Blogs are ‘all the rage’ now-a-days, and certainly I’m not immune to the pull. I’ve had some form of existence online for quite some time (at least 5 years; I don’t have enough fingers on one hand to keep counting), and RealJenius.com is simply the evolution of that presence.

The Techie Stuff

RealJenius.com is predominately technical. Not only is software development my job, but it’s also a big hobby for me. Programming is my thing, and I usually flood my days with reading, researching, patching, developing, hacking, coding, testing, repeat.

Why RealJenius? (aka What Happened to Coffee-Bytes?!)

The nickname ‘RealJenius’ is something my co-workers came up when prodding me for what ‘R.J.’ (my namesake) actually stood for. In other words, it’s a bad attempt at irony.

Perhaps a better question for many of you who have gotten here, however, is ‘Why not Coffee-Bytes?’

Coffee-Bytes was a play-on-words relating the Java Programming Language^TM and the intake of most programmers’ drug of choice. Recently, however, my interests in the technical space have moved past just Java (no, I haven’t moved away from Java all together), and frankly I’ve never been a huge coffee-nut.

The Other Goodies

While I may be pretty heavy on technical content most times, I do get out on occasion and experience other hobbies and entertainment. Expect to see a good dose of non-technical ramblings; I’m always on the look-out for new information on Video Games, Movies, Music, Car Audio, Home Entertainment, etc etc etc.

About Me Personally

The few short hours I spend doing something other than programming in one language or another, I usually spend with friends and family, or working on hobbies. I have always enjoyed various artistic diversions (painting, sketching, sculpting), but I’m also a tech-nut, and love gadgets, home entertainment, car audio, and video games. Lastly, in tangent to my technical aspirations, I love working on cars, and have a small crush on ‘68 Camaros (not ‘69 mind you!)

I’m engaged to my beautiful fiance, Julie Fase, whom I have been dating since September, 1999 and she is the love of my life.

About Me Professionally

My Day Job

I have spent several years of my professional career as a consultant for hire in the software world; going wherever the gigs are. Consulting has always felt like an ‘all guts no glory’ task for me; a kind of ‘purification by fire’. I’ve gotten to work on a large number of diverse projects, with a large number of diverse teams; it’s really opened my eyes to the importance of communication.

Recently I was offered, and subsequently accepted the opportunity to become a senior software engineer above a team of developers. The change is in some ways significant for me; it represents a major professional change for me; yet at the same time the work I have done for so long as a consultant has really honed my skills for this position.

Contributing Editor (or how I learned to stop worrying, and love the HTML editor)

For over two years, I acted as a contributing editor for Javalobby.org and Eclipsezone.com; I authored several hundred articles on Java tips and tricks, and covered countless Eclipse events and features.

I have since hung up my hat - it has nothing to do with the DeveloperZone crew; I was just ready to have my free time back, and focus on a more diverse set of diversions.