Hello World!
My name reflects my love for the sea and the mountains of my home province of British Columbia, Canada. I have a strong nomadic streak and have called many places home over the years.
Until my mid-thirties my computer skillset included little more than an ability to type relatively well, and a moderate understanding of Excel and GIS software, the latter a function of my first career in geology. While attending graduate school, a friend introduced me to Python as a way to improve upon a heinously complex spreadsheet. Little did I know this event would change the course of my career and life!
Today I work as a software developer and geoscientist for Purple Rock, where I spend most of my time writing productivity tools and applications in Python. In my spare time I work on hobby projects mostly in Zig and a (very) little bit of C/C++. My interests tend toward the lower levels of the software stack, in particular the inner workings of debuggers, compilers, and operating systems.
I am just scratching the surface of these topics; the more experienced among you will hopefully find my articles entertaining if not informative. To the beginners and the self-taught, welcome! Hopefully my own learning process can help you in some small way. Just know that I am by no means an expert in any way, shape, or form. Any and all errors on this site are mine and mine alone. I tend to leave lots of incomplete projects in my wake as I pursure my interests; I’m getting better at this but there is so much to learn!.
When not nestled comfortably at my computer, I enjoy cooking a savoury, spicy meal; hiking and taking pictures in the alpine; sipping on scotch; and brunching with friends. I’m a terrible surfer but I do love it. I’m not much of a history buff, but when abroad, wandering old ruins and learning about other peoples’ cultures and ways of life is how I spend my time. Once upon a time I was always up for unexpected adventures; as I get older, I’m learning to appreciate the quieter, more contemplative moments in life.
What Is This Place?
This blog will be heavily oriented toward programming, though I’m sure I’ll catch myself musing and rambling about other things on occasion. I intend to write as a way to improve my own understanding of concepts I’m currently learning; accordingly, posts will generally reflect my learning process, as I work through the simplest trivialities to the limits of my understanding, and beyond. I will strive to link to others’ work when and where appropriate, in particular when their work is an improvement on, or an inspiration for, my own.
The photography section is intended to show off my latent artistic and prominent nomadic sides. Everything there will have been shot on my treasured Olympus OM-D E-M5.III micro 4/3 camera, except for the odd cell phone pic if the moment called for it (read: I was too slow on the draw, or forgot my camera entirely). I haven’t done much photographic adventuring lately but am intending to revisit this passion of mine in the coming months.
I have not set up a line of communication yet. When I have done so, the curious and friendly will be able to write to say hi and chat about technical miscellanea or whatever else. It should go without saying that this is a safe and respectful place: all are welcome, except for the rude and the cruel.
This Site
Expect it to change, to evolve. If you want to bookmark things,
bookmark my landing page! This website is entirely hand-crafted without
the use of any frameworks or static site generators or anything else.
I’m writing in markdown,
pandocing to html, and uploading:
about as basic as one can get on the web. In truth, it’s been fun doing
it this way! We’ll see how long I can last before succumbing and
adopting a more modern web toolchain.