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About The Angry Drunk

My name is Darby, and I’m and angry drunk. I am, in fact, The Angry Drunk. More accurately, “The Angry Drunk” is my online persona. So who, then, am I? I guess a little background is in order. I was born sometime in the first half of the 1970′s in Monterrey California. In 1980 my family moved to Tempe Arizona; where I reside to this day.

My education was a standard one; but, more to the point, I reject the notion that the validity of a person’s opinions is necessarily predicated on their level of education. Suffice it to say that I am college educated and we’ll leave it at that.

My career has meandered across a large swath of the tech industry. At various times I have worn the hat of a: telephone technical support representative, trainer, data analyst, application designer, application administrator, business analyst, project manager and, most recently, product tester and release specialist for a major elearning vendor (who will remain nameless). If it’s been done; I’ve either done it, seen someone do it, or fixed someone’s crappy implementation of it.

In my down time I indulge in some of the usual geek pursuits. I watch and read science fiction, of course; but I also have a love of good forensic investigation shows. By which I don’t mean CSI. Part of my time at college was spent in the pursuit of a degree in Forensic Anthropology; so, basically, fuck Gill Grissom and his band of forensitards. My all consuming passion though is my love of ethyl alcohol. I can often be found propping up the local neighborhood bar. My weapon of choice: Guinness; although in a pinch I’ll drink damn near anything that will raise my blood alcohol level.

The final, and probably most important, thing to know about me is something that you either know already if you’ve read any of my work; or you’re about to learn. I am one seriously profane, blasphemous, and just plain angry mother fucker. Idiocy, hypocrisy and douchebaggery in general engenders in me a white-hot rage that makes the legendary wrath of Achilles seem like a bit of pique. And, other than drinking myself into unconsciousness, I only have one way of dissipating that rage; which is to write about it here. So, gentle reader, lucky you. Strap in and hold on.

About the Site

I started this site a few years back (I forget exactly how many and I’m to lazy to look it up) as a Moveable Type blog. I wrote little and had exactly fuck-all readers. As they say in the writing business, I hadn’t found my “voice.” At some point around June of 2006 I shit-canned the whole MT install and rebuilt the blog in WordPress. I couldn’t tell you why I made the switch to WordPress. I vaguely recall being limited by the capabilities of Moveable Type at time. Since then I know that MT has made major improvements, so we’ll not be having any CMS holy wars here.

With the new incarnation of the site I settled on a voice. I’ve always been keenly interested in science, technology, literature, philosophy and politics. I’m also, as mentioned above, an angry, profane bastard. This site is the synthesis of those interests and attitudes. I have written or will write about: Macintosh computers, social media and networking, religion, journalistic ethics and alarm clocks that you shoot to enable snooze. If you are interested in what I have to say, cool. If you aren’t, or don’t like the way I say it, the back button is right at the top of the screen.

And now a brief technical rundown:

Dedication and Thanks

In the previous versions of this site I dedicated it to two very dear friends of mine. I’d like to continue that dedication, so I’ll reproduce it in it’s entirety here:

I want to dedicate this site and the writing in it to two very special people. While these two have never met, they share so very much in common. They are both amazing mothers, whose love and devotion to their children informs every aspect of their lives. They are both amazing friends, who have been there for me in ways that I can never put into words. And they are both amazingly beautiful women, who’s radiance fills every room that they pass through. Christine and Vicki, I dedicate this to you. Thank you for letting me be a part of your amazing lives. To know either of you would be a blessing; to know both of you is a miracle.

I’d also like to thank the friends and commentators, both in the real world and online, who have encouraged me to continue writing here. It continually amazes me that anyone would want to read my psychotic ramblings. In particular I’d like to thank John “bynkii” Welch for all of his encouragement. It’s comforting to know that there is someone who is at least as angry as me out there.