Welcome

I'm Kodiak Firesmith and this is my website.  There may be some pages that require a password. If you have any reason to see them, I will have given you one. This is a work in progress, so let me know if there are things that don't render correctly.

Some of my interests

Linux.  I was lucky enough to discover Linux pretty early on.  I started to get into computers in 2002, and by then Linux, and especially desktop linux was starting to become a bit more mainstream.  It always amazed me that I could go out to the internet and download a full featured OS, completely free of charge, and use pretty much any old PC hardware I could scrounge up that others were discarding.  This was at a time when many people were getting rid of perfectly good hardware and upgrading to Windows XP.  It was a windfall to be able to have plenty of cheap & free, but still totally useful computer parts available to me in the beginning.  Linux afforded me the chance to learn & experiment with a myriad of systems and services even when I was a broke student.

Networked computer backups.  I know most people flat out hate dealing with backups, and the job usually gets dumped on the most junior administrator in the department, or anyone unlucky enough to be standing around when the previous backups admin quits, but I'm addicted. Enterprise level backups are complicated, challenging, and involve many systems of systems. Backups touch every valuable workstation and PC in the infrastructure, use a variety of storage tiers, and make use of some pretty cool robotic media libraries.  I can honestly say that no two days are the same for me in backups.

Astronomy.  I don't know much about astronomy yet, so it's still a lot of fun to learn about.  I think its an underrated scientific discipline.  How can you know anything about anything if you don't know where and when you are in our Universe?

Electronic Dance Music.  Drum and Bass, House, Techno, it's all a great backdrop for working, driving, chilling out, any time really.  Maybe I'll get back to DJing someday, who knows.

Frugality.  It's a lost art in today's western society, but it's making a comeback!  What's wrong with shunning bling-things, saving money, lessening your harm to the environment, et cetera.  I think people are even starting to realize (to varying degrees) that our uber-consumer economy is getting us nowhere in the long run as a country.

Where do I live?

Just outside Washington DC, in Arlington Virginia.  

In July 2008 I accepted a new position within the same IT group that I was working for in Pittsburgh.  I'll be out here for at least a couple years.  It's a somewhat cool place;  there's lots to do, and lots to see.  The traffic and cost of living are a little out of control though, but I expected that.

Some books I'm reading

<kfiresmith> <at> <gmail> <dot> <com>