technical solutions for real world problems

Performance has always fascinated me - from race cars to circuit boards and everything in between. I’m instinctively drawn to the efficiencies needed to make things perform extraordinarily well.

It's fun to take things apart and appreciate how they are designed. And then to put them back together, looking for opportunities to optimize.

About Me

Were we to meet over a cup of coffee, and you asked what I do, I would describe it as something between a software developer and a systems engineer.

My current focus is in developing systems to monitor business applications and quantify performance. Check out my LinkedIn profile for a more fine-grained description of my career so far.

Outside of the office, I like work to on race cars and other things that make lots of noise.

My LinkedIn Profile

Reading List

Some things just capture my imagination.

Numbers, specifically the philosophical concepts that swirl around zero and infinity. The history and progress of mathematical thought. Uncovering the efficiencies and demands that it takes to produce outrageous performance. The very big and the very small. Beginnings and ending.

Mostly, how stuff works, and how to make it work better.

Reading List

Thoughts in Pictures

Performance comes in many contexts. Some static, some dynamic. Some loud, some quiet.

Wisdom from the InterWeb

  • An optical mouse will double as a cheap webcam if you manually change the device type from "Optical Mouse" to "Generic Webcam".

    from The Brains Tust

  • The correct plural for the computer "mouse" is "mouses". The term "mice" is reserved for writhing hoardes of tiny, squeaking vermin.

    from The Brains Tust

  • The world's smartest computer only has an IQ of about 87 - well below the average human being. It was able to beat reigning chess champion Gary Kasparov only by moving the pieces around when it thought he wasn't looking.

    from The Brains Tust

  • If you hold a unix shell to your ear you can hear the C.

    from The Brains Tust

  • While his last theorum (x^n + y^n != z^n) has gained him much recognition, his first theorem ("No one remembers dead mathematicians") has turned out to be, ironically, false.

    from The Brains Tust

  • There have been no confirmed cases of any Microsoft program crashing due only to errors in the code. As Microsoft's lawyers will tell you (...very slowly...), any apparent error-related crashes are in fact caused by user error.

    from The Brains Tust

  • Despite what mathematics teachers will tell you, algebra is of absolutely no use whatsoever in everyday life. Unless you're Stephen Hawking. He used it a bit.

    from The Brains Tust

  • The value of pi is slowly increasing. It is known to have been less than 3 when the pyramids were built, and could reach 3.5 by the next milennium.

    from The Brains Tust