Congratulations web traveler!
You have stumbled upon the corner of the World Wide Web devoted to Daniel Calhoun and all that that implies. You are indeed one lucky individual. I have compiled a list of interesting links to the right. In addition, you can read my brief biography or read about my weird hobbies. Whether they like it or not, I have also included some links to the web pages of some other humans I have met. If you have an opinion on my web site, or just want to vent, send me some comments, but don't hold your breath waiting for a reply.
Brief Biography
I am a graduate of the University of Texas at Dallas, with a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science, and a staff member working in the Academic Computing and User Support (formerly Technology Customer Services) unit of the Information Resources department. I was a member of UTD's First Freshman class in the fall of 1990. Prior to college, I graduated with Honors from Skyline High School and Career Development Center in Dallas, Texas. While in high school, I took many courses in applied sciences, history, and mathematics. I attended the Alex W. Spence Academy for Talented and Gifted Students for the seventh and eighth grades. Growing up, I lived in the Oak Cliff neighborhood of Dallas. Since then, I have lived in Richardson, north Dallas, the historic State-Thomas neighborhood in the Uptown area of Dallas, and Plano.
Like many folks, my first two jobs came while still in high school. First, I spent ten weeks during the summer of 1989 as a junior counselor at the YMCA Camp Grady Spruce on Possum Kingdom Lake near Mineral Wells, Texas. My second job was as general ticket-, trash-, and popcorn-boy at a local United Artist movie theater in Dallas. After my freshman year of college, I was hired as a product specialist (essentially salesman) by a local Best Buy Superstore. For over three years, I worked for that company, both part-time and full-time, in many different in-store positions, including computer technician, personal electronics head, and service technician. Beginning with the fall semester of 1994, I was employed in the UTD Academic Computing Center as a McDermott PC lab computer assistant (CA). In November 1994, I moved to the on-campus PC Technical Support staff, and was doing LAN support. In November 1995, I left UTD and got a job doing Tech Support and administration for Unicomp Technologies. After a few months, I landed a similar job with Waymark Internet Services, with more emphasis on Web Design and Web programming, including Perl scripting.
Beginning in September 1996, I returned for another stint at UTD. This time, I was working in a full-time staff position, doing Technical Support for the Instructional Computing and Distributed Computing departments. On December 21, I walked across the stage at the commencement ceremony and received my Bachelor of Science diploma. In the Spring of 1997, I moved out of the technical support position and assumed a full-time programmer position. In October 1997, I moved back to a customer service position as the Assistant MicroComputer Lab Manager. In January 1998, the old lab manager moved into a new position, and I became the MicroComputer Lab Manager. After a 14-month stint in the lab manager position, I moved back to the internal programmer position in March 1999.
I left the cozy confines of UTD for the private sector for the second time in March 2000. I worked as a web programmer/designer for an interactive design company named Dreamlab Imagineering until January 2001. After realizing that a future in programming was not for me, I returned to the nurturing bosom of UTD as the supervisor of the UTD Computing Help Desk and then moved up to become the Desktop Support Manager. Around August of 2003, I moved into a new role as Special Assistant to the Director. This loosely-defined position allowed me to work on special projects or events on an ad-hoc basis whenever the need arises. In January 2006, I assumed a new role of Team Leader over the Special Services team, including the training, video services, and classroom media support groups. On May 8, I became the manager of the Special Services groups as the direct supervisor over those groups. In August, our department was moved from Information Resources to Academic Affairs under the Provost. Technology Customer Services is now Academic Computing Services. After the appointment of UTD's new CIO and VP for Information Resources in February 2007, ACS was moved back under IR and the department is now named "Academic Computing and User Support." On August 29, 2008, the decision was made to transfer all of Media Services (classroom support, AV system design, and video production) to the Office of Educational Enhancement once again under Academic Affairs. My team will now report to an assistant provost and my role within Information Resources will change.
I made a big decision in the summer of 2006, and applied for admission as a graduate student in UTD's Masters of Public Affairs program. If I take two courses a semester, I should graduate in August of 2009. Along with the MPA, I should also earn a graduate certificate in Local Government.
My Hobbies
Watching SPORTS of all kinds in hobby Numero Uno in my free time (when and if I will ever get some again!) In addition to watching, I do listen to the first and best all-sports radio station in the DFW area, The Ticket.
Here are some links to the web pages of our local professional teams (along with some editorial opinions):
- Dallas Stars Hockey: It is about time for the Cup to return to Texas!
- Dallas Cowboys Football! The Romo Revolution has begun. Look out NFL!
- Texas Rangers Baseball: The ballpark is great and the beer is cold. That's a start.
- Dallas Mavericks Basketball: The little Mavericks are on the rise after reaching the Western Conference Finals! Wow!
- Arsenal F.C. of the English Premier League: One of the most storied top-flight soccer teams in Europe. Getting younger and stronger with Cesc, Adebayor, Almunia, van Persie, Sagna, and more.
- FC Dallas Soccer: Go to one game at Pizza Hut Park and you'll be a fan.
I do love my role-playing. I have even created a whole web page about that subject alone. Unfortunately, I haven't spent much time role-playing lately.
I also like to watch, read, and listen to science fiction related stuff. I am a big fan of the British Comedy Red Dwarf. If you have any questions about the show, check out the online version of the Red Dwarf FAQ. Another one of my favorite SciFi shows is the long-running BBC serial Doctor Who. The venerable Doctor has finally returned to TV with a new series in 2005, featuring Christopher Eccleston and then David Tennant in the lead role. The SciFi Channel has aired the first four seasons in the US after their initial runs on the BBC, but it sounds like the fifth season won't happen until 2010. The Doctor Who home page conatains a lot of info about the original show's 26 seasons on the air from 1963 until 1989 and the newest incarnation.
I am also a big fan of the Babylon 5 TV series, created by J. Michael Straczynski (JMS for short). The best online resource for Babylon 5 is the Lurker's Guide to Babylon 5. You can read the Internet musings of JMS directly at the JMSNews web site. The latest installment of Babylon 5 was a new series of vignettes called "Babylon 5: The Lost Tales", which was released on DVD in 2007. JMS also produced "Jeremiah" for Showtime on cable, a very interesting show about a post-apocalyptic future.
I enjoyed the new series Star Trek: Enterprise, especially the final season. Since its cancellation, we are left with no new weekly adventures on TV for the first time in 18 years. But there is considerable buzz about the new Star Trek film, being made by J. J. Abrams of "Lost" and "Alias" fame. The new movie is a bit of a reinventing of the original series, with all new actors playing Kirk, Spock, McCoy, Scotty, Chekov, Uhura, etc. Star Trek debuts in theaters in May of 2009. For the latest info on all things Star Trek, check out TrekWeb,one of my favorite Star Trek web sites.
As you can tell, TV is probably my number 2 hobby. I have some links to my favorite shows on the right.
Other Humans
To be fair to the folks on this list, I am going to list the links in alphabetical order.
- Thomas Hughes, former co-worker at DreamLab who has created a cool, stream-of-consciousness web site
- Paul Schmehl, my ex-boss who has moved on to a security analyst position in our department
- Glen Van Noy, co-worker at UTD and generally cool guy. Check out his music section especially.
- Joe Ziegler, old friend from junior high and high school, now living in Australia.
Interesting Links
Music
They Might Be Giants
Official
Unofficial
Yahoo! Launch
Glen's Streaming Music
Sports
ESPN
CNN/SI
MLB.com
The Ticket (KTCK)
Space
NASA
NASA Weekly Highlights
Manned Spaceflight
SETI@home
Gaming
HERO Games
Champions Online
Civilization IV
EverQuest II
Lord of the Rings Online
