Jack of all trades, master of a few; my real strength lies in problem-solving. You'll make my day if you can give me a problem that nobody can figure out!

I've been on Experts Exchange since 1998, but I only become active every few months, although now that I've realized that I can get free shirts, I'll be on more often. Nothing motivates quite like free shirts.

I specialize in PHP development, usually in LAMP environments, but my programming experience extends to other web-based languages (ASP, Miva, ColdFusion, Perl, etc...) and client-side languages (the .NET suite, Visual Basic 3.0 and up). The most common theme in all my applications is interconnectivity, so I'm well-versed in network-level subject matter, as well. I understand sockets, DNS, and different network protocols like SMTP, and know how to implement and debug them. I've also been gaining a bit of experience with different version control systems over the years, namely Visual SourceSafe, Subversion, and most recently Git.

I've also done my fair share of network administration on both Windows domains/servers  and Linux/BSD servers (although I haven't used any flavor of BSD since 2001). The Windows territory connects me to topics like Active Directory, SQL Server, Exchange, DHCP, and Terminal Services, as well as the regular can-you-fix-my-computer problem topics (PE booting, hardware, etc). Linux server admin experience gives me some background in shell scripting/Bash, BIND, MySQL setup and tuning (server settings and also in-server optimization, like proper indexing and query optimization), SSH, OpenSSL, compiling issues, cron jobs, and basic Linux sysadmin tasks.

Beyond the geeky stratosphere, I'm also in touch with my artistic side. I create rich web layouts with Photoshop (version 3 through CS4), touch up my photography, do basic animation (although I really need to do more complex Flash), and do digital compositing (I sometimes post entries to Worth1000). I am also an avid fan of instrumental film soundtracks, which I listen to while working.

I do contract work, but I only have limited times during the evenings, so I usually only handle 1 or 2 concurrent projects.