Wayne's Homepage

Quote of the month:

On Oil profits...

There is a great deal of criticism of the oil companies and the profits that they are earning now. I do agree that they seem outlandish but then again, consider the following:

Lets say that I sold $100 billion in oil in 1990. Lets say I earned a net profit of 15% on that. This means that that year I took in $15 billion in profits. Thats a heafty number by any measure. Now lets spring forward to 2007. Lets say that I invested in more ships and so on so I could bring in more product since the demand was going up as fast as I could get new product to market. Not forgetting that the price of a barrel has gone up and I've been forced to raise my prices as well. Lets suppose that this meant that my total sales for 2007 were $275 billion. If my net profit margin is still 15%, that means I NOW earned $41.25 billion. This seems like I'm rolling in dough (and I would be) but note that the profit margin is STILL 15%. The amount I make on a gallon of gas hasn't changed, I'm just selling more of it at a higher price. It still cost me 85 cents on the dollar to produce and distribute that gallon of gas.

In this scenario, the reason for record profits is record demand and record costs of the crude oil. Naturally, this is a hugely over simplistic example but it makes my point. While I agree that the amount of money being raked in by the oil companies is just off the charts, consider that there is a certain portion of that that can be accounted simply to supply and demand and gains in sales volume. Other parts of the profit windfall are attributable to these companies simply running their businesses well. So when you lay blame at the doorsteps of the oil producers and start shouting at them for gouging the consumer, make sure you temper your criticism with some basic economics. (And then yell some for me, while you're there.)

On political campaigning..

Please refer to the page at http://www.typo.org/~web/primaries.html and spread the word! We, the citizenry, can take back control of the political process if we truely have the will!

A note to all those in the vicinity of Chandler, AZ:

I have, of late, developed a penchant for Shakespear and am seeking opportunities to get together with a small group of similarly inclined individuals for the purpose of reading, discussing, evaluating, and acting out various scenes in order to try to develope a better understanding of the conception within the author's mind.

If you have an interest in participating, please contact me by email.

[picture here] The bum himself, busily posing for the camera. (With the sun in his eyes.)

Description
5'11 inches tall, has straight brown hair (no, really! there's hair there), greenish eyes, and weighs approximately 230 lbs.
He can usually be found to be wearing tennis shoes, a T-shirt, and blue-jeans.

Occupation
Wayne is a network engineer. Currently employed by Limelight Networks.
He lives and breathes IP routing protocols (BGP, OSPF, etc). In addition to the other hats he wars, he serves as a facilities manager for Limelight's datacenter space and 3rd party facilities.

Since he has no life, he can usually be found logged into one or perhaps several machines often doing nothing in particular but if you watch long enough, you just might actually see him doing something somewhat useful.

Among other interests, Wayne plays the trombone (and is familiar with several other instruments, including trumpet, baritone, clarinet, recorder, and some members of the percussion family) and frequently appears with the Mesa Community College Community Band or at times, the Orchestra. (He also sings pretty well.) Although at this time, he is taking time off from music to attend courses at GCC as noted below.

He also will occasionally be found spending his Saturdays down at MCC in the blacksmith's shop working out a little frustration. Wayne spent time learning to weld and does a fair job at TIG with aluminum and MIG on steel. (Never quite mastered stick welding.)

A more recent interest is in refrigeration. Currently enrolled in the commercial HVAC certification program at Gateway Community College, Wayne is studying this in relation to managing larger datacenters such as he does for Limelight Networks. (Plus it's just darned fascinating.)

Though not as fit as he used to be, Wayne likes camping and will try to spent at least two weekends each year shivering in a tent at one of his currently favored locations. (Mt Graham, Flagstaff, or the White Mountains.) Occassionally, he will also pretend he can fish and drown a few flies while immagining that people actually believe he's going to catch something.

Another of his obsessions are firearms. Largely interested in historical arms and replicas, he has managed to obtain a collection large enough to make a few people nervous. (But Wayne's totally harmless and just paranoid enough about safety to stay that way.) Check out his gun collection here.

History
Before taking his current position, with about a 2 year interlude during the tech decline during which he was forced to take other work, he spent 5 years working for GlobalCrossing as a senior network engineer. Before that, was a member of the University of Arizona Hardware and Computing Knowledge Society (HACKS) for the prior 3 years (1991-1994) and a member of HACKS management for the last year and a half of that time.

Quotes from previous months
As you may have noted at the top of this page, each month there is a different quote. Some have gotten some interesting comments, so I have decided to begin saving them on another page.

Articles from the science pages
Every once in a while while browsing the newspaper, I'll find an article I find to be unusually interesting. Usually from the science section since science has always interested me, although I was never a very good student.

Wayne's online resume
Why you should beg him to work for you. (Well, hopefully)

Technical tidbits
Bits of technical knowledge collected over the years.

Other items of interest

My PGP key

GC GCS/MU/E d-- -p+ c++(+++) l- u+++(u-) e+(*) m* s+ n--- h(*) f+ !g w+ t+ r x?