I thought it would be nice to post a little information about me, Jeff, a.k.a. Cocoa Crusty. Just in case anyone out there is curious as to who exactly I am. So here goes…
Personal Background:
My given name is Jeff but I’m better known to friends, fellow gamers, and online communities as Cocoa Crusty. I am, at the time of this writing, 29 years old and living in Texarkana, Arkansas. My birthday is May 20th and I was born in 1977. I went to school, K-9th, in the Pleasant Grove Independent School District in Texarkana, Texas and graduated from Redwater High School in Redwater, Texas in 1995. I started working during high school at the age of 16, attended some college classes at Texarkana College in Texarkana, Texas but never pursued a degree due to my inability to focus on my studies while working a full-time job.
Professional Background:
Speaking of jobs, I have had plenty. Here they are in order with an approximate time at each: Backyard Burgers (3 days), Falco Pool Supply (1 week), Arby’s (~6 months), Dairy Queen (~8 months), Total Petroleum (~8 months), Bank of Ashdown, N.A. which is now known as First National Bank (~12 months), and Red River Federal Credit Union (~3.5 years). I am currently employed at another credit union in Texarkana, Texas, which I wish to remain nameless due to a blogging policy in the updated employee manual, and have been employed there since November 4th, 1998.
When I was hired on at my current job I was in the loan department. That lasted for around 4-5 months and then I was moved to the Systems Administrator position. As the credit union grew, so did the demands for IT. My title has changed a number of times over the years from Systems Administrator, Sr. Systems Administrator, VP of Information Technology, Chief Information Officer, and is now, that we have disposed of the “chief” titles, Sr. VP of Information Technology. I have managed up to 6 employees in my position, but the needs come and go based on the economy, number of new facilities going in, etc. and am currently only managing two employees. With 6 full service branches spread over a decent sized area and ~20 off site ATMs, this can be hectic at times but we do the best we can and maintain.
Hobbies and Interests (Technology):
I have always been interested in information technology. When everyone else had an 8-bit Nintendo called the NES, I had an IBM 8088. I am a self taught geek. While others were playing Castlevania and RBI Baseball, I was teaching myself the BASIC programming language using GW-BASIC and writing some cheesy “choose your own adventure” games. Oh, those were the days. The times when everything could be done with an IF...THEN and a
The past few years I have become extremely interested in programming, mainly for the web. I use PHP and MySQL for creating dynamic web sites with advanced functionality. I also write applications in PHP using MySQL for clients of my personal business Fruitful Solutions, and for my first hosted application, En Route (more on that at a later time… Keep watching the blog.).
I am also very interested in Unix operating systems, specifically FreeBSD and now Apple’s Mac OS X. With this being said, I am also interested in the security and forensic tools these types of operating systems provide for identifying and monitoring hosts, threats, etc. on a network.
Hobbies and Interests (Gaming):
I have also always been into video games since I can remember. I remember gaming on the Atari 2600, 7800, and Lynx, playing games on the PC, my Amiga 500 and 1200, Amiga CD-32, SNES, Sony Playstation (PSone), Xbox, and now my Xbox 360, Sony PSP, and my Nintendo Wii. Of course, my PC and MacBook are gaming platforms for me as well for games like Counter-Strike, Battlefield 2 and 2142, and Half Life 2 on my PC and games like Counter-Strike (via CrossOver for Mac), Quake 4, and Age of Empires III for Mac. Hopefully, I’ll break out my unopened box of World of Warcraft and install that on my Mac and see how “addicted” I can get to that! I love to game online and “0wn”, and of course get “0wn3d”, by other “live” players.
Hobbies and Interests (Art & Music):
I also consider myself a little creative. As a kid I would paint with oils, acrylics, and watercolors. I also did pen and ink drawings and would have to say that pen and ink is my favorite form of expression when it comes to drawing/painting. I normally like to draw comic book charaters or cartoony looking characters. I used to love to draw the X-Men and throughly enjoyed the drawing style of Jim Lee.
I discovered a hint of musical talent in late 1995 and have been playing the bass guitar and drums ever since. I have played in a few bands around the Texarkana area since then, but because I have a lack of discipline and don’t practice as I should, I will never be a rock star. I still like to record and play with friends, but I don’t see a band or a contract heading my way in the near future.
And, rap… Some love it, some hate it, and some tolerate it. I love to rap. I like to freestyle over instrumental beats when I get in the mood. I am also hoping to create an original rap album by the summer of 2007 and enlist the assistance of some friends to make that happen. That should be a fun project and I look forward to completing it.
The Name “Cocoa Crusty”:
Really, online gaming is where the name “Cocoa Crusty” came from. I wanted to choose a gamertag for Xbox Live a few years back that would hopefully get a rise out of some fellow gamers. I wanted a name that would not be offensive and would get a chuckle out of people playing. Once that happened, the name just kind of stuck with me. Friends still call me “Cocoa” or “Crusty”. I use the name in my rap songs. I guess its kind of like my alter ego.
I think of the name like the Chinese Yin-Yang. The “Cocoa” part is sweet, nice, polite, etc. The “Crusty” part is when I get a little bent out of shape, when I’m a little frustrated, or just acting the fool being sarcastic. It’s like black and white, dark and light, good and evil. Everything has an opposite but the opposite isn’t completely void of the other end of the spectrum. Anyway, I like the name. It has stuck and it appears that I will continue to use it, and be called by it, for some time to come.
Conclusion:
So, that’s me in a nutshell. That’s probably more than I should have said. If you’re reading this, I’m sure you’re thinking its more than I should have written. I just wanted to give a little history of myself and let others out there know who I am and what I am about.
Until next time…
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