Who is Mike?
Background
How does one summarize himself in just a few paragraphs? The answer is simple. You can't. As with most people I am a relatively complex character with many facets to my personality. From my home page you know I work in the computer field, but that is not who I am. I could tell you my political views, or my spiritual beliefs, but the description would be meaningless without a context I cannot provide.
The above comments however, should give you a glimpse of who I am. I gave great thought to this section, and quickly realized the pointlessness of trying to articulate my existence in the vacuum of the written word. Any attempt to do so would be a long arduous effort, and in the final analysis, failure the only result. So I will move on and describe some of the things I enjoy in life.
Interests / Activities
I was first introduced to the computer field in college and immediately realized I had found my calling. Although a great deal of my career has been spent doing computer programming, I now work in the network engineering field. I found that the kind of computer programming requested by most businesses to be boring. I enjoy writing software that solves scientific or math related problems, unfortunately most companies want you to write database software or accounting packages (yawn). There is also one other problem with programming computers for a living - it's very isolating. I like to work with people and to see that my efforts are helping the people I work with. It is because of this that I stay in the network engineering field.
In high school and college I was heavy into playing chess. I played in chess tournaments and socially whenever I could. Soon after getting exposed to computers however, chess fell by the wayside. Along the way I became an amateur radio operator, and began running in a local triathlon (Eppies Great Race). I enjoy playing tennis, biking, hiking, kayaking, and spending time with my friends. Oh, I also lift weights and occasionally jog, but I wouldn't say I enjoy it.
Of course this is only a small snapshot of what I enjoy, but hey - this is the internet not my autobiography...