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I am such a geek that my friends have
diagnosed me as being co-dependent with my computer.
I have a Ph.D. in Experimental High
Energy Physics (atom smashing) but no longer do any physics, instead for
the last 10 years I've been doing System Architecture and Software
Development in Financial Services. Focusing on trading and back
office integration. All of this involves a lot of data pushing,
messaging and system integration. Oddly enough, the exact things I
was doing for the previous 10 years in physics...
I am the president of
Software Guru, Inc. which does
full service IT/Computer Consulting. We do everything from telling small
and medium sized businesses what computers they need to buy, helping
them set them up to help desk/troubleshooting. We also install and
manage Enterprise level redundant web-database systems using tools like
IIS, Cold Fusion, SQL Server, Oracle, Argent Guardian, Exchange and
Share Point, Veritas, Tivoli, CA. Hardware includes Checkpoint, BigIP,
Watchguard, Cisco and Dell (lotsa Dell) Finally, our strongest point is
data aggregation. We bring together a wide variety of data and
turn it into a single useable data set. This service led to my
second company, SHG Services.
SHG Services is an LLC started by
myself and Verne Scazzero, the president of
Harvest Investments.
Harvest has a team of portfolio auditing and management specialists that
are second to none. Together Software Guru and Harvest form
SHG Services, one of the very
few companies to specialize exclusively in both Financial Services IT
and Operations. Financial Services companies literally outsource
their back office to SHG, which uses cutting edge technology to scale
manual Operations processes beyond what most companies can do on their
own.
Other Geeky things about me: My
favorite programming language is Delphi, which is Object Oriented
Pascal. However, I also program in VB, C++, C# and Java. I
used to be a great FORTRAN programmer...not a lot of call for that
in what I do today.
While I mainly work with Windows based
boxes, I also have both an iMac and a Linux box. OS X proves that
it's possible to have a cool/stable/smooth GUI on a UNIX like platform.
*NIX GUI's don't have to be klunky nightmares. I blame X Windows on
UNIX. Don't get me wrong...I love the power of X, it's unrivaled in the
Windows universe, but it is so outdated that it's sad. And, OS X
does X Windows too. While KDE and GNOME have made huge strides lately,
they are still behind Steve Jobs. The funny thing is,
I was doing SunOS when the first Mac's showed up with their freaky 1-bit
displays and single button mice and I laughed my head off to compare its
GUI with what Sun had. Closing in on 20 years later, the shoe's on
the other foot now.
Of course...I'm still not happy with
certain aspects of the OS X file and folder management tools "Finder" if
you will. And while you can get third party products like
Pathfinder, they still subscribe to the same core ideas. At least
with Linux you can find something to do file management however you
want, and the same is true for Windows. So, yes, lob your
rotten eggs but I'd love to have something that worked closer to Windows
(not IE) Explorer on my Mac.
In the UNIXverse I prefer SUSE Linux as
distros go, however I've used a ton of distros going back to when the
Linux kernel was at version 0.99xxxxxxxxxxxxxx. I've also spent a
lot of time on AIX, IRIX, and Solaris. However, as larger environment
OS's go, I actually used to prefer VMS to UNIX (gasp). I've done a
lot of VMS admin and programming and while it's a bit odd by current
standards, it's got to be one of the most secure and stable OS's ever
built.
Hobbies...oddly enough...I do have
hobbies but they require a computer. Naturally. My biggest
passion is 3D Art. I use programs like (and including) Poser 5,
Carrera 4 Pro, Amapi Designer, Vue d'Esprit 5, Bryce, Blender, Cinema 4D
and a few others to do 3D drawings, scenes and animations. My next
hobby is writing fiction. I have a 600+ page novel that I've been
working on forever, and it's got at least another 400 pages to go.
I also write short stories and have several posted on the net under
various pseudonyms. Since I write, I also read, but not like
I used to. When I was a kid, (Junior & Senior High) I read a book
a day (often during class). That slowed down with time. Part
of it was time in the day and part was that I'd seen every plot under
the sun, so had gotten pretty picky about quality. Both writing
style and plot/concept/execution.
I do play computer games, although not
as avidly as one might expect. I have done a number of MMORPG's
including AC, AC2 and AO. Right now my favorite (and it's lasting
longer) is City of Heroes, visit
City of TheJerries to
learn more. The game I've probably wasted more time at than any
other is probably SimCity and it's descendents. I'm a control freak and
I never get tired of being mayor-god.
Believe it or not, I do do non-Geek
things. I live in Chicago, near Wrigley field. I love the
fact that I can walk, cab or train to a ton of bars and restaurants and
never have to worry about drinking and driving. I just don't get
how people in the 'burbs do it. Those extremities have gotta be
full of drunk drivers. This is why I can't live in the 'burbs even
though I could have a house 4x as big. I am a dedicated mixologist.
I've even had a couple drinks published in a Martini book. My
favorite current drinks are: Chopin Dirty Martini (Blavod is good
too and it really makes it look dirty), Citron Black Martini (although a
Vanilla one is also good), my own Fruitini (too long to list), I used to
do a huge variety of "chocolate martini's" but have slowed down, and of
course, I love a "true" Manhattan.
True Manhattan? How many of you
realize that Manhattan's were originally made with Rye? (and no I am not
talking Canadian Rye...the Canadian's will call about any whisky rye). I
am talking good old Kentucky Rye. Today most Manhattan's are done
using Bourbon (Maker's Mark being the typical acceptable well Bourbon).
However, if you've never had a Rye Manhattan, you've never had a
Manhattan. I really like Sezerac, Michter's 15 Year Old and Van
Winkle Family Reserve Rye. However, for those of you that don't
want to spring for $40 to $60 fifth's of Rye, Wild Turkey and JB also
make Ryes. A good Rye is about as smooth as a Cognac, but still
got that whiskey edge.
I also love to eat out. My
favorite style of food is American Bistro or Neuvou American.
Basically French Bistro with an American flair. A good bistro
should be required by law to have Onion Gratinee (FOS with Gruyere
cheese preferably), Croque Monsieur (grilled ham and cheese...again
Gruyere...add some Cheddar or Emmental also for more fun), Chocolate
Mousse (best part about CERN on the French/Swiss boarder was a salad bar
with a giant vat of Chocolate Mouse and you could heap as much as you
wanted in your bowl; Mousse by the kilo--yeah!!!!), Pomme Frites (thin,
shoestring like, crisp outside, moist inside) with Aioli, a Remoulade or
some form of good Mayonnaise. Actually, nothing makes me angrier
than going to a "French" restaurant/bistro/cafe with Pomme Frites and
when you ask for some form of mayonnaise, they tell you don't have
any????? Come on, no chef should be allowed out of school without
learning how to make mayonnaise/aioli. Shame, Shame Shame!!!
This is only slightly better than the
time I went to a pub/restaurant/bar and the "bartender" didn't know how
to make a Manhattan...OK, bad enough if they can't make a Black
Martini...but a bar staple? What the heck are they teaching in
bartending school, how to sling crappy bottles of beer? Come on,
what's the point of drinking beer that tastes like recycled water?
Getting drunk is a process, not an end. Drink Hacker Pschorr, Blue
Moon, Guiness or Murphey's anything that can be detected on the taste
buds.
That all being said, I also love Pizza,
and while I love a good Chicago deep dish (Lou Malnati's) my favorite is
good old fashioned New York with pepperoni. John's Brick Oven (two
locations in Manhattan) is great with essence of garlic. In a
pinch, Famous Ray's will do. Understand also that it's the freaky
water in NYC that makes bagels and pizza crust so good. Nearly
impossible to replicate elsewhere.
Then of course, a big giant steak can't
be beat. However, I am so picky when it comes to steak that I quickly
loose patience with many of the "chains." If I have to, I'd say
Sullivan's (not always perfect, but...), Ruth Chris has had too many
inconsistencies, Morton's is overpriced for their quality.
Gibson's I was less than impressed with. Smith and Wollensky is
decent but not great. Joe's Seafood, Prime Steak and Stone Crab is
also very good. Didn't like Capital Grill's dry aged beef. I just
can't get in to the Gene & Georgetti's family of restaurant's. My
favorite steak house overall is probably Flemming's in Scottsdale
(started by Paul Flemming, the PF in PF Chang) however, Maestro's in
Scottsdale is close.
BTW if you like to eat, you can't beat
Scottsdale/Phoenix for density of good restaurants without the hassle.
Far easier than Chicago, LA or NYC to find a good place to eat.
It's really amazing, it's like they took all the good stuff from the 3
big US cities and plunked it all there. (Not just chains, but more
abstractly style, cuisine etc) I am thinking it must have something to
do with all the 100 year old millionaires in the area, who have nothing
to do but play golf, eat and drink all day.
So I eat and drink and stare at a
computer. Well, I also go see a lot of movies, both main stream,
art house and foreign. I also like to go to concerts, and plays.
Haven't been to so many lately, but got a couple coming up.
Favorites have been Cher (seen a couple different tours including the
never ending farewell), Erasure (n a very small venue...soon in a bigger
one), Yo La Tengo, Magnetic Fields. Comedy concerts by Margaret
Cho and Kathy Griffin and Ellen have all been excellent and I've seen
them all more than once. As far as plays, I prefer small theater,
both smaller equity and non-equity to the monstrous Broadway style
extravaganza's, although the Lion King was fun. But god knows,
while I might enjoy something ultra professional like the Blue Meanies
Group, the fact that those Blue Freaks have been camped out 2 blocks
from my house for the last 4 or 5 years and keep busing people in from
the 'burbs and causing traffic jams makes me "just say no."
Well, I think that's enough for now...
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