9.0 - About me
My name is Ben. I come from a family with deep involvement in writing. My father was an editor, critic, poet, and science fiction author; My mother was an editor, author, poet and literary agent; My sister has worked as a translator, an editor and a technical writer. The professional writing (not counting software) I've done consists of technical articles for electronics and computer magazines, lots and lots of software and hardware manuals, and one several hundred page textbook on martial arts; so far, no fiction.
Life has its funny little twists, though. I ended up as president of my mother's literary agency, though I had done the least fiction writing (none) of the entire family. Go figure. To be fair, though, I may have read the most science fiction of anyone in the immediate clan. I certainly own more books than anyone else!
I am a martial arts instructor (photos here) with several dan rankings (black belts.) I hold a master's ranking in Tae kwon do. I teach an integrated curriculum consisting of Tae kwon do, Hap ki do, Ju do and Chin na, drawing techniques from each art with the intent to supply a more useful and diverse set of skills. Ju do supplies grappling skills; Hap ki do and Chin na supply locking and submission skills; Tae Kwon do and Hap ki do provide strong linear and circular striking, blocking and footwork. My students are taught to read and write Korean han gul along with a basic martial arts vocabulary sufficient to the task of learning a skill set that has its roots in Korea. During 2004 and 2005, I hand-built a small do jang (that's a martial arts workout gym, basically) on my property, a task that both taught me a lot and proved to be very satisfying in the end.
By day, I'm a software and hardware (electronic) engineer; I used to design computer systems and peripherals, but these days, I mostly code modules for commercial software. I used to write a lot of assembler, but as my work veered away from micro-controllers, so my software moved on to higher level languages. These days, I write in C and/or Python as appropriate. I've a fair amount of database experience, and SQL is quite familiar to me, if not a favorite. I've written software in the following areas: CAD/CAM, artificial life and artificial intelligence, video games, a great deal of image processing work all across the spectrum, various micro-controller tasks, hypertext systems, documentation generators, e-commerce and inventory management, security systems, AFSK demodulators, microprocessor and O/S emulators, modulator/demodulator signal processing, cardiac monitors, device drivers, missile target tracking software, sound synthesis software, and accessibility software.
I am a recording engineer and a musician — a hard rock, rock, and blues guitarist (samples here.) I have a 24-track digital studio based around a Mackie analog board that I love and a Fostex 24-track recorder. I play a Roland drum set, seven guitars and two basses. Three racks of various effects and processors round out the equipment, plus several Digitech floor processors. I'm afraid I'm quite the gear-head when it comes to my music.
When listening, I favor classic stereo gear from the late 1970's. I have Marantz and Pioneer systems all over my home, basically one in every room larger than a closet. I pipe Sirius satellite radio to all the systems using a high quality Dolby FM modulator. For home entertainment outside of music appreciation, I have a Denon 7x100 watt system, a Toshiba 1080p HDTV, a 204 inch HD projection system, an Intel Mac Mini doing media and WiFi service, X-Boxes 1 and 360, a PS2, a PS3, a Gamecube and a Wii. I tend to favor the X-boxen because my favorite games, Guitar Hero, Mechassault and Project Gotham II, run on the platfom. The Wii is used to play bowling (bowling on a 204 inch screen is hilarious), and the PS3, so far anyway, isn't used for much of anything but playing Blue-ray disks. I have a demo of a race game that shows promise, though — to be out in fall of 2007.
I read science, science fiction, and mainstream novels — Tom Clancy, James Clavell and so forth. I am very interested in the phenomenon of religion in general, however, I am not in agreement with any theist viewpoint I have encountered to date.
I like animals, and I favor cats (photos here) in particular.
Aside from the above, which I would characterize as serious, long-term interests and pursuits, I am also into collecting minerals, glamour and nature photography, drawing, fast cars and fast motorcycles, collecting resin pinup figurines, genealogy and model ship building.
My sweetheart and I are in the process of converting a 1940's era church into our home. We've been at it since mid-2006. The building is 100% plumbed, 75% wired, about 80% framed and walled, and thoroughly livable. We think it'll take about three years total to get close to finished, and after that, like most homes, it'll remain a work in progress. We did all the work ourselves except for the plumbing.
I don't drink more than the very occasional glass of wine with dinner, smoke, or do other recreational drugs, legal or otherwise. I enjoy the company of my family and a very few close friends. I am never, ever, bored.
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