Life is pain, princess. . . anyone who says differently is selling something
--Wesley The Princess Bride

It's only fair that if I present an opinion, that I also present myself. Any person will have biases based on their life experiences. So here are mine in a nutshell.

James Fleming Rorie, Jr, Ph.D. Born : August, 8th, 1966. Education: Ph.D., Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of North Carolina at Charlotte, 1998. Martial Status: Single, Never Married Religion: Spiritual but unaffiliated Political Affiliation: Unaffiliated w/ Libertarian leanings

Background

I got started in technology in August 1979 at the tender age of 14 with a 16K Atari 400($499.95), model 410 tape drive($99.95) and a BASIC language cartridge (free with system!). I used my knowledge of the system to get a job with ComputerLand at 16.

Soon after, I struck a deal with the owner of the store and got a deal on a PC. After much negotiation, I picked up 4.77 Mhz gen-u-wine IBM PC with Amdek CGA monitor(16 Colors!), 2-320K floppy disk drives and 128K RAM for only $3900 bucks. He was nice enough to throw in a copy of DOS 2.1 for free since I was such a hard bargainer. I got a Hayes 300 SmartModem that christmas and became the scourge of SPRINT and MCI.

I dropped out of high school at 17 since all I was interested in were computers and they weren't teaching them. From there I worked a number of jobs at computer stores until I realized that working as a retail technician was a dead end and decided to go back to school in '87. I received my GED in 1986 and enrolled in Central Piedmont Community College. I can't say enough about the high quality of the instructors at CPCC. They taught me that school wasn't all bad and that if I actually studied, I could pass a test.

From there, I transferred to University of North Carolina at Charlotte where I majored in Computer Science. I found myself more interested in the electrical side of things so I switched over to Electrical Engineering for my masters and doctoral work.

While at UNCC, A friend and I started Logisys (then Logical Systems), a Charlotte area consulting firm, in 1993. The formation of the company was in desperation due to the fact that our advisor had left the country and neglected to pay our salaries for FOUR months over the summer. Fortunately, the business took off immediately. I finally finished up my Ph.D. thesis in 1998 while working full time at Logisys.

Leo (AKA Leo da' Lugnut, Tuna Breath, Ferret Head, etc.) 14 lbs of Sealpoint Siamese I adopted from VA Siamese Rescue. Great organization. Also check out Siamese Internet Cat Club.

Recreation

SCUBA Diving - If your gonna go, go to the Cayman Islands. There is no substitute.

Weight Training - If you are into working out, there is only one resource, the misc.fitness.weights usenet newsgroup. No cost, no BS, just lots of good information.

Aviation - I am a certificated Private Pilot. I received my training at Wilgrove Airport.