It only took me 3.5 years to post another one of these. I've been trying to find a spot that I feel like I identify with to start a journal. I recently posted a couple of entries at JRoller, but I realized that I don't really identify with the Java community. I may write code in Java from time to time, but I'm not particularly enamored with it from a language standpoint. I get really sick of the jar soup I get every time I try to write code.

I used to read the articles and journals on this site a while back and found that it is populated with really intelligent people. I like that. I would like to be intelligent. I just recently graduated (again) and miss the academic environment. I need to find a job where I can learn continuosly. I'm trying to learn some things about neural networks and machine vision. Hopefully I will have the time to write some sample code.

A lot has happened since my last journal entry here. The project I was working on at the time, an XML message bus and translation engine was completed. We came in on time and under budget. I was able to replace a $12million dollar system for $300,000. The new system was extremely stable, and about 1000 times faster. It's really nice what you can do with software when you keep things simple. Unfortunately, the company went out of business anyway. Since then, I bought a house, got two dogs, worked for a small consulting company at a large utility. I then left them to take a job working for a friend at Bank One, I mean JP Morgan Chase and moved to Chicago.

Living in Chicago is great. We are in the actual city of Chicago, although about 6 miles north of downtown. I take the train to work everyday and will likely be going back to school yet again. I have an application pending at DePaul. I hope to go back and retake calculus. I've taken it before, but I didn't pay nearly enough attention. Eventually, I hope to make it through calculus based statisitics and more advanced math. I've finally realized that I need to be continuosly learning to feel complete.

I will probably use this as a forum to talk about the state of IT and big companies. I am really interested in how IT interacts with the rest of the corporation. I someday hope to run an IT shop in a small company. I also enjoy business strategy and will post about that from time to time. I look forward to being more active than I have been in the last few years!