I am an NPR loving powder hound. I am a kale devouring cyclist and occasional bicycle racer. If there were a word to describe people who are hopelessly addicted to WNYC's RadioLab, I'd be that too. I am also a passionate software developer. Basically, I am a self aware poster child for the millennial yuppie: public radio, local food, fancy tea, things made by REI. Fortunately, I hear that acceptance is the first step towards recovery.
Currently, I work as a software engineer at FactSet Research Systems Inc. where I run a team of three super talented developers. Our team builds what I like to call “web application infrastructure”. Basically, we like to make tools, libraries, frameworks, etc. that make writing actual applications easier, faster, and more fun. Recently we’ve been building a totally sweet UI/utility library that conforms to the (ridiculously complicated) specs handed down to us by our graphic designer overlords. Think of it like jQuery UI on steroids. It’s a neat group to be a part of because we are at the center of a companywide pivot towards web based technology. Did I mention my team is super talented?
Before FactSet, I spent my days working in a steel box at Northrop Grumman in Redondo Beach, California. It was a nice blend of physics and computer science, but being cut off from the outside world was no fun.
My college days were spent in the Morningside Heights neighborhood of New York City at Columbia University. (Go Lions! …we are the lions, right?) I majored in Applied Physics and minored in Computer Science. If I could do it over again, I probably would have majored in Comp Sci. But, you know, plasma waves are cool too.
When I’m not writing code or getting my requisite eight hours of sleep, I like to recreate. I’m mostly drawn towards activities that are needlessly tiring and repetitive. Peddling a bicycle up a hill is a great example. Swimming back and forth across a pool is another. Lifting a barbell up and down in this so called “CrossFit” business. Skiing.
Occasionally I am able to trick a group of people into sitting down and listening to me talk. Uh oh.
Inspired by the life changing article by jcoglan, this lecture attempts to demonstrate how a promise based approach to asynchronous programming can fundamentally alter how a developer structures a program. Instead of telling the computer what to do, we set up relationships and let it figure out what to do.
Check it out here.
A simple physics simulation that demonstrates basic mechanics and transfer of momentum. This app is built with a combination of jQuery UI’s Widget Factory (which is incredible) and AngularJS (which I’m convinced is made with voodoo black magic).
Check out the source code here. Check out the app itself here.
I am drawn almost exclusively to activities that are needlessly exhausting and exceptionally mindless. One day in 2009, my friend Derek and I were on our way home after 80 miles of cycling in the hills of Malibu. We were feeling proud of ourselves as we peddled down the coast on our way home. At one point in our self-indulgent, mutual ego stroking, one of us spoke five words that would define the next year: “We should do an Ironman.” And so it was.
In July of 2010, Derek and I completed the Lake Placid Ironman (he kicked my butt, for those interested). It was a great accomplishment, but after finishing the race I decided that running that far is silly and simply cannot be justified under any circumstances not involving a stampede of wild animals.
Around this time is when I moved back to the East Coast. Pretty quickly I learned that 23mm tires do not get much traction on snow covered roads. This revelation left me in a bit of a conundrum. Running was out for the aforementioned reasons. Bike riding was a no-go. Hmmm…how was I going to needlessly/mindlessly tire myself out day in and day out?
As serendipity would have it, a CrossFit gym opened not but one mile from my residence. On a cold December night I cautiously walked through the door to the near empty “box.” Thus began a two year obsession marked my new terms like “WOD”, “Fran”, and “thruster.” My lanky cyclist frame struggled mightily with this new concept called “muscular hypertrophy”. To be honest, I don’t think it ever got the idea, but as I kept drinking the CrossFit kool-aid I began to begrudgingly embrace the idea that there might be more to fitness than cardiovascular endurance. Who knew?
