Personal Victories
There is more to me than just working and coding. I have a family- a beautiful wife with 6 wonderful children. These define me even more than my work. Here, too, I have victories to tout.
There is more to me than just working and coding. I have a family- a beautiful wife with 6 wonderful children. These define me even more than my work. Here, too, I have victories to tout.
I'm lucky enough to be married to the most beautiful and wonderful woman on the planet - Elise Metge. Together, we've had 6 amazing children. Guess what? When they sleep, they can even seem peaceful.
In the image set to the left (in order of age):
The biggest win in my life (of all things) is being a part of this amazing family. I hope I live long enough to see each of my children outshine me. I know it will happen someday.
If you want to see a few more pictures, check out the following:
I routinely compete in long-course triathlons, including the full Ironmand distance (detailed below). It keeps me physically active and mentally sharp. Triathlons have always been a family affair and my 3 oldest children are now training for their own races.
Long-course (Ironman) triathlon event distances:
My wife and I have been climbing most of our lives, thanks to inspiring family members. We spend as much time as we can hitting the rocks outdoors and, when weather refuses to cooperate, we're happy to bring it indoors.
We live pretty close to Yosemite (it's about a 2 hour drive) and my most adventurous climbing took me up Washington Column with my brother-in-law, Ben.
I've done a fair bit of training in extremely harsh conditions. I've locked in the gear requirements for running or biking in sub-zero temperatures, dealt with frost byte and hypothermia, and even passed out on a bicycle from heat exhaustion. It's been a good ride!
I'm particularly proud of an experiment conducted several years ago, in the dead of a December night in Utah. The temperature was just a hair over zero (Fahrenheit). I had just left a theater and was waiting for a ride home. I had the (disturbingly irrational) question: Could I survive the freezing cold, in nothing but a t-shirt and jeans, by simply running?
I know you're curious too so here's the answer: Yes. At least for a while. And only if it's not too windy outside (or you choose to run with the wind). I ran nearly 5 miles home and never suffered more than uncomfortably cold ears and hands. Amazing!
I love being in the outdoors. There are few things I enjoy more than hiking, climbing, biking, running, and, in general, getting a little fresh air.
My family, both immediate and extended, all enjoy the outdoors and we find ourselves doing something adventurous as often as time and finances permit. In 2011, my father-in-law, Randy Smith, led a group of his son and sons-in-law up to the summit of Mt. Rainier. Some pictures of our climb are on the right.
Of course, every summer I've personally kept a tradition introduced to me by Vance Checketts: a sprint summit of Mt. Timpanogos!
I've always loved to climb. I've been willing to climb just about anything I can get a finger or toe into but, most of all, I love to climb rock. One of the benefits to living in Utah is the beautiful rock in the mountains that surround us.
Camping and other outdoor-hosted activities are the norm for myself and my family. We love to camp, hike, and just get some fresh air together. As you can see from our most recent pictures, we hike whenever we can get a chance - even if this involves waking up at 6am on a Saturday!
Before Amazon was "The Thing" and clouds become impersonal, I had already started to build my own basement data center. Experience at Mozy and a lot of personal experimentation has kept my home services robust and operational. Today, we benefit from the following, hosted entirely out of our little basement data center:
Yes, I am an engineer. I've worked in software for the past decade (as you can see from the other "wins"). I have a deep love of building things. I am also easily frustrated by needless repetition. As such, I find myself developing tiny software solutions every single day.
There are several formal projects of which I've been a part (small and large):
With winter in full swing, it's tough to get out on the bike. Fortunately, there Zwift to make training indoors so much better. I didn't feel like burning $1000+ on a trainer built for Zwift, especially when I had already been gifted a smart trainer platform called the Trixter Xdream.
Unfortunately, the Xdream pre-dated Zwift and the company that built it is no longer around. I've reverse-engineered the USB protocol the bike uses for control and communication and put together a linux-based service to broadcast this data via Bluetooth. This makes the Xdream a Zwift-compatible dream traininer - all for the cost of a tiny, little C.H.I.P. ($9).
You can check out some of the code, documentation, and more on Github.