First post!

All right. This is my first post. I've tried to maintain blogs before, but they never really got off the ground. We'll see how this one goes as I post my thoughts, ideas, and discoveries as I venture off into the land of Java and Android. I'm pretty excited so I think this will be worth the effort.

Who am I? I'm a developer that works for a large agricultural equipment manufacturer (think of the color green and you'll be on the right track.) I've been working for this company since I graduated from North Dakota State University in 1995 with a degree in Electrical Engineering (Computer Option).... aka: Computer Engineering. I've been doing embedded work since that time until now. My work has focused on real-time systems with applications of Assembly and C/C++ to things like displays, engine controllers, transmission controllers, body controllers, etc. Have a lot of experience dealing with various RTOSes, communication protocols (CANopen, SAE J1939, SAE J1587, etc.) I've dabbled into robotics which has been really cool.

Lately my job has been less technically oriented so I'm looking to keep my nerd cred going by learning Java and programming mobile applications on my own time. I live in an area not served by AT&T so the iPhone is out (and there's only so much you can do with an iPod). Verizon on the other hand seems to serve everywhere. I picked up an HTC Eris before Christmas 2009 and have been excited to start developing for it ever since.

So, yeah, I'm looking forward to learning a lot and posting my trials and tribulations here.