About me

Hi, all, welcome to my blog. I'm hoping that this post will actually make it to the publish phase, as it is my 3rd or 4th attempt at putting something up here in the 3 weeks since I created this account. Since I'm ramping up my speaking engagements over the next few months, I really should have a voice other than the one that .Net developers in the Albany, NY area have listened to for the past few years.

About me - My name is Griff, and I like to code. I first decided that I liked to code when I was about 13, working in BASIC on an Atari 400 (then an 800XL -> WOOT), legal pad at my side with the actual lines of code that I would have to retype each time I turned the computer on because a floppy drive was $250 at the time, and I was a kid with an allowance a lot less than that. I had opened up the world of computing, and there was no limit to where I could go.

Then, puberty hit, and about ten years passed.

In the early '90s, I found myself disillusioned with college (I was an Econ major, no idea why) and in a band. The band was a blast, but we were self-marketed, and I found myself needing to teach myself Photoshop so that I could make flyers for the band. It was around that point that Netscape 1.1 was released, and I realized that computers were my bag, baby.

Long story short, I've been programming, first as a hobbyist, then professionally, for over 15 years. I got an MCP.Net a while ago, but I've really focused more on diving into and working in the technologies than expanding the number of commas after my name the past few years. I've done both the Web- and Windows- side of things, and have about 8 years of teaching and speaking experience (Syracuse University and occasionally ITT Tech) tied in with the development work. I'm currently the President of the Tech Valley .Net Users Group, and an avid gamer.

While most of my focus for this blog will be riffs on .Net development (C#, .Net 3.5, XNA, etc), I reserve the right to also talk about family, friends, games, football, or anything else that comes to mind. I may pop into teaching mode, or talk about new stuff that I'm learning. My focus will be on posting twice a week (I'm thinking Tuesday and Friday) on something that is at least a little interesting.

That all said and done, stay tuned.