\about
halfgk.com -- later, halfgeek.codes -- was created in August, 2006 with three goals in mind.
  • To serve as an online resume of sorts
  • To serve as a blog, and
  • To give others getting started with .NET technologies a path to learning.
   The site still delivers on its original goals. The professional section talks about my work; the interests section is all about other aspects of my life, and everywhere throughout the site are examples of how features were coded (some of which have been added purely to satisfy curiosity about how to build them). See? Still the same. I mean, fundamentally.

\nomenclature
   The term "half-geek" comes from my late father. (My mother fails to see the humor in the name, but for all the right reasons.)

   A few years before starting the site, after I'd celebrated a significant promotion, my father noted during his visit that when I was a child he was scared I would become a geek, but I hadn't... I'd become only "half-geek." A few years later when I moved away and registered my car in another state, I considered options for a customized plate. Had I chosen the impromptu moniker, the plate would have read "HALFGK" due to space constraints.

   Although line space wasn't a constraint when selecting a domain name, availability of the name "halfgeek" was -- in early 2022 I was able to buy the halfgeek domain under the new codes TLD. (.com is still extremely expensive.) I chose .codes because it can be interpreted as a verb, implying action.

Goin' back to Cali...

   Somewhere in the site's ninth year I thought I'd check up on the status of the halfgeek.com domain. I was surprised to find it was for sale -- but even more surprised to find that some company was trying to sell it for thousands of dollars. I recall sending an e-mail to the company, introducing myself as a non-commercial interest. I never received a reply.

\image_credits
   A word or two about images used on the site. Some of the images used are digital representations of works of art I own, notably from A. E. Barnes, Alexandra Nechita, Suzanne Clements, Camprio, and Anne Irvine. I wholeheartedly encourage you to explore their works. The lighthouse lens image associated with the search feature © Steve Keefer and is used with his kind permission. The image of the Harley-Davidson motorcycle engine is the work of Gordon Calder. The image of Reunion Tower in Dallas is the work of the very talented photographer and train enthusiast at ottergoose.net. Universal Studios owns the copyright on the image of John Belushi, Disney/Pixar owns the copyright on the image of Mike Wazowski, and Nike Corporation owns the image of the model in the Nike Pro Combat football uniform. Some images are photographs to which I own the copyright. In the site's tenth year, I started finding images from GIS to use to introduce various posts. I typically find these images through GIS, and I attempt to ensure they are acccompanied by proper image credit. I use none of these images for commercial purposes.

\other_stuff
   Some content bears trademark registration symbols (®). Text and images immediately preceding such symbols are registered trademarks of their owners. Trademarked content is not included for commercial purposes.

   Great consideration has been given to personal and intellectual property matters, particularly in the recent expansion of the professional content. Extremely careful scrutiny has been applied to the design, process and code examples included herein, particularly where employers are concerned. No sensitive material of any kind has, or will be, posted herein. This is an issue I take extremely seriously. I encourage you to contact me with any such concern. Please include a means for me to reply or phone so that I may address your query promptly.

   "C" is for cookie, is good enough for me: In early 2018 I implemented the site's very first cookie as a means to persist a small amount of information for specific perusers of professional content. The cookie provides a seamless enhanced experience for these select users. The lifetime of the cookie is limited to the duration of the visit (session). Without the use of the cookie, those users would require a specially crafted URL for each web form to permit access to the enhanced content.

   I am not paid to maintain this site, nor asked to promote goods or services. From time to time, I'll pass along information I've read in magazine articles, mention Web sites I've found, or offer unqualified comments on products I like or dislike. Please interpret this as the unsolicited advice it was meant to be - one consumer to another.