My Story
The early spark. My journey in the digital world began back in 2000, when I first started dabbling in web development and even served a few local clients as a teenager. That initial spark led to a career of over 15 years as a project manager, primarily leading teams in digital communications and development. Managing complex projects gave me a deep appreciation for the process of building things, a theme that has carried through all my creative work.
Coming back to code. Recently, I’ve rediscovered my passion for hands-on development, diving back into the code that first sparked my interest two decades ago. The explosion of new technologies, especially in the realm of AI, has been a huge catalyst, opening up incredible new possibilities. This has inspired me to begin working on my own software projects, which I am actively refining with the goal of releasing them to the public in the near future.
Building my own infrastructure. That same curiosity pulled me toward Linux and self-hosting around the middle of this decade. I wanted to own more of my own data instead of renting space in someone else’s cloud, and the best way to actually understand how software gets built and deployed was to do it myself. What started as a single Ubuntu box has grown into a proper homelab — Unraid, Docker, and a slowly expanding stack of self-hosted services I maintain end to end. It’s become one of the best ways I know to learn: nothing teaches you how a system really works like being the one responsible for keeping it online.
Sports and studies. This passion for deconstruction isn’t just professional; it’s deeply personal. Growing up, I played every sport I could, from hockey and baseball to a bit of soccer. I loved my time on the ice, and while I may have put up more penalty minutes than goals, I cherished my role as a two-way center who could win a key face-off and kill a penalty. After finishing high school in 2002, I enrolled at the University of Manitoba to study Political Studies, with a focus on Canadian and Russian History. My interest in understanding conflict and systems led to my acceptance into the Honours program for International Conflict Resolution.
A different kind of playground. That same fascination with systems shows up in a different kind of playground, too: my love of gaming started young, building and managing entire cities in SimCity on our family’s IBM 386 — my first taste of complex systems I could take apart and rebuild. I’ve enjoyed consoles from the NES and Genesis through PlayStation and Xbox, but these days I’m mostly on PC and my Steam Deck. For years I led guilds in MMORPGs, which taught me as much about community management as the games themselves — I don’t just play, I analyze the mechanics, the design, and the stories. I’m slowly chronicling that lifelong backlog — my “Pile of Shame” — over on my Infinite Backlog profile.
Understanding myself. This drive to understand complex systems wasn’t just academic. For much of my life, I’ve navigated the challenges that come with ADHD and Generalized Anxiety Disorder. It took a lot of time and effort to deconstruct the most complex system I’ve ever encountered: myself. Through that process, I began to understand what truly drives me and what I need to do to be the best version of myself, turning what were once obstacles into the very source of my ability to hyper-focus and connect disparate ideas.
Podcasts, streams, and communities. That same drive to figure things out led me and some friends, long before we really knew what we were doing, to start our first podcast, High Level Wizards — reviewing games and talking about the platforms and titles we were excited about. It’s the same passion that fuels ScootTalks today. I’ve also streamed on Twitch to explore the platform and connect with others, and for a few years was a key part of the online Football Manager community, hosting events and producing charity streams. I believe that by taking things apart, we better appreciate how they’re built — and learn to build better things ourselves.
Home life. When I’m not in front of a screen or dabbling with my ever-growing homelab I’m the proud father of two brilliant kids and the lucky partner of an incredible wife who is also a small business owner here in Winnipeg. My passion for sports continues as I get way too invested in the fortunes of my favourite teams, a love I now get to share with my own family. This site is the home for all those interconnected worlds.
