If not us, who?
If not here, where?
If not now, when?

I am the Managing Consultant / Developer at Geesoft Systems, a software development consultancy in Zimbabwe, deepest darkest Africa.

Programming Languages: Pascal/Delphi, C/C++, Java, VB, COBOL
Databases: MS SQL, Access, Informix, Paradox, MySQL
Web Dev: HTML, ASP, PHP, Dreamweaver, Frontpage
Office Application suites : Microsoft Office, Open Office, Lotus Smartsuite
Can click around in : Adobe Photoshop, Corel Draw

I like writing code, especially working on new projects. Existing projects can be a drag, and there is usually little to learn except patience! I am a sucker for quality software, and will greatly (and occasionally loudly) criticize software fit for the hall of shame.

I am a staunch believer in God, as well as the power of server-side processing. I have great trust in a properly written databases, and look upon executable applications with mild suspicion. I definitely prefer to let applications be the interface to our reverred users, and the databases provide the processing that we, the honourable developers face. This, if and when done properly, will achieve a very delicate and desirable balance known as good software.

I joined experts exchange while still a student in the year 2000, and had a great time learning on this site. I then upgraded to expert a while back, when experts exchange was still free. This year, armed with a bit of experience, and the need to be on experts exchange premium plan for free (We cannot purchase anything online from Zimbabwe because of forex regulations) I decided to become an active expert. My plan is to get a lot of earned certifications on experts exchange and be considered a developer of note.

Umm, the faint-hearted shall stop reading here. Good-bye, faint-hearted! Read the rest at your own risk.

For those who are interested in things like what people's life goals are, here we go. Apart from the usual noble but difficult to attain dreams of saving the world from war and famine, and winning the Nobel peace prize, I would like to build my company into an  exclusive software development house specializing in remote work and custom software development. I certainly (read hopefully / probably) won't mind getting rich and getting married, preferably in that order, as we all know how adversely a lady can affect the thin budget! I don't know if this can be done, but hey, they say aim for the stars and you might just hit your light bulb!

Slightly digressing, I have observed that women and developers don't mix very well. Even women who are developers don't mix very well with husbands or boyfriends who are developers. I have queried this everywhere, and I have done research on this. IT tradesmen are not on the recommended list in any women's advisory books. I am sure even God does not put IT Tradesmen in the santuary of perfect, good, tolerable, or even small risk husbands. We rank at best in the "poor" to "never home" categories, and mostly in the "are you serious? not these ones!"  or "Look here, you can't be THAT desperate!" categories. The fortunate thing is that a lot of the time God gives the unfortunate IT tradesmen a few more dollars than a lot of other tradesmen in order to sort of compensate for their extreme geekiness and lack of emotion, and love to spend nights behind screens, totally ignoring lingerie-clad spouses. These few dollars sometimes become a little too attractive for some ladies to ignore, hence the geeks finally (usually just before they hit 50) get someone insane enough to agree to some form of permanent coexistence. So you see the life I'm headed for......

Back to serious talk...

I spend about (read at least) 16 hours at a computer of some sort or other, these days its mostly my tablet PC. It is good to be able to communicate, work, listen to music, play games, and learn on one gadget. I have become somewhat tolerably good at using the things, and this all started back in the day when I was but a young one.

I looked (in 1995) at the then new windows 95 with awe - we had an NCR 386 running windows 3.11 at home then. I watched unix mature into linux, and heard all the unencouraging comments made about it then. I saw the Open source craze start to happen. Read news about the browser wars. I realise that in my short life, I have experienced a lot of key happenings in IT. This is probably because IT is a very young field in itself. However, there are things I have only heard about, like writing puched card programs. I actually had the previlege of seeing some winchester disks and other such pehenomena, but missed the opportunity to work with them.

My parents:

They say behind every successful man is a hard working woman. I believe this entirely, but would like to point out that in my view, the hard working woman behind every successful man is his mother. I thank God for my mother who relentlessly pursued to build her offspring into good and upright citizens. I am where I am because of her, and I am not where I could be because of me. While others believe that this hard working woman is their wife, I have no evidence of that yet, but would like to point out that by the time a wife comes into the picture, the building of the man is almost done! I would am not belittling honourable wives, but I have no exerience of this influence yet. I will update you on this when I, the poor unsuspecting guy, has been trapped in the eternal bond!

Fathers can be great talkers and poor actors. Real do as I say so that you don't end up where I am types. My father didn't (and still doesn't) give endless advice about every topic. He merely lives his life and lets you watch. He is a retired banker, and as a result a lot of people in banking circles know him. As a financial solutions provider, many people have said to me "If you are anything like your father, you are a formidable young man." Quite a legacy to live up to, but I'm working on it. I wonder if my offspring will similarly look up to me.

My sisters:

They may deny this expressly, but they are responsible for sharpening my arguing skills. They are also responsible for my ability to withstand stress. And my problem solving skills. And my little understanding of women, or should I say my understanding that women cannot be understood? Well, yeah. They are responsible for that. An important and central part of my life, I am proud of them.

My friends:

Those who have been in my life since for ever. TAG, Micky, Shungu, Frank, Tsungi, Sandi, all the peeps at Church, its good to know all you useless folks! If you haven't been mentioned here, its not a mistake, you were deliberately left out!! :-)

Well, if you have read this far, you are as crazy as me for writing such a long tirade of rambling.