?

I’m John. Glad you stopped by.

I’m an English major who got interested in technology a long time ago, spent four years leading a web development team, led product development for a major educational services company, and am starting up a North American office for Oslo-based EasyBits Software. I’m also finishing a master’s degree in educational technology.

If you’re looking for more information about me professionally, it’d be a good idea to connect with me on on LinkedIn.

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 36, married, and have three kids (Gabrielle – 12, Ethan – 9, Aidan – 5). 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.