after he releases it. His stories a bit hard to categorize, but I've heard them described as "cyber punk", although that really only covers a few of his books. Many other stories are what I'd call "interpretive history", where Stephenson picks a period in time, and embelishes true historical events with his own flair and initimable humor. His top book, in my view, was Cryptonomicon, which cronicled the rise of modern cryptography through WWII until modern times.

When it comes to music, I'll listen to just about anything, but I prefer a few types of music in particular. 90's rock was a major influencer on my early adulthood. At some point during the beginning of the 2000's, I found myself gravitating more towards Electronic Dance Music (EDM). I love the percusive and melodic flow that is a major part of the fabric of contemporary EDM. For me, one of the most amazing aspects of this style is the way multiple songs are overlapped and blended at the mix point, creating unique tracks that are greater than the sum of their parts. In the hands of a gifted DJ, song mixing truly is an artform, and the end result is a highly distinct sound that matches the fingerprints of the artist. It's not simply about song selection and matching beats, but also mix duration, emphasis of frequency, repetition, mood and tonality all combine to form signature sounds.

Many times, genres are hard to define (at least for me) in the EDM landscape, but if I had to pick two styles that I'm mostly drawn to, it'd be trance and progressive house. I've noticed that, since I began following EDM in the early 00's, there has been an explosion of talent, and the content available out there has been growing at a seemingly accelerated clip. All of this great music is more accessible than ever before, thanks to the many song sharing sites linking artists and fans. I could fill up pages and pages of blogs covering the producers and DJs that I listen to, but it's probably simpler to just point you to my profile page on Soundcloud, where you can listen for yourself.

Back in 2012, I transitioned to free and open-source software (FOSS) for my personal information and computing needs. It was, in a way, borne out of necessity. I had just built my own desktop PC from parts I had assembled, and for whatever reason, running Windows 7 on that machine eventually led to a serious case of instability where the PC would freeze and enter the dreaded Blue Screen of Death (BSOD). At first I thought it was related to bad hardware, or my assembly of the machine. However, after isolating each component and disassembling/reassembling the machine several times, I couldn't find anything wrong. It was only when I tried running a LiveCD of a Linux distribution for a period of time that the instability seemed to vanish. This was kind of an eye-opening experience, as I had always considered open-source software to be inferior and more unstable than that of the paid variety. Since that time, I have adopted FOSS in my personal use, and to the greatest extent possible in my professional endeavors, and I haven't looked back.

There are a number of open-source software projects that I follow closely. I have experimented with several Linux distributions, and so far my favorite projects are Gentoo Linux and Arch Linux. Gentoo is a source-based distribution that, while sometimes a bit high-maintenance, is a wonderful way to dig into the core, fundamental concepts of the Linux kernel/OS. Arch is IMO the most well-documented distro, featuring the most informative and helpful wiki source out there, and the Arch way is all about simplicity and freedom.

The KDE desktop environment is another one of my favorite FOSS projects. Coming from a Microsoft ecosystem, I initially sought a Windows-esque facade on top of Linux that would help ease the transition, and a similarity to Windows is what KDE is known for. That said, KDE has its own unique identity and feature set that distinguishes itself from Windows, or other GNU DE's such as Gnome.