I’m just a guy, a dad of 3 kids, a BBQ’r, a DevOpster, a guitarist, a woodworking hobbyist, and generally love being outdoors. At least that’s my profile right now, it changes from time to time, and sometimes I forget to list things. I created this page because although sometimes I need to keep things in my life separate - for instance, I can’t really go around posting all my BBQ adventures on my works blog but at the same time, both of those things are part me, and I wanted to provide a site where all of those pieces can collide. That’s it, that’s the origin story of why this site exists.

More About Me

HellBent BBQ

2016-Present

Pitmaster/Owner/Marketer/Chief Dishwasher

HellBent is my baby, a project near and dear to my heart. My wife and I started HellBent in 2016. It was both a way to make an income and a way forward on our competition BBQ path. We started offering BBQ classes in 2017, sharing our knowledge of how to grill and smoke a variety of food.

Arctiq

2018-Present

DevOps Consultant

Coming off 6 years of flying solo, I joined DevOps consulting services firm Arctiq in 2018. We are basically a shop of IT Ninjas kicking ass in the spaces of automation (ansible/terraform/CICD) and anything and everything Kubernetes (GKE, Openshift, Anthos).

Dad

2008-The Rest of my Life

Dad

I have changed diapers, I have wiped tears, I have washed away dirt, I have comforted when sick and I have seen 3 beautiful children my wife and I brought into this world grow each day. This part of my life is at the very core of who I am.

Other notable things:

  • 🎸 I love playing guitar. I think I am probably fairly terrible, but who cares. I currently have 5- Cole Clark FLA1, Yamaha acoustic, BC Rich Mocking Bird, Ibanez AR300, and a Seagul 12 string. I love playing anything from folky stuff from early Neil Young, to 90’s RATM and Metallica, to 2000s Tool, and anything classic rock ranging from Sabbath, Hendrix or Clapton
  • 🏕️ I love camping. I don’t get to do enough of it. Backcountry camping, no power, no people, no cars. Just the outdoors and calm.
  • 🪚 I’ve taken up some form of woodworking, like guitar, I am pretty sure I am terrible at this, but I enjoy it. I bought some tools, and I still have all my digits (knock on wood). Producing something feels amazing.
  • ❤️ I’ll probably take shit for putting this in the other notables section but it is a big one, I am married to my best friend. I can’t imagine my life without her for a moment. All the ridiculous projects I jump into, she is there, giving me enough rope to hang myself each time. Thanks hun!