Portrait

My portrait, a photogoot original. What a brilliant photographer! When I was a child, I didn't approach my mother with, "When I grow up I want to be a unix system administrator!" Yet, that's what I am by trade (I'm currently filling the role of IS Manager of a Desktop shop, but I don't like to talk about it). I have two friends, however, who are doing exactly what they wanted to be when they grew up. One is a friend of mine since I was about five. He loved airplanes. Airplanes on his wall, books on airplanes, airplane sheets on his bed in his airplane pajamas. Later he was building aircraft models and attending Space Camp. He graduated from Embry-Riddle with a degree in Aeronautical Engineering, owns his own plane (a Mooney), and is now on the cutting edge of the career by remotely piloting the Global Hawk UAV for the Air Force. If that's not truly living your dream, I don't know what is.

The other is photogoot who grew up enjoying taking pictures. Took photography in school, and his first job out of high school was as a portrait photographer (he still uses these skills to this day). This man sees things differently than you and I see them - he sees everything through the lens of a camera; every shot is framed. When he joined the Air Force he did so first as a aircraft film developer, then as a bone-fide official USAF photographer. His work was published throughout the military. He even wore Lagerfeld Photo cologne. His work provided him the in roads into his current position as Program Manager of a large photography-based shop, which though doesn't allow him to take pictures for a living, affords him the time to do so on his off hours. We should all be so lucky. Thank you for this portrait, photogoot.

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In other news, I'd like to give the nod to a recent development, jaceman. Jace Man filled an open position we had at work, and his attitude and knowledge has resonated throughout our user community. He's posted on a wide variety of topics during his first five posts, with something to pique the interest of just about everyone. He enjoys a good polite debate, and is interested in conversing with people online. And though our favorite master-debater drax0r is currently seeking asylum in the Witness Protection Program, I hope that he'll surface just to debunk the Jace Man - as I can see the two of them discussing the nuances of opinion vs. facts. If you have a moment, stop by and say, "Hello."