First Post.

This is the first post. I'm here for myself and if anyone else happens to find anything interesting, rock on. I start school again this coming fall. I've already got a bachelor's degree in Liberal Arts / Theology, but it's was time to follow another path. I will start my pursuit of a Master's degree in Computer Science with a year of prerequisites, after which I will be on to all the software engineering and artificial intelligence I can handle.

I'm hoping for this collection of web-based information (I refuse to use the word 'blog' in reference to this site) to be a place for me to chart the progress of my degree through regular entries. I'm not looking to chart the actual work and grades, but more the thoughts, desires, inspirations, events and projects that contribute to my personal and professional development as a "software engineer."

From here I'm starting pretty fresh. A few very minor programming projects under my belt and a decent handle on only one real programming language , Python, mean I've got a ways to go. I've chosen the formal education route rather than the certification route for a few good reasons:

1. At the end I'll have a degree. This is concrete evidence that I can set a goal, pursue it, and complete it, along the way setting and maintaining high standards for myself.
2. Exposure to interesting problems that I would otherwise miss.
3. Contact and networking with high level contacts in the field of Software Development. Not only contact, but the ability to work with them in an environment more open than a workplace might be.
4. The ability and opportunity to choose what I want to study and the requirement that I am thorough. Also, that this requirement is set outside of my person and outside of my control.
5. I've chosen to go for a Master's degree rather than another Bachelor's because I am very ready to focus on a subject without another 60 hours of humanities. I've chosen to go for a Master's degree rather than a PhD because I am not ready to say I want to do focus on research. I also don't have any background in research and I haven't taken the GRE, so it would be quite difficult to get into a program that required those two.

As I write this I am employed by Sprint as Technical Service Representative in a Sprint PCS Store in the Baltimore area. It's good work, I'm really not going to talk about it too much, though. I am passively seeking new employment that will follow more closely my upcoming education. Or new employment that will at least pay a few more dollars an hour. Sprint is a great company and has really come through with the benefits. Medical insurance rocks, having a baby isn't cheap.

Beyond school and comp sci and work, I live with my wife and son in Baltimore, MD. We homeschool exclusively and certainly intend to keep it up. I have grown to love the free version of launchcast internet radio at work, especially the indie-rock, coffeehouse, and cool as folk stations. Even with their pretty lame self-advertisements they talk less than any traditional media radio station. We currently attend Central Presbyterian Church which has been a lot of fun so far. Great music at the 11:30 service and a lively and active young adult ministry, highly recommended for anyone searching for a friendly, living church. At home we use Firefox and the adblock and rip plugins. I HAVE NOT SEEN AN AD OR POP-UP IN THE LAST SIX MONTHS. AT ANY POINT. ON ANY WEBSITE. I felt the need to announce that last one, too many people complacently accept the pervasiveness of mind-assaulting advertisement in this american culture. We run Ubuntu linux and Windows XP on our two main computers (we have four running, three actively). Additional info will have to wait, it's back to work for now.

Adam