My name is Frank (better known as FRN2000, formerly known as FRN). The monicker FRN (actually FRN$) came from a program that I wrote in BASIC in 1985 to learn French. FRN$ was the string variable for words in French in the data source, while ENG$ was the the string variable for words in English. Needless to say, I never learned French. I started using the monicker FRN2000 over a decade ago (hence the name of this domain, with I have left my opinion through out the internet for almost a decade.

I am a thirty-eight-year-old vegetarian (not a vegan), tattooed programmer and father of three boys. I grew up watching science fiction movies and television series, including Japanese animation (anime) and Japanese series from the late 1960's and early 1970's. Some of my favorite science fiction television series and/or movies are (in alphabetical order) Batman, Doctor Who with Tom Baker and his companion K9 (role of the Doctor currently played by David Tenant), James Bond, Robocop, The Simpsons, Star Trek, Star Wars, South Park and The X-Files. As of late, I have been watching Legend of the Seeker.

With such a fine line between science and fiction, it is no surprise that I got involved in computers in 1984 and now have a bachelors degree in computer science (2003). For the past two decades, I have used, played and abused a series of x86 systems. I have used several operating systems (in the following order), from TRSDOS 1.3 (not MICRODOS, later renamed OS-80) for TRS-80 Model III to Commodore DOS for Commodore 64 (first two systems with BASIC stored in ROM) to AS/400 to Windows back to DOS to Linux to z/VM to FreeBSD and back to Linux.

My first computer was a Commodore 64 when I was thirteen (1984) and I have gone through several other systems since. My current system is a Sony Vaio VGN-FZ455E with a 1.83Hz microprocessor and 3GB of RAM running Ubuntu 9.04.

I work at a local government agency writing data definitions and other documentation for programs written in the past thirty years for a 3270 mainframe (currently running z/VM) for a data warehouse to be used for an ERP. I also code JSP/SQL intranet applications using Oracle JDeveloper.

I also work as a consultant whenever possible. I am currently doing some work for the union of which I am a member using PHP and MySQL. I might re-do a website or two using Ruby On Rails. In the past, I worked on an ASP internet application for a friend. To my surprise for two weeks, I did a descent job, although this type of scripting is completely foreign to me and not open source, which I strongly support.

Aside from computers, I have also been involved in music in various ways, even getting a degree in audio engineering (1995). I worked in several recording studios, radio stations, music labels and live sound events. I grew up listening to bands like Aerosmith, Black Sabbath with Ozzy (of course) and Ian Gillan (the 'Born Again' album), The Clash, KISS (my favorite band growing up), Billy Idol, Judas Priest, Metallica, The Ramones and Slayer. I also enjoy listening to Ani DiFranco, Eurythmics, Annie Lennox, Sarah McLachlan, Frank Sinatra, country music, Indian and Arabic music like Ishtar Alabina and the compositions by John Williams for Star Wars. Since 1986, I have owned different electric guitars and other music equipment. I currently own two Hohner diatonic harmonicas, a 1998 Danelectro '56 U2 re-issue with a Pastrami Overdrive effect pedal, a 1992 Rickenbacker 2060 and a Marshall B30.

Another passion that I have is photography. I just finished shooting in black and white and I am back shooting in color with my new Nikon FM10. I am still learning on my own, but I definitely need to take some classes.