Recent Activities

This page is a snapshot of what I have recently done, am doing, and plan to do in the near future. For more details, please see my résumé page.

Work

I work at Texas Center for Applied Technology as a software developer and assistant systems administrator. Some of my current projects are:

I have also been more actively pursuing my dream of working with dolphins. I would really like to take some time to be an animal husbandry assistant at SeaWorld, but I need to figure out how I could do this alongside my current job at TCAT.

Church

I serve as a Sacristan for the 5:30pm Vigil Mass at my local church. I also volunteer as a substitute in all of the other lay ministries where needed.

I also help out with the local Apologetics group to answer questions about the Catholic faith.

I sing Gregorian Chant in the local Schola Cantorum group. Our goal is to retain the rich musical traditions associated with the Vetus Ordo (old order) Traditional Latin Mass. Unfortunately, recent decisions from the Vatican have made this form of the Mass more and more limited. Hopefully these restrictions are lifted at some point in the future, but the Schola will continue to do what we can to pass along the knowledge and skills to future generations.

Education

I am working on my master’s in computer science and hope to finish soon. In particular, my focus has been in the fields of cybersecurity and high-performance distributed computing

My thesis involves digital forensics regarding the preservation and recovery of video media data.

Aviation

I successfully completed my Instrument Rating in February 2018, but my currency lapsed during the pandemic, and I have not had the chance to go through an instrument proficiency check. Inflation has stretched my budget thin, so it is more difficult for me to be able to invest in aviation like I used to.

I do not have my own plane, and the cost of doing so is too prohibitive for now. I am happy to rent occasionally from the local flight school where I first learned to fly and continue to learn. I am also more than happy to serve as a safety pilot for my other pilot friends in the area.

When I am not in a real airplane, I do plenty of simulated flying in X-Plane.

Amateur Radio

My callsign is KG5LYE, and I am an Amateur Extra class Ham Radio operator. My HF rig is an Icom IC-7300 on a center-fed 40m Zepp (Doublet) antenna. I also have a mobile VHF/UHF (2m/70cm) rig (Icom ID-5100A) for local repeater and simplex operations and D-STAR.

I am working on improving my proficiency in CW (Morse code) for easier communications over longer distances with less power. My goal is 20 WPM.

I serve the local amateur club, W5BCS, as club secretary and net control operator for our weekly Tuesday evening nets.

I am also a member of the local Amateur Radio Emergency Service (ARES), where I stand ready to help the community with communications during major events or emergencies.