About Me
During the day, I am a software engineer for Blackfin Technology in Boise, ID. I mainly develop websites in C#/ASP.NET MVC, but I also dabble in other technologies. All that stuff is covered in my résumé, so I won't bother repeating it here. In my free time, I try to split my time between gaming, learning more about electronics – especially about microcontrollers, and keeping my house from falling down. I tend to have a dozen projects that I'm working on at any time, as I'm easily distracted by shiny things. Currently, I'm working on a variety of nixie tube clocks, shelves for my den, a rep-rap, and building an 8-bit computer from spare parts.
Why ungood?
My screen name, ++ungood (usually without the punctuation), came about while I was in high school, playing a lot of Quake 3. The name is, of course, a reference to the newspeak word "doubleplusungood" referenced in 1984, which I had just read when I was coming up with pseudonyms. The way I spell it with punctuation is a tribute to one of my favorite activities – programming; it indicates adding 1 to a variable named "ungood". As I have a very common real name, I often identify myself online with my pseudonym so as to avoid confusion with the hundreds of other Jason Walkers you will find if you Google me. The fact that people sometimes naively underestimate me in competitive gaming is only a side-benefit, I promise.
Why onetrue.name?
A true name is the "right and proper" name for a thing which completely encompasses its nature. According to many mythologies and traditions, knowing a person's true name gives you power over that person. The story, Rumpelstiltskin, involves the main character attempting to learn the true name of a supernatural creature – Rumpelstiltskin – to save her child. A true name is also a reference to the fascinating world of cryptography, and so again ties two of my favorite things together: literature and programming.
