Yet another techie blog. Why should I care?

I’m a nerd, geek, techie, developer, designer, engineer, mac user. That probably describes the majority of tech bloggers. I work in the research department at Accenture Technology Labs in Chicago. So why do I think you should read my blog? I believe my unique life experience gives me an interesting perspective if anything, and it’d be a shame not to share it. I spent my childhood as a diplomatic brat moving from country to country with my parents. I’ve worked at a failed startup, an insurance company, and presently at a big 4 consulting company. I occasionally do freelance web & graphic design and dabble in photography. I’m also an accomplished martial artist. I teach classes, won medals in international competition and have served as head judge at various competitions.

Technology

In a past life, I was a certified Java Developer, a Microsoft Certified Solution Developer, a Microsoft Certified Database Administrator and a certified BroadVision Developer. I did everything from Vizio wireframes, to writing front end code, developing COM objects, writing insane SQL queries, and designing websites in PhotoShop. A bonafide one man web shop you could say. Nowadays I focus more on Rich Internet Applications (RIAs) with an emphasis on Flex. I find it to be a quick and easy tool to rapidly develop my next-gen interactive and immersive prototypes for my work.

I’m a tech nut. I love to tinker. I’m obsessed with technology and make it my business to know what’s hot and what’s not in the tech world. People worry about information overload, but I can’t seem to get enough information. I follow about 200 RSS feeds. I’m a big advocate of all the wonderful Google tools like Notebook, Docs, and Reader. I love Flash/Flex as in interaction tool. I use Vista at work, but at home it’s all Mac.

Martial Arts

My passion for chinese martial arts began early on from watching chinese kung fu serials in Thailand. I’ve always thought it was really cool to be able to wield weapons and fight like Jet Li or Jackie Chan. While kids in the US grew up on comic book heroes, my heroes were the kungfu masters of wuxia novels and tv shows. However life did not show me the path to chinese martial arts (wushu) till late in life when I met Master Daniel Pesina (of Mortal Kombat fame) in 1998. He opened me to a new world of skill, discipline, artistry and mastery that would come to consume and permeate all of my life. Wushu quickly became my obsession and in a few years I would settle into a routine where I trained 4-6 days a week, 3+ hours a day. When I wasn’t training, I would watch videos of Chinese professional wushu athletes, analyzing every technique in great detail. I probably “studied” wushu as much as I trained back in those days. I’ve won medals in international tournaments. My martial arts experience has led to motion capture roles in the Mortal Kombat video games. I’ve been featured on a TV show about video games for those roles. I’ve also participated in Theatricks, a one of a kind live martial arts theater show. Nowadays though I mostly train to maintain and I teach the new generation.