I am a stress-tested System Engineer and IT leader with over 15 years in the IT industry and based in the South Bend, Indiana region. Outside of my career I volunteer my time to help teach a local First Lego League Youth Robotics team and I also enjoy using my IT and Audio engineer skills to server at my church.
I am a life long learner, you will regularly find me knee deep in yard work listening to a podcast on religion, politics, philosophy, technology, or human psychology.
When I am not working or learning, I love quality time with my beautiful wife Darcy, playing with my awesome kids, growing in my Christian faith, reading a non-fiction book, and listening to and learning about people’s lives and their views on everything.
A short history…
As a kid I would take stuff apart to see how they worked or to try and fix them. As a teen I started to DJ with my father. Shortly after, that I discovered that I have an ear for mixing sound for bands at live events. In my late teen years, began to do photography and videography, so I learned tips and tricks of professional wedding photographers and Hollywood cameramen. My camera work was so good at a young age that I actually had people offer money for my photos when I was just 16 years old. Around this time I had purchased my own computer and this this led me to where I am today.
Today …
Since then I have worked for large school corporations and large multinational corporations. I have created large IT systems that support between 5,000 and 5,000,000 users throughout the US and the World. I have redesigned and upgraded more than 5 school TV studios at a local school district, which in 2016 was using equipment from the 1980’s. I have developed a customized website and blogging platform that allowed staff to create a easy-to-use website in a matter of minutes, featuring interactive tutorials and numerous seamless integration features.
I continue to grow and have the same desire to learn. I constantly pursue new knowledge and work hard to increase my skills set. Currently my skills include but are not limited to Systems Engineer, Systems Administration, DevOps Engineer, Network Administration, web design, computer maintenance and networking, running live video production and pro-audio systems, and more.
Software & Me …
I am a strong advocate for using free and opensource software whenever possible, as I believe it is a powerful force for good, for cost savings, and for technological advancement. However,I also recognize there are some limitations of such software and I will concede and use propriety software when appropriate such as with Microsoft Office and even Microsoft Windows in corporate settings.
While the idea of free software may sound crazy to many who read this, Free and Open Source Software is used by, developed by, and sponsored by companies and organizations such as: Google, Coca-Cola, Oracle, Lowes, and the United States government. These organizations use this software due to it’s numerous benefits, which include but are not limited to: FREE to use, updated more frequently, generally more secure, easy and cheap to customize, and generally more technologically up-to-date.
There are free alternatives for almost any software imaginable for example: LibreOffice is an alternative to Microsoft Office and was created by The Document Foundation, OpenERP has created Odoo, an alternative to SAP and other proprietary and expensive ERP systems, and Google has created Android the most popular mobile phone operating system.
Health Research
Finally if you have made it this far you may find it interesting to know that I am a have done an insane amount of health research. Currently, I have spent easily over 4,500 hours of research reading over 1,400 full medical articles, studies, research papers, journals, and medical textbook sections, spanning 10+ different medical disciplines.
I hope to soon post or unofficially publish some of my research somewhere on my website or on a more trafficked website.
Some topics of my medical research include:
- Links between hidden / subclinical infections and chronic health issues
- Prevention of birth defects (primarily Neural Tube Defects)
- Determining what things can kickoff autoimmune related illnesses.
The main goal of each of my documents is to simultaneously inform the public and healthcare professionals.
Therefore my documents are written (as much as possible) to be relatively simple to understand so patients and their healthcare providers can both be on the same page when considering options for treatment and prevention of some diseases.
More Info
Call or email me if you have any questions, comments, concerns, snide remarks, or employment opportunities.