Gaming
Gaming has been a passion of mine for a while now. The ability to enter a world outside your own. There is no specific genre or system I adhere to. I get games sometimes not even because their good, but specifically because they are bad. What made them fail? Was it the script? The interface? The controls? Quality issues? It becomes a mental exercise trying to figure out where things went so terribly wrong, and what needed to happen for things to turn around.
In total my collection has amassed virtually every console and over 200 games. My wife and I almost never watch TV. Gaming is so much more interesting to help me unwind at the end of a long day. During the cold months in Iowa I even get in some game time while on the treadmill (Iowa is not always pleasant in February).
Lights for charity
This started out as a simple enough project to synch a few Christmas lights to music, however the kits you get at Home Depot just did not do it for me. If something is worth doing, it's worth overdoing. I'm not sure how many hours I've put into software and hardware modifications, but I'm quite proud of the end result. What started as just 31 channels is now close to 700. Previously I would talk about charities for people to support during the season, however my latest upgrade I am creating will allow people to donate electronically when they watch the lights.
Always Keeping Busy
I almost never just sit and watch TV. If I do watch TV, I'm probably also using a punching bag (A new hobby admittedly as long hours have done some damage to my mid-section I’d rather eliminate). There is always a book to be read, a model to be built, some software to toy with, or just some way to make life more interesting. Just sitting around doesn't interest me. That extends to my work life. If my plate is empty, I start seeing who's plates are to full. I keep detailed notes and schedules to track where everybody is and jump in to support if I'm not one of the last ones out the door. It sounds like a cliché, but I love to work, and so does my wife. I love to have something new loaded on my plate. If I'm complacent, I'm bored.
My life outside work
Not everything can be summed up with just a simple resume and list of skills. Outside of work I keep on moving, keep looking for things to be pasionate about.
Family
My wife and I met back in college. I proposed to her shortly after going to meet her parents in South Korea. We're always trying to learn or experience new things. Our library is overflowing with books of all manner of subjects. Dinner conversations are much more likely to be focused on upcoming trends in software, gaming, project management or the meaning of the latest work of fiction we’re reading than what the weather is like or the latest celebrity gossip. We’re both kind of nerds. No kids but we do have a dog that goes crazy for his Frisbee.