About Me

Personal life

I live 4 miles north of Boston, Massachusetts I am 21 year old male.

I am a college student working for a non-profit organization in their IT department. I am the process of going back to school to get my education in an IT related field preferrable Information Technology. My focus right now is mostly on [http://en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Technical_writing Technical Writing]/Communications and Web Development. My other area of interest as a hobby is in Sound Recording and Audio Engineering. I like hanging out HA learning something new and spreading knowledge. I also enjoy help maintaining the wiki, whenever I have spare time. I enjoy discussing technology, current events, politics, philosophy, music or anything in general. I play keyboard in my sparetime also as a hobby. Private Message me if you ever need anything. Additionally I know how to code at a beginner level in numerous programming languages.

Technical Skills

Programming Markup/Languages: HTML 4.0/XML, CSS3, Javascript, PHP 5, MySQL, C/C++.
Operating Systems: Windows, UNIX (Linux)
Software (Windows): Microsoft Word 2007, OpenOffice.org 3, Adobe Framemaker 8.0, Adobe Fireworks, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, NetBeans 6.5, Putty, Doxygen 2.0.
Software (Linux): Quanta Plus, NetBeans 6.5, OpenOffice.org 3, Emacs, Doxygen 2.0.

Note: I am not familiar with the Mac OS/X operating system, nor do I have any experience reading or working with the object-oriented programming languages of Java or C# (typical trend amongst sofware companies looking for programmers these days).

Technical Writing

Society for Technical Communication Organization dedicated to science and writing art of Technical Communication.
Wikiversity Technical Writing course good for people new to the profession in regard to writing effective technical documentation in general.
Effective Documentation how effective documentation is the key if open source projects are to thrive.
Getting a Tech Writing job this article describes how to get a Technical Writing job even if you have no experience.
Technical Writing jobs technical writing jobs search provided by indeed.com.

Web Development

LAMP Server This tutorial shows you how to set up a LAMP server (Linux, Apache, MySQL, and PHP) under Ubuntu/Debian Linux
Nettuts is one of the best PHP web developers portal that includes client and server side tutorials for creating websites. (HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP/MySQL, Ruby on Rails)
Sitepoint is another web developers portal that includes client and server side tutorials for creating websites. (HTML, CSS, Javascript, PHP/MySQL, Ruby on Rails, ASP.NET, JSP)
Ruby on Rails Documentation shows you how to code with Ruby on Rails.
JSP Documentation and tutorials that show you how code JavaServer pages with the open source J2EE 5 Glassfish server.
PHP Manual the official website manual that shows you how to code with PHP/MySQL.
phpBB is the world's most popular open-source bulletin board (forum software) for your website. (PHP)
Serendipity is free open-source content managment blogging software for your website. (PHP)
JQuery is a javascript animation library that let's you write less code and do more including simplified AJAX routines.

Hardware/Software

My hardware specs:

AMD 64 Dual Core Processor 4600+
Nvidia GeForce 256MB video card
M-Audio Revolution 5.1 PCI soundcard.
Sennheiser PCX250 noise-cancelling (closed-cans)
Boston Acoustics 2.1 speakers with discrete subwoofer
Dual-boot Windows XP / Ubuntu.
Windows:
- Cdex 1.70 with cdparanoia libraries for ripping.
- fB2K v0.9.6 for listening.
- Burrrn! for cd writing
- Azureus/blogs for downloading.
Linux:
- Rubyripper with cdparanoia libraries for ripping.
- Amarok for listening.
- k3B for cd writing.
- Ktorrent/blogs for downloading
My encoding habbits:
- Vorbis 1.1.3 libraries -q 7/8 for HD storage
- FLAC 1.13 -C 3/6 level for archiving my CD's
- Nero MPEG-4 LC-AAC -q 0.65 for Playstation 3 media
- Lame MP3 3.98 -V 2 for compatability

Websites

Audio Websites:

Icecast Streaming links to open-source streaming stations on the net (MP3, HE-AAC, AAC, Vorbis streaming)
1980s.fm a cool retro commercial site that brings you back to the 80's. (MP3, Vorbis streaming).
Pandora Account my account on pandora radio (AAC streaming)
Spotify a new streaming media service avaliable only in Europe. U.S and Canadian expansion soon to come! all tracks are -q 5 Vorbis files.(Vorbis streaming)
Lala Music a cool social networking sites with free streaming full length tracks and 50 free song credits. All tracks are mostly $0.99 cents each. (MP3 streaming)
Amazon MP3 commercial website with DRM free single track's and full albums encoded @ 256 CBR or Lame -V 0 presets. All Track's are either $0.89 or $0.99 cents each.
ITunes Music popular ITunes music with DRM free track's and albums encoded at 128 kbps ITunes AAC encoder or "ITunes Plus" 256 kbps AAC. All track's are $0.99 cents each. (AAC streaming)
Musicbrainz Database essential for metadata and tagging your records

Lossless Audio Websites:

HD Dowloads a list of websites offering lossless audio downloads (pay or for free)
7Digital a European digital music distribution website that offers lossless downloads occasionally (FLAC)

Musical Interests

My musical interests are:

Music
Classical
- Use of classical music in diverse genres (indian and chinese classical)
- Film Compositions/Scores (post contemporary and popular themes)
- Pieces by famous classical composers of Classical Era and before (Bach, Tchaikovsky, etc).
Electronic
Ambient
- IDM/Braindance
  - Squarpusher
  - Mu-Ziq
  - Venetian Snares
  - Mouse On Mars
- Big Beat
  - FC Kahuna
  - The Chemical Brothers
  - The Crystal Method
  - Fatboy Slim
  - The Prodigy
  - The Propellerheads, etc.
- Chiptunes
  - C64 SID
  - Amiga
  - Super NES
  - Sega Genesis
- Netlabels
  - Kahvi Collective
  - 8-bit Peoples
- Electroclash
  - Felix Da Housecat
  - Fischerspooner
  - The New Deal, etc
- Electronic Dance Music
  - Full-on Psychedelic Trance/Goa Trance
    - Infected Mushroom
    - Astrix
    - Vibe Tribe
    - G.M.S
    - Ananda Shake
    - Sesto Sento
    - Visual Paradox
    - The Misted Muppet
    - Goa Gil, etc
    - Astral Projection
  - Progressive House
    - BT
    - Sasha
    - Way Out West
    - Hernan Cattaneo
    - James Zabiela
    - Bart Van Wissen
    - Luke Chable
    - Andy Moor
  - New Skool Breaks
    - Meat Katie
    - Plump DJ's
    - Dylan Rhymes
    - Koma and Bones
    - Elite Foce
    - Evil 9
    - Andy Page
    - Uberzone, etc
  - Alternative/indie
    - Oasis
    - The Fray
    - Jack's Mannequin
    - MGMT (Management)
    - Paramore
    - TV On The Radio
    - The Spill Canvas
    - Gym Class Heroes
  - 80's rock/pop
    - Chicago
    - Hall and Oates
    - Huey Lewis and The News
    - Toto
    - Journey
    - Foreigner
    - Lionel Ritchie
    - Michael Jackson
    - Steve Winwood
  - 80's synth pop/new wave
    - Oingo Boingo
    - Tears For Fears
    - Spandau Ballet
  - 80's Soundtracks
- funk
- jazz
- blues
- hip hop, etc.

HA Questions

Questions that I will answer:

Ogg Vorbis technical questions (I am not a xiph zealot). I just like the project
Questions reguarding other codecs like AAC, lossless, etc.
Thought provoking R&D questions, provide insight, or ask questions
Information pertaining to CD ripping and audio hardware (including sound cards)
Questions related computer music applications and software (sequencers, hardware, etc)
General/technial questions reguarding CDex.
Music discussion forum related stuff or usage.
Other thought provoking topics (replaygain, dynamics range, mastering, etc)
Questions were I can help people.
Pokes at humorous topics.