I am the founder and president of Renkara Media Group. We build AccelaStudy, an accelerated learning platform with millions of users. AccelaStudy was launched in 2008 and was one of the first 500 apps in Apple’s new App Store.
I have a consulting practice - Vantalect LLC - through which I provide consulting services to a wide variety of Fortune 1000 clients. I am an expert in iOS development and in building scalable and highly-available infrastructure, primarily in the AWS cloud. I am also highly proficient in Node.js, Python, and Golang. I am an AWS Certified Solutions Architect - Professional and an AWS Certified DevOps Engineer - Professional.
My résumé can be found here. Copies are available in PDF and Microsoft Word format.
I am a strong proponent of remote work, especially in the Information Technology field and am the editor of the Remote Technologist publication on Medium. I’ve worked remotely exclusively since 2010. When the [COVID pandemic]() happened, it had zero effect on my work.
I maintain GitHub repos for the articles I write and a collection of CloudFormation and Terraform scripts for automated provisioning of AWS infrastructure.
I was an Eagle at Carlock Elementary School and a Python at Parkside Junior High School. Based on my school aptitude tests, I was invited to attend the Illinois Mathematics and Science Academy (IMSA) but my parents persuaded me into attending and graduating from University High School. In retrospect, missing out on attending IMSA was a major mistake, IMHO.
I graduated with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from DePaul University. I was given permission to attend a number of graduate courses as electives and particularly enjoyed studies in cryptology with Dr. Schaefer and distributed computing.
When I finish a few projects and free up some time (yeah, right) I plan to enroll at Texas A&M University to pursue a graduate degree in Computer Science focused on distributed computing and machine learning.
I grew up in a neighborhood called Sunset Lake outside of the town of Carlock, Illinois, population 400.
I’ve lived in the Illinois cities of Bloomington, Normal, and Peoria. In 1999, I moved to Chicago. I lived in a condo at 600 South Dearborn for awhile. It is also known as the Transportation Building and was the headquarters for Eliot Ness and the Untouchables during Prohibition. I became a Texan in 2014 and have lived in Westlake, Amarillo, and now currently make my home on 3 acres in Keller.
I’ve taken the Meyers-Briggs personality test many times and am, invariably, an INTJ, also known as the Architect personality.
My IQ has been formally estimated by the Stanford-Binet test several times to be between 150 and 165. In high school, my Otis–Lennon School Ability Test (OLSAT) score was in the 99.99% percentile and was used for admission to Mensa.
As an adult, I have been clinically assessed as having low latent inhibition, which sounds disturbing but is actually advantageous and pretty awesome.
I’ve been a bodybuilder, a track cyclist, a triathlete, a rock climber, and an Olympic weightlifter. I’ve come to appreciate the benefits of hot yoga and used to get crazy in the mud at the Tough Mudder.
I used to be an avid snowboarder and, later, a skier right up until I crashed hard and tore my right ACL in Big Sky in Montana. Now I see the slopes from the base area while my kids carve up the powder.
I was a Red Cross-certified lifeguard at the Four Seasons Club in Bloomington, Illinois during high school and college.
Although I completed the coursework, pool sessions, and open water session to become a PADI-certified Rescue Diver, my certification paperwork was not filed due to a missing CPR certificate and so I have to retake the course. Until then, I have current PADI certifications in Advanced Open Water and Deep Diving. I received excellent instruction from Midwest Diving Specialists in Normal, Illinois. I am a member of the Divers Alert Network (DAN).
I am an autocross enthusiast and haved raced in a 2012 Porsche 911 S, a 2015 Porsche Boxster GTS, and am currently racing a 2013 Porsche 911 4S Cabriolet. I’m a member of the Porsche Club of America - Mavericks Region and I do autocross events with the Equipe Rapide sports car club in Dallas/Fort Worth. In 2022, I did the Triple Crown Rally with the Park Up Front club.
I’m training to race at the Circuit of the Americas in Austin, Texas and hope to one day do some hot laps on the Nürburgring in Germany. In preparation for that day, I am working towards the necessary 1,000 laps on the virtual Nürburgring track in Forza 6 on Xbox One.
You can find me on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, Flickr, Pinterest, LinkedIn, and Tumblr.
The most popular posts on my blog are The 10-Year Hoodie, On Telecommuting, My Life as a Bodybuilder, and Renkara Offices. The Christmas card made with my sons a few years ago is still a favorite.
This website is stored in a Git repository, generated with Hugo, built with CodeBuild, copied to an S3 bucket, and is served by a CloudFront distribution in the AWS cloud.
The “I never lose. Either I win, or I learn.” quote at the top of this page is from Nelson Mandela.