I'm Jax. Or at least, that's what I tell people and that's what
they call me. I used to be someone else, but I like it better
this way.
I'm currently 23 and living in Vancouver, British Columbia, the
place I've called home for most of my life.
On two occasions I have been professionally diagnosed with Aspergers
Syndrome. It has made my already difficult life a lot more complicated,
but in recent years I have learned to keep it under control.
If you were to ask me what I do, I wouldn't be able to give you
a single concise answer. Going simply by what occupies the most
of my time, it would be reasonable to say that I sleep. Somehow
I doubt that's what you wanted to hear though. If you really need
an ordinary answer to the question, I could say that I'm an electronics
technician. But that
doesn't say anything about what it means to be me.
I fix things. I fix unusual problems for local computer stores,
I fix my mother's cell phone when she drops it, I've fixed people's
life problems, and I've broken a few along the way.
I make things. I build funny little doodads and take strange pictures
and write even stranger stories.
I dream things. I come up with outlandish ideas and make crazy
plans and get lost in thought about how beautiful the world could
be.
Somewhere in all that I find myself being able to pay rent and
keep eating. That's enough for me.
For those of you who understand it,
G d- s+: a-- C++++$ UISX P L- E-- !W+++ N !o K- w++++$ O+ M--$
!V PS+ PE Y+ !PGP t+ 5 !X-- R tv b++ DI D G !e-- h+ r--- y-**
FCW3a A- C D? H+ M P- R++ T++++ W Z+ Sm++ RLBM/CT/RB/AT a cadnou++++
d e* f+++ h-- i+++ j+ p>+ sm-
Random Jax Fax Facts:
6ft2" tall.
170lbs. Sometimes.
Nearsighted.
Needs wide shoes for his huge hairy feet.
Has never set foot in a Wal-Mart.
Secretly likes Sarah McLachlan.
Wants an otter.
My Site:
For somewhere around 8 years now I've had this lonely little
corner of the web to myself. It serves as a place to document
my many ill-advised projects and adventures. It's also slowly
turning into my own personal soap box.
I've quite deliberately kept the styling dirt simple. The page
could be from any time in the last 15 years. I still maintain
it in dreamweaver 4 and regularly test it for compatibility on
obscure platforms like the Sega Dreamcast. Yeah, I know I sound
like an old fart. You damn kids, get off my LAN!
This site has never contained banner ads, flash ads, in-line
ads, mouse overs, pop-unders, pop-ups, interstitials, sponsored
links or any of the many other disgusting and distracting advertising
methods now commonly used to make the web less functional. I pride
myself in keeping the site free of that garbage. All the sites
costs are paid for out of my own pocket. Since I register the
domain for many years at a time, my total operating cost is less
than $8 per year.
My Workshop:
I've recently moved, rendering these images out of date. But
everything's still in boxes at my new place, so the pictures wouldn't
be nearly so interesting.
This is my workshop. Okay, it's actually supposed to be the
master bedroom, but I figured turning it into a shop was a better
use of the space.
At the far end is my general purpose bench. That's actually an
IAC Dimension 4 workbench with a heat/chemical/static resistant
surface. Thing weighs a ton and can take a huge amount of weight.
I got it from the liquidation of A&B Sound, via Free Geek.
A good thing, because otherwise it would have been several thousand
dollars. Next to it is a surprisingly sturdy shelf bought from
Costco. It's much better than the ~$50 price tag would suggest.
So much so that I went back and bought 2 more. Had to beat the
thing together with a hammer, but that just means it's not likely
to come apart.
On the right side are my two other workstations, separated by
a functional 68040 NeXT cube. Said cube actually holds up the
pair of boards I use as a shelf. And the whole bench is just 2
sheets of plywood across 3 cabinets I found on the free pile.
One side of the plywood bench is my electronics workstation.
I've got a very good little digital temperature controlled soldering
iron which I picked up from Main
Electronics. It's actually branded Circuit-Test, which is
RP Electronics' house
brand, yet Main had it cheaper. Go figure. Either way it's got
great power and a grip that's very close to the tip for working
on tiny things with precision. I also scored a Metcal power supply
from free geek but the wand is missing. For now it just sits there
looking imposing. There's also a very dated oscilloscope, a cheap
and nasty Chinese variable power supply, and an ex-BC-Tel signal
generator. Together with my NeXT cubes the signal generator holds
the shelf up. I love multi purpose items.
The other side of the bench has my PC repair workstation. This
is pretty straight forward stuff, plunk a PC down and go to work.
You can also see my second 68040 NeXT cube holding up the other
end of the shelf.
The left side of the room holds my vintage workstation. All sorts
of outdated nerdery happens here. Note such things as the K6-2
dream machine and the laserdisc
rig are kept at this station.
My room:
It should come as little surprise that my room is full of vintage
computers and oddities as well. In fact there's so much stuff
in it that I ran out of room for my bed...
...requiring that I put it in the closet! You'd be surprised
by how comfortable a closet can be. The width was exactly right
for my bed, and rain can be heard on the other side of the roof
at night.
Behind the door is this, my shrine to all things Sega. And opposite
that,
My Workstation:
My desk is an old wooden one that's seen time in several offices.
It's in pretty ratty shape, but it's very strong. I'll take it
over a piece of Ikea junk any day. I never have to worry about
the weight of whatever crazy project I'm working on.
My primary machine is an
ever changing mix of new and salvaged hardware. Currently it has
an Intel Core i5 2500k on an Asrock Z68 Extreme4 Gen3. It is equipped
with 16 gigabytes of DDR3-1333 RAM, a fanless Nvidia GTX 550Ti
video card and 3 x 1TB Seagate Barracuda SATA drives in a RAID
5 array. Operating system is Windows 7 Pro on an Abit Sandybridge
120gb SSD. The 100/5Mbit Cable connection is provided by Shaw.
And I'm hungry like the wolf
