The Rustmonster (Check out my Wishlist !!!!!!!!!!!!)
Oh
Gosh. I get to sit here and tell you all about who I am, why I exist, and what
in the heck makes me tick. Well, Hell. Alright, here we go! (hee hee) Don't say
I didn't give you more than ample warning beforehand...............
The being that is now known as the Rustmonster (see above photo) first started his descent into the devious world of hackerdom at the ripe old age of six. Fed up with Lego construction (and mainly because there just wasn't enough room left to build the ever expanding creations that my little mind concocted), I turned to slightly more interesting things. Like my Mom's TV set. And her stereo. And whatever else I could get my hands on. (Ever see the look on a parent's face when you've got the tape player in an electronic heap on the floor? And then you say, in the sweetest voice imaginable, "But, Mom! I can put it all back together! Look! :))" At the ripe old age of 12, I was packed off to Hunter College High School in New York City, where I discovered the Illustrious Commodore Pet (tm). YES! Many text games later, I pressured my Mom to get me a Commodore-Vic20. Little did she know that it was the first step down a road from which I'd never return. Heh. (You see, Mom wanted me to become a doctor or an astronaut. As if?!? :) (Especially since I did get into grad school and then said NO! :))) From there, the addiction grew into a Commodore-64, arguably the best computer in the world. (Yes, I know, I'm typing this on a Sparc Ultra, but the power/price ratio hasn't been matched since. Ever.) On that machine, I perfected my hatred for BASIC, and cracked more games than anyone ever should. It took up half my room, and I didn't even notice. I also worked as a Computer Sales Manager in Crazy Eddie (remember that chain?) and as a sysop for Hunter in order to support my habit. I also helped found the Hunter Tabernacle, a fine musical institution.
After High School, I journeyed to upstate New York, land of the Cold(tm) and Cornell University. I discovered a small machine called a Macintosh, and got lost in there for a long while. I also discovered the Internet, PC's (for real) and a cool (but forgotten machine) called the NeXT. With the NeXT, I discovered UNIX (YES!), and I still haven't escaped yet. I did ops and sys admin for Cornell, and worked for a couple of small companies called NeXT and modernsoft, doing evangelism, design, admin, programming and debugging. Even discovered a cool thing called mushing. Hung out for a while on various sites, (was C'dre on Pern a *LONG* while ago, and also Lt. Stephen Jeffries on TrekMUSH (Maxwell Engineering RULES!)) but one place I used to frequent a lot is called Rhostshyl. (Corwin, Shai-tan/Shai, Aranth, Squire) Unfortunately, life took over and now, I don't get to MUSH. But, it was way cool. I met a lot of great people at CU and online, and you'll find more about them as I point you to their links.
After Cornell kicked me out because I was sleeping on the computer room floor, (well, not literally, but let's say I was *very* familiar with the main machine room. :)) I decided to pack my bags and head west. Straight to California and Informix Software (they did databases - and the technology is now owned by IBM), where I did advanced tech support, met some awesome people, discovered that I knew a hell of a lot more about Windows than I thought I did, and finally realized that I could write programs. In things like 4gl, C and C++. (I'm not a real programmer, but I love hacking. :) :) :)) After tech support nearly gave me an ulcer (right where I used to wear my beeper, actually), I did Windows and UNIX product bug fixing and debugging for a while. Then, Mikey called....... :)
Who's Mikey? First of all, Mikey's my Uncle. Mikey's your uncle. Mikey's everyone's Uncle. (Chase Mikey's link on the main page, and he might tell you *why* he's called the Unc'.) I used to work for Mikey at Cornell, and we did all sorts of great weirdness. He's the man who let me hack until all hours of the evening, and inadvertently let me crash all sorts of machines. If it exists, I can find a way to break it. Mikey called me up one night while I was in California pondering the science of maturing grape brix (Okay, okay! I was drinking them, alright! Yeesh, leave me alone. :)) and offered me a job I just couldn't refuse. So, what did I do? What any aspiring NetGeek(TM) would do, of course - head to the Midwest! I worked for a year and a half for a small company called AetherWorks Corporation(of course, first NX Networks, and now nsgdata.com, Inc). What did I do? Everything, Programming (God-I actually became a programmer! Hide! :)) and Database Administration/Design. It was a blast. Unfortunately, though-the lovely job came to an end. You know what they say: "Time flies fast when you're having fun". So, you say: "Rusty! What did you do?" and Rusty says: "What any aspiring NetGeek(TM) would do: Head back to the Promised Land!!!!!!!" (insert hillbilly accent here) So, I packed up my car, and zoomed back home in record time (Hey, driving across the country with the low end of my speed being 80 MPH is a riot! HEE!) I got a place to live, relaxed for a bit, and then found a job with none other but the reputable Netscape Communications Corporation. I started out there doing tech support for them, of the Major Accounts variety. (Read: Big Customer. Big issues. EEK! :)) Guess I decided that I liked tech support after all! :):):) (That, and a personal force field for the pager works wonders......:)). However, the voices in my head started up again (Rusty......get out of technical support......Do something more technical......your force field's wearing out.......DOH!) and I finally decided, after a long weekend sitting on a rock in the middle of the ocean, (read: stayed up *way* too late playing Bushido Blade (IT ROCKS!)), that I should go back to the development lifestyle of mad hacking (oops, bud, they call it PROGRAMMING now - oh, sorry....) in the Applications Product Division at the 'scape (read: I did e-commerce development.) Seriously, I didn't realize just how much I like doing development, and I'm glad to be back at it. (And the new pager is smaller, lighter, and has a stronger force field...... :):):):))
However, they say that the more things stay the same, the more they change. (Yeah, Rusty, just confuse them by saying the damn statement backwards, okay?) After doing e-commerce development for a while (and straying ever so deeply onto a highly technical SWAT team to deal with recalcitrant customers), I decided it was time for a change. So, at the end of April 2000, I left the veritable Netscape/AOL/Time Warner/EMI/Beresmann Conglomerate, and went to work for a small startup called Catapulse . What was I doing there? Same things I've been doing at the 'scape: Any and every thing needed. :):) (Hey, it's a startup. You do the math.) (However, what they called it was Custom Engineering.) I was at Catapulse for 8 months, and then, they got bought by none other than the fabulous Rational Corporation! (Well, we use their tools, and they gave us a ton of startup cash.....). So, I'm doing the same thing for them as I did for Catapulse (which, or course, has now evolved, first into consulting, and now doing technical strategy for one of their online products....).
And just when I thought life was finally settling down (because technical strategy is *far* less unsettling than consulting - no less stress, but MUCH less travel.....;)) We got purchased by...... drumroll....... the amazing, the stupendous (the dazzlingly huge) Big Blue that is IBM! Wow! talk about a change! :) So, we'll see what happens in Rational land. It should be all good, but you never know. Particularly since I'll be heading back to the Minnesota land come Fall 2003. It's time for a slight change of pace. As always, it'll be an adventure, and I'll keep ya posted as I head down the 'road less traveled'! :)
So - you know, I do update this from time to time and one of the things I want to let you know is that I'm not dead, and I haven't let this lie TOO fallow. I'm still working at IBM, delivering services, creating IC, and trying to think both at a high level and low level to further architectural goodness. I'll be a Dad in 2008, and I'm all married now, so LIFE. IS. GOOD!!! I just had knee surgery to fix my ACL so I can fight more, and I can't complain about a DAMN thing. Sweet. :)
Seriously, though - if you'd like to follow my professional career, please take a look at my Resume!
Now that I've kept you here far too long, I'm going to let you go.....back to the other fun things on my page. :) I guess you could say I'm jacked into the Internet. Screw addiction. I'm *FAR* beyond that. And it's my own fault! :) When I have a bit of free time (read: I'm not strapped into my chair at Work (tm)), I do other things, too. Like: Hang out on #ithaca on IRC (rustmon's the moniker) or WoW (Grinson/Witterquick/Boondock/Mackdaddy on Stormscale), read (What do you think? SF/Fantasy! :)), ride my bicycle, do a bit of Martial Arts or SCA (okay, a lot of SCA), play the guitar or saxophone (Alto, baby! Nothing else comes close!), listen to all sorts of music, and spend time outdoors. Oh! I also collect ceramic lithographic night lights, and Pre-Raphaelite prints too. I do all sorts of things, and I enjoy doing even more unknown and spontaneous things, if they catch my interest. (Except Ski. Snowmobiling? Sure. Skiing? No way.)
Enough of my babbling. Get out of here! :) Feel free to drop me a line (See the top level for that), because I love talking. (Isn't that obvious?!? :)) Just send a line and say hello. Cheers! (NOTE: T.P.S.A.A.W? D.Y.K.S.W.Y.S.I??? :):))
Rusty's Geek Code
By popular Demand.......
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Version: 3.12
GAT d-(+) s+:++ a>? C++++$ UXHLS+++$>++++ P++>+++ L+>++ E+ W+++$ N+
o K
w++@ O- M+(++)>$ V--(++) PS++(+) PE+ Y+ PGP->++ t+ 5+++>$ X+
R+>+++$
tv+(++) b+++(++++)>$ DI++ D+ G e++>+++ h(+) r+(++) y++
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