Ubuntu Wiki

About Me

Hi, I'm Aaron. I've been a Linux user for almost ten years now. My primary distro of choice for most of that time was Slackware (which I continue to use alongside Ubuntu). A lot has changed in that span of time and I'm using Linux on the desktop more each day.

I've been using Ubuntu since the day the first Warty Preview was released and I've been doodling with Ubuntu related artwork nearly as long. Ubuntu has been a "breakthrough" desktop distro for me, finally providing a comfortable desktop experience and graphic design tools that have almost completely replaced my thousands of dollars worth of graphic design software in Windows.

My design experience covers a broad range of media. My first professional job was doing graphic and sign design and fabrication at a quality, family owned sign shop in Romeo Michigan called "Whitcomb and Sons Sign Company". It was there that I first became aware of and interested in web design. I think the initial attraction was the idea of "instant publishing", compared to sign design that might take months to go from concept to finished project. I left that job to work for EDS (Electronic Data Systems) for a few years doing phone tech support, and worked on freelance web design projects on the side. Eventually the web design projects became more than I could handle as I side job, and I quit EDS to form a web design firm partnered with my friend Adam. Adam was a CS major and the first person to introduce me to Linux (Slackware 3-ish maybe?). We built a small client-base of web design customers as well as general "tech geeks for hire", doing a number of Linux router/firewall/fileserver/mailserver installs for medium-sized businesses and churches in the area. Unfortunately when the dotcom bubble burst, our stream of new clients also slowed to a halt. Finally realizing that the maintenance of our existing customers wouldn't be enough to support me full-time, I found another job doing graphic and sign design. This time it was a bit different - primarily designing and printing large-format paper signs for a beer distributor (which had lots of nice perks!). Unfortunately, while at that job, I ruptured two discs in my back - the first non-work related and the second while on the job (curse those non-ergonomic 48" paper cutters!). That brings me to the present where I'm still trying to get my back in normal working order. In some cases this gives me lots of free time to work on personal projects (like Ubuntu artwork), and in other cases I'm either too sore or too medicated to do much of anything. Thankfully I've had Ubuntu to help occupy my time and keep me sane when I have nothing else to do!

Another area of my professional life is music. I learned to play piano as a child, and I've been playing the guitar for about 16 years. The majority of my playing was either with an alt-rock band (think Gin Blossoms, Counting Crows, Steve Taylor) called "Glorious Thunder" (no, I didn't pick the name), or as the full-time guitar player for my church in both youth services (R&B, funk, gospel, rock) and "big church" (aka the main Sunday/Wednesday services) playing contemporary worship, gospel and rock styles. Along the line I've also been down to Nashville to do random live and session playing. With my back injuries I'm limited to "guitar-noodling" at home, just to keep my fingers in shape.

Ubuntu Projects

• (Former, due to surgery) Team Coordinator for the Ubuntu ArtTeam.

  • Facilitate communication between Canonical and the Ubuntu art community.
  • Moderate the ubuntu-art mailing list.
  • Answer (and ask) questions in the #ubuntu-artwork IRC channel on irc.freenode.net.

  • Working with Canonical to set up and maintain the Ubuntu Art Website.

• Member of the LaptopTestingTeam.

  • Perform installs, check hardware support and file bug reports for my Canonical supplied LaptopTestingTeam/ToshibaPortegeS100 laptop.

  • Answer (and ask) questions in the #ubuntu-laptop IRC channel on irc.freenode.net

Personal Projects

My own Ubuntu Artwork page is located at www.volvoguy.net/ubuntu.

I own/run a website for the excellent Korg "A Series" of professional effects processors. This is a very fulfilling project that attracts thousands of visitors a month, has an active mailing list, and has the blessing of the Korg company (who now uses my website as the sole support for these products).

My web design business, Sunesis Technologies, still maintains somewhat of a web presence, although new projects have been few and far between lately.

Contact Info

• Email: volvoguy (@) gmail.com
• AOL Instant Messenger (AIM): awaite32
• Yahoo Messenger: aaronwaite_2000
• MSN Messenger: ithinkiateyourcat (@) msn.com

• Personal website: www.volvoguy.net

• IRC: volvoguy (frequently found in #ubuntu, #ubuntu-artwork and #ubuntu-laptop)

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