Bio

The Basics
I am a 23 year old living in the suburbs of Chicago. I work full time as an SAP Consultant for IBM, and I am on the road most of the time working at client sites. I graduated from Lehigh University in 2007 with a B.S. in Computer Science & Business and a B.S. in Business Information Systems.

Technology
I’ve been interested in computers, and subsequently technology, since I was about 7 and my dad told me to figure out how to use our brand new computer running Windows 3.1. I started programming in middle school and soon learned that I really enjoyed writing web pages that used my programming skills. A friend and I started a web design company and I worked on a few sites throughout high school and college to keep me busy. I’ve always been fascinated with gadgets, but I really started getting into the technology scene in college when I started broadening my understanding of how everything worked together. I became very interested in business information systems and how a company can benefit from a clean, integrated system to improve their processes and make more money. I’m still a “computer geek” and always keep up with the latest technology trends and services available, even if only for a test drive.

Photography
For as long as I can remember, I’ve been interested in cameras and photography. Back in the film days this was a tough habit as a child since it was very expensive to practice. I remember the first time my dad let me borrow his SLR camera at my brother’s soccer tournament and after two games I finished up 4 rolls of film. $100 of film and processing later, my dad wasn’t too happy with me. But my love for photography wasn’t gone and I waited for the days I could buy my own. Luckily, digital camera came out and throughout college I used a point-and-shoot to capture parties, sports, trips, etc. For graduation I bought myself a Nikon D40x DSLR and immediately took it on a trip to Europe. I’ve been working hard to improve my techniques for properly using a DSLR to create non-boring photographs. I’m still learning and I hope that this site will force me to keep shooting and processing enough to really perfect my skills.

Travel
As a child we didn’t travel too much outside of soccer tournaments (which took up most weekends during the summer), so when I got to college I took every opportunity to see other countries. During college I made it to a handful of countries, including a summer in Ireland, and when I graduated I took a trip through Europe with a group of 20 college grads where I visited about 7 countries in just under 3 weeks. I hope in the future I will be able to visit many more countries in Europe, as well as countries in the Far East and Australia. I also travel within the US every week for my job. As a consultant, I live at home and fly to the client’s site every week. Typically I travel to the same city all the time, but on the weekends I typically visit friends in lieu of going home. I’ve been to a bunch of cities since I started and I plan on seeing many more in the near future.

Sports
While I currently don’t play any organized sports right now, I played soccer from age 5 to 18, baseball through middle school, and lacrosse in high school. I’ve also skied since 6th grade and golfed since I was in kindergarten and still continue to enjoy both sports on a regular basis. Once I settle down a little more I hope to get involved in some adult leagues to keep me in shape and get my soccer and lacrosse fix.

That’s It
I can’t think of anything else that I want to add to all of that. If you use Twitter, please follow me and I’ll follow you back @smenzer. I hope you enjoy my blog!