About Me
Pay no attention to that man behind the curtain! – The Wizard
Periodically, when I’m navigating a site, I do begin to wonder, “Who is the gender-neutral individual behind the curtain?” In my mind, it’s nice to be able to put otherwise free-floating thoughts and lessons into a context. If a stranger starts giving you medical advise, you listen cautiously; when you find out they’re a doctor, there’s a sense of relaxation. As I told a philosophy teacher once, “I’m sorry, but I don’t take programming advice from philosophers.” Maybe that was harsh.
Anyway, my name is Jason Adams, and I’m a whippersnapper at age 25. I’m at that age where I’m starting to notice random aches that take longer to heal, to which my elders take the earned opportunity to remark that I’ve “no idea”. I grew up the son of a mechanical engineer, and as such have always been around a computer. When I was 11 I grew curious as to what made this new “internet” thing tick, loaded the source code of a few web pages, and stared at the code until it made sense — which, at the time, was pure HTML. Thus began my perilous quest into digital frontiers. I took it as a hobby, doing odd jobs ranging from building computers, to developing websites and taking classes, until I was 18.
Shortly after turning 18, I took a job as a designer/developer for a home automation company. We did full home automation — security, HVAC, audio/video, lighting, etc. — for the absurdly wealthy. I designed the touch panels used in the home, brochures and the like; and developed the system, website (maintenance), and brochures and the like. It really was a great job. I left for a while to attend a school (Rockford Master’s Commission) in Illinois, and finally left for good in early 2009, to pursue an opportunity for mission work in Asia.
I spent five months abroad, spending the most time in Taiwan, Philippines, Indonesia, and India. The trip itself, and what happened in that time defied chance and opportunity; and I still find it difficult to believe I did what I did, saw what I saw, and ate what I ate. I’ll likely allude to that time as I write, but I choose to do so carefully instead of offering extensive narration. Some experiences are best mentioned only in the appropriate contexts with gentleness and reverence.
I returned, and felt the Lord calling me to help my father simultaneously begin a business and finish his PhD in a field of mechanical engineering that very few have ever heard of: tribology. It’s OK, I’d never heard it of until I started working in it. Tribology is the study of friction and wear. There’s a severe issue in engineering within this field, but it’s been otherwise impossible to remedy for a lack of testing capability. I won’t go into it too much, but with my father’s background in machine design and engineering, and my background in automation and software development, we’ve been working for the last two years within the new business, Tribis Engineering, to tackle the problem. By this point, we’ve more or less done it, and I’m proud to say my father is completing his dissertation now.
As soon as I finish helping my family, I plan on getting back into ministry. I’m going to continue programming, as I believe it’s a gift God’s given me, and hopefully use it as a mean of funding my way through ministry. But my heart lies with the skeptical and destitute: the frustrated atheist and the suffering man, woman, and child I adore. As it stands I can’t do as much as I want, but I believe the Lord will enable me to grow in a way that I may serve the world within increasing capability by His grace.
For more on the blog itself and my direction with this site, check out my first post.