About Me
This is a personal website, more or less, and so it seems only fitting
that I add a bit of personal information in the form of a mini-bio.
I currently split my time between Grand Haven, MI, (where I live during the summer months), and Sault Ste Marie, MI, where I attend Lake Superior State University. I’m current embroiled in the Home Run Stretch of a five-year double major in Computer and Mathematical Science and Computer Engineering. When I’m at home, I work for the City, crafting ride tracking systems for Harbor Transit (the last two summers), and riding lawn mowers in the Cemetery (Summer ‘05).
I graduated with High Honors from Grand Haven High School in 2003. Howsomeever, I attended Albion Public Schools, in Albion, MI, for the first 10 years of my education (Kindergarten through 9th grade). I was a member of the National Honor Society at GHHS, and took part in Odyssey of the Mind (later, Destination Imagination) in Albion.
At Lake State, I’m a member of the Honors Program (don’t ask me why the website is ridiculously out of date. I don’t know.) and the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. I am also the Editor-in-Chief for the school newspaper (The Compass), and am a founding member of the Lakernet Initiative, which operates and maintains the Lakerpedia, and all of its associated services (like the Unreal Tournament 2004 server running on ‘Pedia).
As you may be able to tell, I am rather a geek (though in times past I may eventually have attained true Hacker status, in the original sense of the word). Among my geeky tendencies are a proclivity for programming, a penchant for computer games, and a love of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels.
My first, and favorite, language is Visual Basic 6, (no, not .NET. *shudder*), though I am equally strong in C++, and am currently rebuilding one of my largest VB projects (the Virtual Fountain) in that notable. I am also strong in Perl (I’m using it for my system for Harbor Transit), have developed fairly sophisticated software in Java (including a Boids system, and a solver for GIDEN [I’ve taken a few of Dr. Coullard’s classes]), can develop applications in Delphi (but only under duress), and speak the simulated-RISC-architecture assembly language UNAS, developed by Dr. Evan Schemm of Lake State, as well as the CISC assembly language employed by the Motorola/Freescale HC(S)12 microcontroller. After a number of projects requiring database usage, I have developed a good deal of skill in SQL, both in MS Access and MySQL databases, which I am minimally capable of administering. Recently, I’ve also started working in AJAX, though nothing terribly sophisticated as yet.
I spend most of my (gaming) time playing strategy games, including Civilization III and IV, Homeworld, Warcraft III, and Battle for Middle Earth. I also play games such as Black and White and Arcanum, and enjoy the Half-Life series, as well as the aforementioned UT2004. I’m also a fan of the Tomb Raider games, though I’ll be the first to tell you that I loathe jumping puzzles. I frequently play any and all of these in multiplayer environments, though I don’t generally play on public servers, preferring LAN games with my friends. My standard handles are pjbonamy or Tans_Unlimited, so if you see one of those online, it’s probably me.
I’ll read just about anything that’s put in front of me, so long as it’s decently well written. My favorite authors are, in no particular order, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Stephen Baxter, Raymond E, Feist, Steve Hamilton, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, Robert Asprin, Douglas Adams (do you know where your towel is?), and many others. Of particular interest (for me) are the new Clarke/Baxter collaborations, Feist’s Midkemia books, Hamilton’s Alex McKnight mysteries (set in Paradise, MI, just outside the Soo), and Card’s Homecoming and Ender series. I also read a goodly amount of non-fiction, including books on Information Theory, spontaneous synchronization, and others. I am also proud to say that I have read (and even understood, mostly) Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and made a valiant effort at Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science (I’ve read the first 1000 pages or so.) If I’m not actively coding or gaming, it’s a good bet I’m curled up with a book somewhere.
I enjoy most music, though I don’t care for Hard Country (Bible beating, or my truck/girl/dog/guy left me), Heavy Metal, or rap. My 16.3-day MP3 library (maintained in a copy of iTunes) contains all kinds of things, including more or less complete discographies of Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, Billy Joel, and Train. I’m also a pretty serious podcast listener, and enjoy such notables as Science Friday, The World: Tech podcast, and many of the TWiT Network ‘casts.
In other hobbies, I help with maintenance and show creation/choreography for the Grand Haven Musical Fountain, which inspired the Virtual Fountain project. I also play Chess and Cribbage, though I haven’t had much opportunity to play of late. Recently, I took up the piano, and am passably good at it, though I need more practice. (In a bit of random trivia, my ‘mini-recital’ piece for my piano class was a simplified version of the Beatles’ Good Night.)
That’s about all I have to say about me for the moment. There are other things that could be said, I’m sure, but this seems a good start, and certainly better than the ::Placeholder:: that was here until recently.
Thanks for your interest, and please enjoy your stay here at Enterprising Gerr.
I currently split my time between Grand Haven, MI, (where I live during the summer months), and Sault Ste Marie, MI, where I attend Lake Superior State University. I’m current embroiled in the Home Run Stretch of a five-year double major in Computer and Mathematical Science and Computer Engineering. When I’m at home, I work for the City, crafting ride tracking systems for Harbor Transit (the last two summers), and riding lawn mowers in the Cemetery (Summer ‘05).
I graduated with High Honors from Grand Haven High School in 2003. Howsomeever, I attended Albion Public Schools, in Albion, MI, for the first 10 years of my education (Kindergarten through 9th grade). I was a member of the National Honor Society at GHHS, and took part in Odyssey of the Mind (later, Destination Imagination) in Albion.
At Lake State, I’m a member of the Honors Program (don’t ask me why the website is ridiculously out of date. I don’t know.) and the Alpha Chi National College Honor Society. I am also the Editor-in-Chief for the school newspaper (The Compass), and am a founding member of the Lakernet Initiative, which operates and maintains the Lakerpedia, and all of its associated services (like the Unreal Tournament 2004 server running on ‘Pedia).
As you may be able to tell, I am rather a geek (though in times past I may eventually have attained true Hacker status, in the original sense of the word). Among my geeky tendencies are a proclivity for programming, a penchant for computer games, and a love of science fiction, fantasy, and mystery novels.
My first, and favorite, language is Visual Basic 6, (no, not .NET. *shudder*), though I am equally strong in C++, and am currently rebuilding one of my largest VB projects (the Virtual Fountain) in that notable. I am also strong in Perl (I’m using it for my system for Harbor Transit), have developed fairly sophisticated software in Java (including a Boids system, and a solver for GIDEN [I’ve taken a few of Dr. Coullard’s classes]), can develop applications in Delphi (but only under duress), and speak the simulated-RISC-architecture assembly language UNAS, developed by Dr. Evan Schemm of Lake State, as well as the CISC assembly language employed by the Motorola/Freescale HC(S)12 microcontroller. After a number of projects requiring database usage, I have developed a good deal of skill in SQL, both in MS Access and MySQL databases, which I am minimally capable of administering. Recently, I’ve also started working in AJAX, though nothing terribly sophisticated as yet.
I spend most of my (gaming) time playing strategy games, including Civilization III and IV, Homeworld, Warcraft III, and Battle for Middle Earth. I also play games such as Black and White and Arcanum, and enjoy the Half-Life series, as well as the aforementioned UT2004. I’m also a fan of the Tomb Raider games, though I’ll be the first to tell you that I loathe jumping puzzles. I frequently play any and all of these in multiplayer environments, though I don’t generally play on public servers, preferring LAN games with my friends. My standard handles are pjbonamy or Tans_Unlimited, so if you see one of those online, it’s probably me.
I’ll read just about anything that’s put in front of me, so long as it’s decently well written. My favorite authors are, in no particular order, Arthur C. Clarke, Isaac Asimov, Ray Bradbury, Stephen Baxter, Raymond E, Feist, Steve Hamilton, Orson Scott Card, Frank Herbert, Robert Asprin, Douglas Adams (do you know where your towel is?), and many others. Of particular interest (for me) are the new Clarke/Baxter collaborations, Feist’s Midkemia books, Hamilton’s Alex McKnight mysteries (set in Paradise, MI, just outside the Soo), and Card’s Homecoming and Ender series. I also read a goodly amount of non-fiction, including books on Information Theory, spontaneous synchronization, and others. I am also proud to say that I have read (and even understood, mostly) Stephen Hawking’s A Brief History of Time, and made a valiant effort at Stephen Wolfram’s A New Kind of Science (I’ve read the first 1000 pages or so.) If I’m not actively coding or gaming, it’s a good bet I’m curled up with a book somewhere.
I enjoy most music, though I don’t care for Hard Country (Bible beating, or my truck/girl/dog/guy left me), Heavy Metal, or rap. My 16.3-day MP3 library (maintained in a copy of iTunes) contains all kinds of things, including more or less complete discographies of Paul Simon, Simon and Garfunkel, the Beatles, Billy Joel, and Train. I’m also a pretty serious podcast listener, and enjoy such notables as Science Friday, The World: Tech podcast, and many of the TWiT Network ‘casts.
In other hobbies, I help with maintenance and show creation/choreography for the Grand Haven Musical Fountain, which inspired the Virtual Fountain project. I also play Chess and Cribbage, though I haven’t had much opportunity to play of late. Recently, I took up the piano, and am passably good at it, though I need more practice. (In a bit of random trivia, my ‘mini-recital’ piece for my piano class was a simplified version of the Beatles’ Good Night.)
That’s about all I have to say about me for the moment. There are other things that could be said, I’m sure, but this seems a good start, and certainly better than the ::Placeholder:: that was here until recently.
Thanks for your interest, and please enjoy your stay here at Enterprising Gerr.
