I’m Jim Priest. Husband, father (of two), developer, and avid motorcyclist.
My blog is a mish mash of programming stuff (mostly related to ColdFusion), motorcycling, parenting and the occasional movie and book review.
Background
I spent many years working in the Engineering Industry working for companies like Jacobs Engineering as a CAD (Computer Aided Design/Drafting) Operator while tinkering with computers as a hobby in the evenings.
Around 1995, while working for Clark, Richardson and Biskup, I was given the opportunity to become a Network Administrator (I was the only person who knew anything about PCs) and jumped at the chance. I learned lots of things about networking, CAT5 cabling, Novell (!), keeping users happy and the importance of daily backups.
While I was at Clark, Richardson and Biskup I became intrigued in this “World Wide Web” and began teaching myself HTML. Soon I had a ‘blog’ on the net, and began to create what most would later call an ‘intranet’ for the company using a new programming language: Cold Fusion. As I became more engrossed in programming I had to make a choice - continue with my career as a network administrator or make the leap and become a full time ‘programmer’?
I launched thecrumb.com in 1999 to celebrate the birth of my first daughter.
In 2000 I joined a new startup called ClickCulture - an up-and-coming web development and design firm. As the second employee at ClickCulture I wore many hats: CTO, network administrator, ColdFusion developer and occasionally, designer.
In 2006 I made the jump to Lockheed Martin where I currently work as a Senior Software Development Analyst - contracted out to the National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences (NIEHS). I’m still working primarily with ColdFusion. I’m also working with Powerbuilder as well as programming some handheld applications in Visual CE.
In 2008 the NIEHS contract with Lockheed Martin was picked up by SRA International. New office, new location and new job title: Configuration Manager.
Writing
Hobbies
I’m an avid motorcyclist. I try to commute to work daily on my Suzuki V-Strom! I also enjoy building and flying electric remote controlled aircraft.
And of course I still enjoy tinkering with computers. In the last few years I’ve become interested in Linux and currently run Ubuntu on my home computer (no more Windows!)
Quotes
“The computer can’t tell you the emotional story. It can give you the exact mathematical design, but what’s missing is the eyebrows.” ~Frank Zappa
Certifications
About This Blog
This blog is currently running on WordPress. My wiki is running Dokuwiki.