About Alun (Updated Jun 06)

That's me up at the top of the page (the beard is intermittent -some say it's also bloody stupid). The photo was taken by a mate of mine while we were visiting San Francisco last year. He’s got a load more at The Wonderful World of Jason Thompson, if you want to boost his hit counter.

Originally I'm from Old Colwyn, a small village between Rhyl and Llandudno on the North Wales coast. My folks still live there. My sister lives about 70 miles away in Alsager. I attended Ysgol Bryn Elian in Colwyn Bay and then went on to Lancashire Polytechnic (now the University of Central Lancashire) in sunny Preston. Here I somehow managed to get a degree in Computing and Electronics whilst simultaneously (and miraculously) avoiding any serious liver damage before graduating in '92.

Following a brief spell at Sheffield University (the place where I realised, once and for all, that I did not, under any circumstances, wish to become a Control Systems engineer) I got a job with Wilco International, a British software firm that specialises in financial and communications software. This is a picture of me with some of my colleagues in a typically serious frame of mind.

In Jan 2005, after 11 years with ADP Wilco, 7 of which were in the US, I moved jobs to another financial software company; Royalblue (aka Fidessa), where I work as a Project Manager. Strangely enough, I'm working out of the same building in downtown Manhattan as when I first came to the US.

For most of my time I've lived in Hoboken, NJ (a town that boasts more bars per capita than anywhere else in the known universe, allegedly) not counting a year or so in the NJ burbs (Cranford). In October 2004, Linda (my fiance wife) and I bought a place in Fanwood, NJ

Stuff I like to do

Snowboarding

I learned many years ago that I have all the grace and coordination of a new-born giraffe, so it was with great trepidation that I agreed to try skiing when a friend of mine invited me a couple of years ago. And what an unmitigated disaster that was, at least I was able to walk down the green run she'd dragged me to the top of, much to her amusement. So I tried snowboarding, not that I'm particularly good at it, but it gives me a kick at least.

Biking

Sometimes I like to take a ride up from Hoboken to the George Washington Bridge and then down thru Manhattan, taking in Harlem and Central Park, all the way to the World Trade Centre. That's about 26 miles I think, I'm invariably knackered at the end of it. Another favourite is a 16m cross country ride on trails near Jim Thorpe, PA to Buzzard's Point. That involves getting a bunch of us together, renting cars and staying for a weekend in the Poconos though, so its not that often really.

Photography

I like to take a picture or two. I'm no great photographer, but I like it when a picture comes out looking nice and its not totally by accident. Actually, in the last year (2003-2004) I've taken 2 photo courses at the local YMCA

Travel

While I'm in the USA, I might as well get to see some of it. So far I've managed trips to California, Las Vegas, New England, The Poconos, Washington, Colorado, Vermont and North Carolina. Next stop will be Arizona and Utah, I think.

Subarus

My friends say that I'm a bit of a petrolhead. Actually I've had a thing for the internal combustion engine since I was old enough to make vroom noises, so they're probably right.
I have a 2002 Subaru Impreza WRX Wagon, had it from new, I love it. The car had about 227bhp from the factory, but a new ECU reflash (Cobb Stage2), exhaust parts (Scoobysport muffler & Helix catted downpipe) and intercooler plumbing (Samco) has seen that go up to about 285. Naturally the suspension and brakes have been upgraded to provide additional 'stop' (Sedan rear swaybar, Hawk HPS pads, RacingBrake rotors and Goodridge steel braided lines) to cope with the extra 'go' and the stock wheels have been replaced with gunmetal Rota Attacks wrapped in 215/45-17 Goodyear Eagle F1 GSD3 rubber for the summer. Winter tyres are 205/55-16 Dunlop M3 Wintersports on the original 16" wheels. Some of the work I did myself, the rest was done by Precision Tuning of Brick, NJ

My other car is a 2005 Mini Cooper S in Chilli Red with a black roof. My wife drives that mostly, so it's rare that I get to wrestle the keys from her clutches.

I'm also quite interested in this whole world-wide-x-files-internet-web thingy.

Folks can e-mail me, but to try and foil the spammers just translate this: alun (at) alunthomas dot com

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