So you have been trawling the web and you have
come accross my home page, eh? Well there isn't much to see
here :-) Perhaps over time I will update it, add a little
bit more about me, link a few more framily members and
friends, some pictures, and links, but for now what you see
is all there is. Was it really worth stopping at this
little backwater on the internet to look? Hell, I doubt
that anybody will read this anyway; I guess I should look at
the logs and find out if anybody has :-)
One day I might even include a
visitor counter as well....
I live in a Southampton, England, with my
wife, Jane and daughter, Isabelle. By trade I am an
Engineer, specialising in Electronics and Firmware.
Firmware is that gray area where Electronics meets
Software. Most Electronics Engineers can write enough
software to test that their designs, i.e. they can write
the manditery "hello world", and wiggle a few IO lines;
after which they hand over the software aspect of the
project to the Software Engineers. Unfortunatly most
Software Engineers expect there to already be a bootable
Oporating System compleate with device drivers already
oporating on the platform.
Firmaware Engineering fills in the gap between thease two
expectations...
Anyway I digress.
I have been interested in Electronics, Radio,
and computing ever since I can remember. Cirtainly at
primary school I knew that was going to be my chosen career
path. I feel that I am very lucky with my chosen career as it is
also my hobby, admittadly hobbywise I am drifting more into
the software domain than hardware. If I had no financial
need to work, I would still spend my time in similar
activity to that I do at work.
When it comes to software and software
development, I am a huge fan of open source. The GNU C
compiller, GCC, and the Debian GNU/Linux distribution stand
out in particular. I am on the periphery of the Debin-UK team,
and when my coding skills get up-to standard I will cirtainly
contribute to the project.
Outside of Engineering, I enjoy dhingy sailing,
but thus far, despite living on the Solant, I haven't sailed
on salt-water down here, prefering to take activity hollidays
to the Agean, where I play with Laser One, Darts, and recently
the fantastic SB3 crew keilboat. I also enjoy wakeboarding;
I'm no good at it - having tried for a while I finally mangaed
to 'get up' after 14 sessions! Again this is an activity I
enjoy out in the warm and clear waters of the Agean, but a
friend has a power boat on the Hamble, so I get a few pulls on
Solant (perhaps a few more now that I can get out of the water).
I enjoy watching motorsport, but unless I get a
lottery win I shall have to be content with watching as taking
part is just too expensive (assuming I could get past the
medical for a race licance). I try and get to see a couple of
rounds of the BTCC each year, and visit the Festival Of Speed
every other year or so. Vehicle-wise I upset most piston heads
because I drive a Diesal! Ok it isn't that bad, I drive one of
the best diesals available, a BMW 320 SE Touring and to get
my kicks I also ride a Kawasaki ZR7-S bike.
As well as spending time with my family I have my
pets. Lucy, a black and white moggie, we have had since 1998,
is still going stong and sleeping on my bed whenever it is cold
or wet. Lucy's hobby is watching my fish, I have 5 Japaneese
Koi-Carp, who share their pond with a handfull of elderly
goldfish.