Who are you?

[electron]

I want to know you guys/gals a little better, and hoping others are curious as well.
 
I'm just wondering how diverse our community is, and wanted to know what you do for a living, and what you do for fun (besides home automation).  You can be as vague as you want if you are worried about people figuring out who you are
 
Personally, I'm in IT (big surprise, right?), dealing with everything involving workstations, servers, networks, etc.
 
I love woodworking, but haven't had much time for it lately (hoping to change that this year), and like to tinker with anything electronic such as Arduinos, Car PCs (nothing recent tho), and enjoying gardening/taking care of my yard.  There is a bunch of other stuff I would like to do (flying, building drones/bots, building an electric car(t) for kids), but there isn't enough time/money in a day to do all of this
 
So, tell us more about yourself!

 

[Kevin L]

Hey, Dan.
 
Doesn't bother me if people figure out who I am.
 
I'm in my late fifties, and hoping to retire in the next couple of years. I've been an insurance agent for the last 36 years, 30 of it on Long Island, and the last 6 in Florida. I'm married to a retired school teacher and we have one son who is a pediatric anesthesiologist in NJ.
 
We love most things to do with water. I've been a boater since I bought my first boat at 12 years old. I have my Captain's License (technically called a Masters License by the Coast Guard) but don't use the license professionally. I've been scuba diving since I've been 16, and have just under 700 dives. We lived on the water on Long Island, and designed and built our current home on the water in FL. Besides water activities, I like to golf, play racquetball (almost 40 years), like photography, and enjoy working with computers and automation. I did start flying when I was young, but didn't continue, though I would like to start again.
 
Like you, Dan, there's too much work and not enough free time. Hence my desire to retire soon.
 
Kevin

 

[dgage]

I'm reminded of this commercial when I try to explain who I am...maybe because I'm still getting to know myself.  My body is 40 years of age and my mind fluctuates between 6 and 60.   I have a wife and my boy and girl twins are almost 10.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WXJ6nL3gomM

I'm a technical consultant in IT and have done project management, computer simulation, development, and many other tasks in the past.  I currently do a little of this and a little of that related to technology, politics, and management.  I'm managing a consulting team that does IT and development work and I still jump in the technical deep end periodically although I primarily try to make sure the team knows what they should be working on, are doing it well, and are shielded to ensure they continue doing it well.  And then I'm a cheer leader for all the great things my team does.

Personally I'm really good at starting projects, not so good at finishing projects although I'm working on it...and my wife is helping me work on my problem.  I like to learn so I will get into something, learn a ton about it, and then get bored.  I like wood working and DIY projects around the house and am currently remodeling our kitchen.  I did have an electrician friend come in to help but other than that, my wife and I have tackled everything including building the cabinets, plumbing, and soon to be concrete countertops.  I have always been into computers (since I was 10) and am a general technology and gadget geek.  I like being outside hiking, mountain biking, or working in the yard.  I used to play sports like racquetball and basketball but just don't have time and opportunity now.  Scratch that, I'd make the time if I could find a place to play basketball that would fit into my schedule.  I'm sure I'm leaving a ton out since I'm an incredibly dynamic, yet humble individual.
 
I joined Cocoontech because I needed a better security system than the builder put in.  Then I "needed" to upgrade the lighting system in the kitchen we are remodeling.  And then I will need to have automated control of the irrigation system I put in two years ago.  And then I will need to put in a whole home water shutoff valve with flood sensors distributed throughout the house.  And then I will need to, well, I'm sure I'll figure it out.
 
David

 

[electron]

Very interesting backgrounds, this is why I started the thread, thanks

 

[ellesshoo]

32, over the last ten years have discovered a strong interest in electrical and mechanical engineering but no real formal education in either field. Biochemist for a pharma company in highly automated labs by profession. I get lots of exposure and hands on time with robotic arms and various other controllable systems which probably led me down this path. I'm always up for ambitious projects and learning something new. Sometimes it's to a fault, when I get interested in something I usually dive in deep, head first, and don't come up for air until it's pretty ridiculous in hindsight.

 

[dgage]

I forgot to add that I was an Army brat and grew up on bases across the US: Georgia, North Carolina, Texas, Oklahoma, California, and Alaska. I lived 3 years in Nome, AK attending 7-9th grades and then 3 years in Fairbanks, AK. Then I joined the Army Reserves and after a few months at basic training in Fort Lost in the Woods, MO I studied Russian for a year at the Defense Language Institute in Monterey, CA. Beautiful and expensive place. I tell people they drive Jags and Mercedes there like other places have Accords and Camrys. After my Army training, I went to the Univ. of Tenn. and studied Industrial Engineering.

 

[dgage]

Dan - so how deep are you into wood working? I have a table saw, bandsaw, jointer, planer, etc. but I have thought about reducing my footprint and getting rid of everything but the table saw since I use Festool hand power tools a lot. With Festool I could build nice furniture with portable power tools. At least the tools are capable of making nice furniture, it depends on how patient I am.

Kevin - I took flying lessons too in Fairbanks, AK but was too immature to realize how great an opportunity I had. Wish I would have earned my license but still enjoy the memories. I was practicing takeoffs and landings in a small Cessna 152 on the runway at Eielson AFB near Fairbanks, which means I could takeoff and land 10 times in one pass of the LOOOONG runway. I remember one time the instructor taking over real quick and I didn't understand until I looked up and saw a wall of white coming down the runway. The instructor got us down right before the blizzard hit and we couldn't see much of anything.

ellesshoo - Sounds like interesting work. I wish I knew more about electronics and robotics. And I hear you about getting deep in study when learning.

Cool thread Dan. Thanks.

 

[Kevin L]

David - My friend and I used to ride our bikes to the local small airport on Long Island (Zahn's in North Amityville) back when we were 12 years old or so. We used to climb on top of the hanger at the end of the runway and take pictures of the planes on takeoff or landing (depending on the wind direction). We had a darkroom in the basement and would develop and print the pictures. Then we'd take them back and swap the pictures with the owners for a ride in their planes. Or, we'd offer to wash and wax the planes for a ride. I took flying lessons in a 172 when I was 16, soloed, and had about 15 hours total. Went to ground school, and if I dug through enough boxes I could probably find my old Sanderson flight computer and manual. Unfortunately, I was 16 and after school work didn't produce enough income for all the things that really got going at 16: Car, boat, scuba, flying, and girls. I could only afford four of the five, so had to say goodbye to flying. My best friend currently has a Mooney 231, a really nice, fast, retractable that I occasionally get to take the controls of.
 
I took a land/cruise package to Alaska three years ago, and spent a day in Fairbanks. It's a really beautiful place, but I like the hot weather, so I'm very happy with Florida and the Gulf of Mexico.
 
ellesshoo - I always liked watching automated and robotic manufacturing. I could see how you would get the automation bug working with it every day.
 
Good idea for the thread, Dan!
 
Kevin

 

[drvnbysound]

I'm a 31 year old electrical engineer that works for the Naval Surface Warfare Center (a US Naval command). I've been employed there for almost 6 years. I'd love to share more about what I do there, because it's quite interesting and I know others would be interested due to the 'genre' of this board... but I'll respectfully choose not to do so for job security reasons That said, I've also been married for 5 years (next Friday), and we have our first child on the way.
 
I grew up playing baseball and played through high school... and continue to play softball now (hobby). Although my pricy hobbies started shortly after I started driving - when I got into car audio. Not too long thereafter I worked at a local car audio shop for a couple of years. Then, while in college, I started my own car audio business, which I still do on the side. Over the years the business has expanded... vinyl graphics, heat transfers, and window tinting - though I've gotten away from window tint. Over the years, I've also installed a number of surround sound systems, and a couple of commercial audio installations as well. All of this work has taken a back seat to my primary career, but I still do work pretty often. Because of the business, I also built my first website in 2004, and have updated it a few times since then... most recently - earlier this year. I've posted images of a number of my more prized installations in my showcase thread - it's been a few years since I've done anything as custom as what's pictured - I do have plans for my current vehicle, but currently pretty much last on the priority list.

I've used some of my speaker enclosure skills to get into a bit of woodworking, and have built a few of my own "cabinets" including our main entertainment stand that is in our living room. I'm actually in the process of getting a 12' x 24' workshop built in our backyard so I can move all of my tools out there (currently in the 2-car garage) and start doing more of it again. It's simply too painful to have to pull everything out of the garage each time I want to build something. My grandfather actually has a Mark 5 Shop Smith (http://www.shopsmith.com/) that he's given me... I just have to get the shop built so I can store/use it.

Around the 2009 time frame I also caught a bug for photography - more specifically stuff with off-camera flash. I currently have more gear than a number of people I know who do it professionally. I've done head shots for various staff and have been a second shooter at a wedding. Unfortunately, my engineering background doesn't lend itself all to well to the artistic side of photography... at least I haven't found a great balance yet. So I end up spending more time on the photography forum, working in Photoshop, or watching various podcasts and classes than behind the camera.

If I had to guess, it was probably around the 2006-2007 time frame that I started to get interested in home automation - naturally this was around the time that we were looking for a home and I was trying to figure out what I could do to it. First, reading about the systems people had over on AVSForum... which then led me here. Unfortunately, being newly married at the time, and with the purchase of a new home and all the things that go with it... let's just say I had some time on my hands to do some research, while our bank account tried to recover. I feel like I've made quite a bit of progress in the past year or so (Zwave dimmers and deadbolts, Elk, and SageTV currently running), but with a baby on the way I know there will be more sacrifice coming... As long as I can keep up the side work to feed the hobbies, I should be able to survive

 

[IVB]

mid 40s, was highly technical, started programming when I was 8. By 28 I grew weary of it and went to the biz side. Did management consulting for many years in the "Big 4", then went to the client side. Did all my HA stuff when I was frustrated at the lack of progress at my last company, so I'd be up from 9pm-1am every night doing it. 
 
Born in India, but moved to NYS when I was 4. My wife's opinion when she very first saw me was "frat boy. That could be the biggest a$$hole I've ever met. I could NEVER see myself with someone like that."  Then she changed her mind. Then she only changed half of it back. (I'm still an A$$, i'm just her kind of A$$)  2 kids.
 
As of 10 days ago I'm in between jobs. Got a decent severance package so I'm hoping to take 2-3 months off and actually install some of this stuff i've got laying around. Plus maybe order some new stuff
 
When I got utterly sick of spending my life wiring/re-wiring/doing HA stuff a few years back and dropped out of CT, CQC, SageTV, AVSForum.com forums, I rediscovered soccer. Was playing 5 games/week before I got laid off, now stepping it up. And working out 5 days/week. As you guys know, i'm more of an "extremes" guy, i don't do well in the middle of the road

 

[bpwwer]

I'm a software engineer/architect working on graphics drivers for a major corporation. Been writing software professionally for over 30 years.  I've also spent part of my career doing IT work in a large engineering organization.  In my spare time I've been creating HA drivers/plug-in's for the Universal Devices ISY.  I've also created a few other drivers for Elve. The HA work was my first time working with C# / .NET.
 
In my spare time I like to program, now days it's mostly doing HA type stuff that I play with.  I also do wood working and have built quite a bit of furniture for our house. Seems like there's been less time for that the past couple of years. I'm currently working on an Arts and Craft style hall table.  If that wasn't enough, I also enjoy working on cars. I have a 1971 Buick Skylark that I'm slowly restoring. I've recently ripped out the interior and have been cleaning/sealing/sound deadinging it.  In general, I like to tinker with stuff.  

 

[electron]

Extremely cool thread.  We are obviously dealing with extremely smart people in this community, your stories confirm this
 
dgage: I used to be in it big time, have a nice small shop, but got so distracted with work, home automation, and CocoonTech, I haven't had any time. That said, the wife is bugging me to make some furniture, and I would like to restart this hobby as well, as it is a nice stress reliever.

 

[iostream212]

I am 29 and was born and raised in CA. I have lived in CA for my entire life. Got married when I was 21 (on purpose, I wanted to make sure I could buy my own alcohol before I tied the knot). I have 2 children (9 mos, and 3 yrs). I have always been a electronics/computer geek with a strong desire to know how everything works. When I was 10 my mom threw out a VCR (google it) because it was busted. I dug it out, opened it up, and fixed it. Started playing around with programming at 12. Most games I wrote at that time were on my graphing calculator that I played while 'studying' at middle/high school. At 23 I purchased my home and from that time forward it was my automation playground. I try to automate whatever I can. By day I manage a pharmaceutical company. I have worked in related fields my entire professional life, though I am much more passionate about IT. I have been able to merge work and play to a certain extent by writing programs specific to our business needs. I have written programs from sophisticated inventory management/ordering/reporting, to networked desktop credit card processing applications, to automated shipment processing and tracking solutions. My current project is a reporting server with crystal. It automatically runs my daily reports, prints them, and emails copies to the owner, all before I step foot in the office in the morning. In the evening its family time until everyone goes to bed. Then I will usually trade sleep to work on projects, mostly programming. I love DIY stuff, and woodworking as well (do i sense a trend)? My favorite show is this old house hour. I hate Kevin (the host), he says the most idiotic things. Second favorite to that is New Yankee workshop. I have all the season ripped to my server. I love how Norm's look hasn't changed from season 1 to current.

 

[Dean Roddey]

I am, frightengly, going to be 50 mid-year. That just doesn't compute, but apparently it's true. Started out wanting to be Jimi Hendrix or Pink Floyd, starting playing guitar at 13, played in bar bands during high school and shortly thereafter, did a bit of amateur pharmacology, worked construction jobs and fast food jobs, studied classical guitar for a while. Ultimately discovered the computer and got bitten and became a software geek. Came out to Silicon Valley during the boom, just in time not to get rich. Went out on my own when the bubble popped, and now I'm waiting for the Ferrari and super-model girlfriend I obviously deserve.
 
I still play around a bit trying to do some music, though I'm very time, equipment, and skill constrained in the process.
 
http://www.charmedquark.com/Web2/TmpAudio/Final/TheBookOfRegret_FullFinal.wma
 
http://www.charmedquark.com/Web2/TmpAudio/Final/TheHiddenHand.wma
 
http://www.charmedquark.com/Web2/TmpAudio/Final/PutDownTheStone-Final.wma

 

[kurtmccaslin]

I currently live in London and plan to go back home to Texas and retire in a year or two.    I hope to build a fully automated retirement home in the Texas hill country upon retirement.   I have been messing with home automation since 1980 when I set up a Radio Shack color computer to control my X-10 lighting.    I am an engineer and have done a bit of industrial automation design-- mostly specifying the systems, but never twisting the wires.   My programming ability is limited to Fortran and Basic (which tells you I am a fossil)  
 
I am on a steep learning curve in home automation.   Mostly just reading the posts and taking notes for the day I will finally start placing orders and pulling wire.   I know that I will have a lot of questions as I get closer to the date, but for now am just mostly lurking around the board learning from a lot of smart people here.