Jim Frost (jimf@frostbytes.com)

Jim, with Guinness, at the top of Camel's Hump in Vermont.

Quick Links

• Bicycling
• The Dictionary Of Mountain Bike Slang
• Motorcycling

About Me

My name is Jim Frost and I'll be your host today. A few things about me....

I've been dabbling in software since I was a teenager, having started out on a TRS-80 Model I owned by the high school, proceeding to an Apple II, and progressing through a range of personal machines including the Commodore VIC-20, Commodore C-64, Kaypro II, Macintosh, and of course quite a number of PCs. Our home is currently a computer paradise (or junkyard, depending on how you look at it) with a mishmash of computers running OS X, Windows XP, FreeBSD, and Linux. My day job is as a software engineer (see my curriculum vitae) but I have been known to do a bit of software outside of work, too (see my available software packages).

But while computers are an ever-present thing in my life, I am also an avid mountain biker and maintain the very popular Dictionary Of Mountain Bike Slang. You can catch me out riding my beautiful Seven Sola^? on trails around Massachusetts on most weekends.

I got interested in photography as a kid and learned to use SLR-style cameras while working for the yearbook at Laconia High School. I started working on my technique after college when I purchased a simple, inexpensive, but effective Minolta X-9 body and a couple of lenses, and picked up a wonderful Nikon FG from an estate sale. But while I always enjoyed film photograpy -- especially black-and-white -- it wasn't until I got my first digital camera that I really started taking pictures. In 2000 I bought an Olympus C-2500L -- the first digital SLR available for less than $5,000. It wasn't a great camera but it worked well enough and digital proved to have so many advantages in cost and workflow that I have almost never picked up a film camera since I bought my first digital. When my dad asked me to shoot his wedding in 2004 I took that as an opportunity to upgrade to a "true" digital SLR, the Canon EOS-300D (Digital Rebel). That, and some classes at the New England School of Photography took my photography to a new level. I now have a small portrait photography business, Unusual Photography, to help fund the habit.

Occasionally I write rants on various subjects and have written a number of magazine articles, including Java Class for the now-defunct Server/Workstation Expert (nee Sun Expert) magazine.

On top of my hobbies my wife Thea and I became parents in August, 2000 when my daughter Colette was born. Watching her grow (and taking many, many picures!) has been a very rewarding experience.

Enjoy the links, and come back often.

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