I just realized that a lot of people have been looking at this article so I better make it a little more informative!
I am a software developer and have been programming for about 20 years. Mostly self-taught for the first 15 or so. I came up the xbase path - dbIII, dbIV, Clipper, FP2.0-2.6, VB4,5,6 and now .NET. There were a few months of Java exploration. First when FP3 came out, I played with Java and chose VB. Then when .NET came out, I spent 3 months with jBuilder and decided to stick with Microsoft. (Phew!)
I am self-employed and have been since about 1989 except for a stint with the wonderful Synergy Software here in Vermont when I first moved up (just in case).
Over those years I lived in NYC for eight years, the beautiful Hudson Valley (Rhinebeck, NY) for another 8 years and moved to Vermont in 1999 with my husband, Rich.
I took my community experience from my FoxPro days and used it to help define my vision for the .NET user group I started in February 2002 in Burlington, Vermont. www.vtdotnet.org. I hooked up with INETA in June 2002 and became the editor of the newsletter as well as a user group liaison. I am currently the co-chair (along with Ruth Walther from dotnetusers.org in Seattle) of that committee. I became a Microsoft MVP (.NET) in June 2003.
Personal stuff: Although I have sadly been attached to my computer chair for the last 1.5 years trying to learn .NET and blogging and doing the user group and INETA, I am normally a bit of an outdoor enthusiast, which is how I met my husband. We do a lot of road bicycling and love the steep mountains of Vermont to ride over. We also are devoted paddlers, not white water, but kayaking out on the huge ocean like Lake Champlain and in the ocean when we can. In the winter you can find us skiing out in the back country or at our fave lift-serve center... Mad River Glen. Rich is an excellent telemark skiier and I was converted about 4 years ago after having been a fixed-heeler since the age of 6 (that's a lot of years). We also do a lot of winter hiking up in the mountains. I hope to get back to all of these loves soon.
We have no kids which means our cat, G.B. and Newfoundland dog, Tasha, are spoiled sweet. (pics below)
We live up in the mountains with great views on one side (which I can see whilst working on my computer) and the state park (national forest?) (somewhere between the Applachian Gap and Camel's Hump) behind us.
And then the age old question: Is it Julie or Julia? I am “Julia on paper“ - birth certificate, business cards and anywhere else that I try to sound like I'm a grown up. However, I have been called Julie all my life and I invite you to do the same.
Here are me & my husband, Rich, on a day ski trip in the Green Mountains of Vermont Dec 2002. Those are apricots in our mouths by the way...
Our "vanity objects" (heh). Our beautiful dog, Tasha and her boyfriend G.B. These two get spoiled rotten since they are our "kids". Tasha is 9 years old (as of 12/2002).
