Mind

I am a passionate and highly motivated developer who loves the creativity & mental challenge of building projects using code. I'm a very down-to-earth guy and pride myself on being able to communicate effectively to both business users and developers. I love the challenge of pulling apart business requirements and figuring out how to convert them into components within a system.

I'm a stickler for clean, readable and preferably simple code. For me, the Ruby programming language is a perfect extension of that, it really is a joy to code with. I started worked with Ruby on Rails around v1.1 in 2006 - it was so far beyond any other way to develop web applications back then it brings no surprises to me to see how successful it has been over the last 9 years.

Body

I have a passion for outdoors especially mountains & sea. I originally learnt to snowboard on a 3 day trip to the 3 valleys with not much other than a piece of paper with some instructions (an experience I don't recommend!). After a bruising first day, it snowed that night which gave me a bit of cushioning for the inevitable falls on day two. Fortunately it wasn't too long before I realised there is a front of the board which made things decidedly easier. Despite the bruising gung-ho approach I was hooked and have enjoyed being in the mountains since that experience. Years later I qualified as a snowboard instructor in New Zealand, taught school kids in Italy and even joined the dark-side and learnt to ski (I love both).

At home I love to keep active whether it's walking the dogs, running, swimming, cycling, or kayaking.

Spirit

For me initially the passion for coding (I always wanted to computer program since early childhood) sustained me, then as I got older I found a desire for physical activity, which, running & snowboarding filled.

However there was still a hole in my life, an itch I could never scratch...fortunately I was invited to attend a Reiki share, which at the time, seemed relaxing but nothing special. The next day at work one of my colleagues quipped "What's wrong with you today? You seem like a million dollars!" not until that moment did I realise how great I felt! I decided to train as a Reiki Master and have since helped train others in Reiki.

Reiki opened me up to possibilities and from there I spent years working with Reiki, SRT & Breathwork to do the deep & challenging work within self. I am a firm believer that strengthening our connection to the bigger part of self is the only way we will ever feel 'complete'. I'm a proud member of the SRF and practice meditation & yoga daily. I also have a passion for native traditions, from drumming to sweat-lodges to plant shamanism I find the native traditions have the dual quality of opening us up to nature around us, as well as, our higher self.