Complexity and simplicity.

As humans, complexity is our tendency.  Elegance is achieved through simplicity.

• Technology,
• language, and
• life.

I explore the necessary.

Now that I have been sufficiently pretentious… I define myself as someone that defies conventional wisdom and escapes the herd.  I love the past, the future, and when both creep into the present.  I am a lifelong learner by nature and love a variety of topics both in the professional and personal space:

• Technology – as a career professional in IT and an adherent to function throughout my life, I am broadly concerned with technology and its role in our lives.  My experiences include web development and programming/scripting (HTML/CSS, JavaScript, PHP, Java, PERL, Visual Basic, .NET, and PowerShell), systems and network administration (Windows, Linux, Cisco, Active Directory, MS Exchange, Office 365, MS SQL Server, MySQL, PostrgreSQL, Apache, Postfix, Samba, OpenLDAP, and much more), security (VPN, firewalls, access controls, systems and network hardening, regulatory and compliance, and more), and architecture, design, and strategy.  My focus for the past several years has focused on Microsoft collaboration platforms: Microsoft Exchange Server (v5.5 through 2016), Skype for Business (Exchange IM, LCS, OCS, Lync…), Office 365 (Exchange Online, Lync Online/S4B, OneDrive, Azure AD, etc.), and the integration of the products into business solutions that are holistic (cost, maintenance, user experience, security, and business continuity).
• Language – as a lifelong learner, I have always been fascinated by language (perhaps a driver of my technology focus in collaboration tools).  Since early in my life, I had a great desire to learn German and did not have the means available until adulthood.  I spent a significant amount of time learning French as it was an option available to me.  As a native English speaker, I follow its history and how it is influenced by other languages (European languages as a whole, but namely Germanic and Romance languages).  I am dedicated to evangelizing  language learning for all ages.  Last year, I had a scholarship for those wishing to double-major or minor in German or French at the University of Indianapolis; my goal is to establish an endowment to further this strategy in the long term.Languages of particular interest to me (current “To Do” list):
  • German (looking to gain more insight to Bavarian and Swiss dialects)
  • Old English
  • French
  • Norwegian (and broadly interested in all Scandinavian languages including Old Norse)

  Languages on my long term “To Do” list:

  • Basque
  • Spanish
  • Italian
  • Japanese
  • Arabic
  • Chinese
• Science – I enjoy science from a multi-disciplinary perspective with a focus on application:
  • Physics and chemistry – I have made and used biodiesel and I am highly interested in various synthetics diesels including the latest eDiesel developed by Audi.  This is the intersection of physics (using the fuel to perform work) and chemistry (transesterification – the process of converting triglycerides into single hydrocarbon chains).
  • Electromagnetism – we need tons of electricity to live our modern lives.  How do we create it?  How will we create it?  How do we use it?  Whether it is powering our computers, dish washers, HVACR, lighting, etc. we have a great demand for electricity and constraints on its production.  What is our path?
  • Quantum computing – computing trends continue to produce faster and more capable hardware to perform the tasks we demand.  At some point,  we will reach some of the limitations that physics imposes on our universe.  Quantum computing may be the answer.  Of particular interest to me lately is quantum entanglement and what potential it may have on [interplanetary] networking [and beyond].  I read Einstein and I am welcome to recommendations.
• Art – I have been a pencil and pen drawer for all of my life.  I love comics, I love renaissance, I love classical, I love early abstract.  I love music and its synthesis of emotion and technique.  I love literature and its expression of the human element, creativity, idealism, and their failings.
  • da Vinci, Michelangelo, Munch, Matisse, Picasso, van Gogh
  • Bach, Mozart, Linkin Park, Peter Fox, whatever…
  • Rand, Tolkien, Dan Brown, Michael Crichton, Orwell, Bradbury, Alighieri, Mann, Kleist, Hoffmann, Kafka
• Life – and of course the daily life and the reason for pretty much everything else.  The impetus for hard work, excellence, ambition, and audacity.  The web in which we find ourselves.

And I am credentialed:

• BS in Information Systems
• MS in Cybersecurity Policy
• Certified Information Systems Security Professional
• Microsoft Certified Systems Expert (and previous iterations… MCITP, Microsoft Certified Systems Engineer, yada)
• Cisco Certified Security Professional, emeritus

This space will have musings, insights, struggles, goals, and accountability.  It’s mine.