My name is Alan, but you can call me Al. By day I'm a biotech, web & database software developer and at night I transform in to a do-it-yourself addict. I've remodeled my house, recorded music, worked on my motorcycle, and brewed my own beer.

I like the outdoors, but the city is fine too.

And I like coffee.

Latest Blog Posts

Mapping Natural Resources, Revisited

June 24, 2010

The opportunity to revisit my first mapping project presented itself so I implemented some of the improvements that all of us knew the original could use. The new version will be the Level 2 Citizen Monitors and Monitoring Stations Map.

Etikette & Web UI

February 16, 2010

I've been a web developer for a long time. My work progressed from user interface, to the server-side scripting, to databases. As my work became more specialized, however, my web UI skills emaciated. Recently I had the opportunity to give them a workout when I implemented the new design for Etikette.

Visualizing Triathlon Performance

September 25, 2009

I ran my first triathlon about a month ago. I'm not sure what a normal approach might be for other people doing the same but, being the data geek I am, I ended up with handwritten calendar-based training plans and grids of statistics that my bike computer spat out. I even started the whole mess with running a basic regression analysis on triathlon times I found on the web. That was enough to start training but surely there's more of a story to be told.