about

I'm John. Glad you stopped by.

I'm an English major who got interested in technology a long time ago, spent some time leading a web development team, and is now more on the business side of professional life. Currently, I lead the product development department of a major educational services company, and I'm working on my master's degree in educational technology.

Sparkplug 9 is a conglomeration of all my previous blogs. The archives go back to 2004, but I was blogging on other platforms (one roll-your-own that I built as an experiment) since before the word blog was invented.

On a personal note I'm 35, married, and have three kids (Gabrielle - 11, Ethan - 8, Aidan - 4). We live near Vancouver, British Columbia, though I work on both sides of the US-Canada border.

I get passionate about aesthetics, design, and usability, and wonder if those three words are really just one concept. And I get excited about new ways of doing business and marketing ... ways that respect people as people, ask more than answer, listen more than talk, try to serve, and, most importantly, create absolutely amazingly awesome stuff.

I play ice hockey, among other sports, and read history, science fiction, and just about anything else. I like pieces in just about every genre of music except rap, hip hop, and death metal.

There's always more: people are only simple at a distance. Up close they're granular, craggy, and complex.

But I've used the word "I" way too much already. So that's all I'll write here.

Have a great day, and God bless.