I have been blessed with a great many loves in my life. My current profession is the result of a passion discovered at 13 years of age with a Timex Sinclair 1000. From the Sinclair I quickly graduated to a Commodore 64, C-128, BASIC, IBM PC, C, and finally internet development. I enjoy my work a lot. I love the creative process that it inspires. Graphic design, coding, data modeling - I enjoy all of it.I am proficient in a number of technologies including PHP, CSS3, HTML5, JavaScript, native and hybrid mobile app design. But I believe that my greatest skill is not technical at all - bridging the gap between technology and the end user.You see, I'm primarily a web application developer. Many of the projects I build are used by people on a daily basis as part of their jobs. I believe that the user should not be forced to conform to an app, but that an app should conform to the user.Achieving this takes more than a deep knowledge of user interface design. It also requires empathy, patience, the ability to listen, a willingness to discard "great" ideas in favor of workable ones, and a strong desire to hear your client say, "This is exactly how I thought it should work." I love that!I founded UpStart Productions in November of 2000 with the desire to help small businesses build truly effective internet strategies without paying exorbitant fees. I have been a full-time employee of The Research Institute at Western Oregon University since March of 2005. I'm in a great community of professionals and the projects I work on continually push my skills forward.Aside from my day job, I have created and nurtured two SaaS apps since 2005: CreativePro Office, a project management app, and StuffSafe, a home/business inventory app. Since their creation, these apps collectively have been used by over 50,000 people and have been featured in Lifehacker, GigaOm, Smashing Magazine, PC Magazine's AppScout, and Kim Komando.