Hello!
I am a ski jumper, boring as that can be, I also find the time to find some interesting things to do as well. I love music so much I have a dedicated page just for it. There you will find what I love to hate and hate to love about music. Click here to go to the page.Personal Life
As quick as I can, I want to share what I know about myself after 22 years of life. Which reminds me I hate birthdays, celebrations for making it through another year. As if people thought you would never make it, seems silly. Or is it just because the sun is in the same point in the sky as when you were born, makes it special. Anyway, growing up in Calgary, most of my life, has been great. Lots of seasons, there are 2 summers, 6 autumns, 6 springs, and 1 winter every year. Like most people I have two parents, Brent and Terri. They have raised me well, let me make my own mistakes at least once but no more then twice. I also have a brother Brendon, who ski jumped while he was young as well. I went to normal schools up until grade 9 where I was accepted into National Sport School. They allowed me to travel over 50% of school days which would mean I fail in any normal school program.Computers
When I first entered high school, I got a laptop for Christmas. Being a shy guy, this was a way for me to express myself. Along with all the social networks that are now long gone(Nexopia, Myspace, Geocities) I got into gaming. Not only playing the games but making them. I started off making games on a program called "Game Maker Pro". It was amazing how little you have to know to get started with it. Drag and drop commands allowed for quick games, and a lot of fun. Quickly I started to find the limitations of this program. I looked on the Internet to find out how these "flash games" were made. Flash is a program where you actually have to type thousands of lines of code to make it work. This did not wave me at all, I jumped right into it starting off with making a circle move left and right. Next thing I know I was programming curved landing hills for ski jumping games. Also in my free time wanted to know how websites were made. Computer class in high school consisted of making a excel spreadsheet and highlighting certain cells...100%!! Basically this meant I had to learn find out how code this on my own. I have developed my skills over the years and although a little unorthodox it works. I like write the entire code on notepad, no web designer or .html program. Some people think its insane, I don't know any other way.Future
My life after Ski Jumping is still pretty cloudy. I have thought of many things I could do, I have interests in countless areas. I thought for many years that some I.T job was were I was going to end up. Recently I have lost most of my interest in computers, my eyes start to hurt after only 60 minutes of staring at a screen. Living in Calgary, its almost impossible to not look at oil in some way. If not from interest then simply for the money. It is almost like the army, in some ways. Recruiting kids right out of high school to work their tails off in the mud. The amount of times I hear from friends about how much money they made last week is almost enough to drop everything an sign up. But I have never been one to follow the pack, many times leaving me alone and wondering aimlessly.In grade 11 we had a school wide contest to see who could design a new school. I was mostly busy with making games or websites, but I thought I would give it a go. I spent a couple hours learning a new program called "Google Sketch Up". I thought about what a basic school needs, and began to draw. I ending up with a one straight hallway with classrooms on each side, the end was topped off with a glass dome for a student common area. All the other kids spent days working on their drawings. I simply did not have the care to spend more then a hour. The school brought in two architectures to judge the buildings. I got called into the office and being pretty shy I was scared and wondering why my name was called. I ending up winning the contest, the award was 1 credit 100% for some IT project. They asked me if I had interest in becoming an architect and I flat out said no.
I grew up with these "lego" type building toys called "k'nex" for many years I would sit in my room clicking these plastic rods to the connectors. Following an instruction book I would build these huge towers. The joy I would get from putting these plastic toys together was somthing I never thought would lead to anything. Recently I have really started to take notice in buildings, the vast array of purpose they can serve. From the basic slum shelter to a 100 story tall Gothic church. Amazed by both simple and extravagant my eyes cannot get enough.
