So, in your wanderings and redirects across cyberspace you found me: your (almost) average Georgia Tech senior with a fierce aptitude for hobbies in quantity. Graphic/print/web design, coding in the masses, photography, violin performance, writing fiction works, dance, and even an occasional cheesy dish with garnish — I have a healthy appreciation for it all.

Why are you going to actually finish reading through this sub-standard about page? Because you are thoroughly interested in how I contrast my duplicity of occupations with a singularity of beliefs. Or at least I presumed so.

What’s most important to you?

I’m a Christian — that means I am in a life-changing relationship with Christ and follow His teachings as defined solely in the Scriptures. What’s the big deal about a Jewish carpenter who shook up Jerusalem two millennia ago? Actually, why wouldn’t it be a big deal? It’s not everyday God’s Son comes to earth, lives, dies, and rises back to life for my sake. So scold me if I don’t make a big enough deal about it — our world is chaos without the foundation He gave us.

So I recommend you also get acquainted with Him; He knows how to fix broken things, and people are His specialty. It doesn’t mean you won’t make colossal failures (see Appendix A: colossal failures) — but hang in there till eternity, and then you can drop “face palm” from your vocabulary. That’s just a nice side effect of knowing Him; maybe you’d like to get better acquainted?

And the fruit of that relationship?

God is creative — big time (He created us, so He’s a master at it), so in getting to know His Son, I get a healthy dose of creativity here and there. Cue header.

What are you good at?

Didn’t you read the first paragraph? Oh well, now you’re in for the non-condensed version. For your sanity, I’ll give you some sub-headers by which you can breeze through the relevant credentials.

Coding

So first off, I love Unix based computers — Mac, Linux, Ubuntu, they rock. Throw in a love of robotics and a soft spot for devices, and you get a multitude of programming languages with next to nil circuitry experience. I code in:

• Ruby (the language of the future)
• C (yep, just plain ol’ ‘99 C)
• Objective-C (after yielding to C, why not supersets?)
• Java (disclaimer: I hate Java. But I’m really good with it thanks to GT courses and Android development)
• Bash (I love my terminal, and an occasional Bash utility is an exciting thing)
• JavaScript
• CoffeeScript (which rocks)
• All your other standard web dev languages: HTML5, CSS 3/SASS
• LabVIEW (we have to start somewhere, right?)
• MatLab (only when forced)
• Just enough PHP to modify a database query string (which doesn’t interest me in the least)

Oh by the way, yes I do all of my coding in my souped up, custom-compiled Vim (well, now I use MacVim actually). It’s awesome, and I recommend you type $ vimtutor to get started yourself.

Photography

Yes I have a life outside coding. After all, you are at my photography and faith blog, so you might deduce that I fancy myself a photographer.

I started about a year ago with my first DSLR (a Canon T2i) and the cheapy 50mm — it’s been an exciting journey since then! I’ve gotten to do a few paid shoots recently, tons of portraiture and a little bit of mediocre macro photography. I’ve upgraded my equipment with some bags, filters, and the ever-so-awesome 70-200mm f/4 L USM. I’m still on the T2i for budgetary reasons (I’m a college student, give me time), but after I am able to add the 24-70mm f/2.8 to my arsenal, you can be sure the just-discontinued (and hence cheaper!) Canon 5D Mk II will be on my wish-list.

So I know you’re dying to schedule a shoot with me, especially if you’re here in the Atlanta, GA region and love good, wild portraits. Really, you do. Get in touch and we’ll talk photos.

Graphics

I spend a lot of my time in Photoshop doing web mockups, print material designs, and random wallpapers that mock my favorite color (orange). When time becomes an available asset, I’ll give dribbble a shot and see how I fare in that awesome community. You can see a very limited subset of some of my stuff at Forrst if you are really curious.

Violin

Yeah, a CS major really needs some music in his life — usually they pick trumpet. But I was a musician before I started coding, so I picked a real instrument. I’ve been classically trained for 7 years (that’s means I didn’t pick up the Dummies guide to learning violin and just hope I would learn it right) and have been performing for 8. I got my minor in violin performance at Kennesaw State University (they have an incredible music program by the way) and studied under Helen Kim. Prior to my undergraduate studies, I studied with the ASO’s principal second-violinist David Arenz.

Nowadays I do a lot of performance: I have a handful of gigs throughout the year, like weddings, business lunch engagements, pre-concert entertainment, etc. Some other performance friends and I have started a string quartet called 4thee that you really ought to consider hiring for your wedding — we play awesome stuff. Then again, if you want Aaron Copland’s Rodeo to be played solo for the recessional, you should talk to me several months in advance so I can set you straight.

Writing

You’re reading this page, aren’t you? No, this is not how I usually write — my dissertational articles require a much broader vocabulary and the exclusion of “so.” I love writing creative fiction (which you will probably never see in a book) with dripping sarcasm and succulent adjectives (I am writing this on an empty stomach). So go have a read at whatever articles suit your fancy — or if none of them do, just click whatever is on the front page and force yourself to read it. A dictionary is a great asset to have nearby.

What interests you?

You mean other than what I’m good at? Umm, well, hmmm…waltzing?

Places to go, people to see

• manuscriptmastr.com — you guessed it, we’re related! Joshua is my twin brother (no, we are actually completely different); he plays a mean round of Grieg and Rachmaninoff, so if you are interested in music or piano you should check him out.
• thoughtsofjoy17.blogspot.com — personal blog of LaJoie Ward, an incredibly gifted writer and good friend of mine.
• jameslex.com — another blog, run by (who else?) James Lex, a long-time friend and tech cohort; amazing memorization capacity too.
• forrst.com — an awesome designer/developer community forum of sorts; “litter free” and Rails powered!
• premiumpixels.com — one of my favorite websites for inspirational freebies! Orman Clark served as a great source of ideas to me when I was developing this website.
• weather.com — let’s face it, if you really got this far down the list, we need to talk about the weather; I detest the iPhone app and their website needs an optimization team, but other than that it’s useful during tornado watches…

Describe your personality.

You really don’t want me to describe myself; but because you begged and pleaded so: I prefer to be the literary king of verbal irony, not the sarcastic jerk you take summer classes with (no, I have no one specific in mind). I love people (usually) and socializing (in person, not Facebook), am a bit of a perfectionist (did you notice any typos or comma splices?), and am passionate about the interests God has given me — especially when I’m sitting in MATH 3215.

I want random stuff. Really random.

• I like white
• More screen is better. I’ll find a way to use it all.
• I’m not bad with a ripstik
• Three point one four one five nine two six five three five eight nine seven nine (to 50 digits)
• You’ll find The Lord of the Rings trilogy by my bedside.
• I harbor severe dislike for sharp pointy needles in my arm.
• I still have my old K’NEX (they’re great for desk accessories actually)

Now about those colossal failures…

Maybe another day. I’ve had enough embarrassment from just admitting that.