Hello World
Hi there, and welcome to my story. My name is Jason Eden, and I am a nerd.
Let me count (some of) the ways:
Tech nerd: Cloud computing. Artificial Intelligence / Machine Learning (AI/ML). Big Data. Security. Storage. Networking. Virtualization. Infrastructure. Coding, yes, but not consistently so I usually have to relearn how to do it every couple of years.
Business nerd: MBA. Operations. Project / Program Management. TCO / ROI analysis. Cost-based accounting. Rental properties. Sales. Investments. Disclaimer: Being a nerd about it doesn’t necessarily mean I’m good at it.
Philosophy nerd: Armchair, but can punch above my weight class in discussions of religion, politics, science, and their various intersections.
My LinkedIn profile: http://www.JasonEden.com
My license plate: H0T NRD (Srsly!)
My wife: Data scientist / software engineer, facilitates machine learning and programming courses for eCornell. Strikingly beautiful redhead.
(OK, so that last one isn’t really a nerd credential for me, but more of a brag about having a hot, brainy spouse. I stand by its inclusion, nonetheless.)
Anime / comics / sportsball / SMBC / xkcd / video games / board games / card games / etc. You get the idea. But don’t get too comfy. Just when you think you know me, you’ll find out I work out 5–6x per week, have a Psychology degree, and prefer nano over both vim and emacs. I am a riddle wrapped in a mystery inside an enigma, and I am personally OK with that.
What to expect in this blog: Definitely not a lot of lists like this! But good to check it off the list. (Checklist nerd.) I expect the bulk of what I write to be things I am currently learning how to do. Most of them are likely to be related to Google Cloud, data science, and specifically healthcare data science, but I reserve the right to write about any nerd category of interest. The ones I am initially planning include Google BigQuery, Cloud AutoML Tables, R, and Python, plus related topics like setting up and using Service Accounts, public datasets in GCP, and connecting local Jupyter Notebooks and RStudio to cloud resources. If you’re into that kind of thing, this blog is for you!
What I wish it would be (but it probably won’t):
- Truly Funny —I try, but most of my humor attempts on a good day will fall somewhere between “dad jokes” and “pathetic even for a dad joke,” and on a bad day could go all the way down to “Dane Cook stage material.” Polite chuckles are appreciated.
- Technically Brilliant — I’m going to print a lot of “not ready for prime time” code and practices. The focus will be getting something done and may not be representative of how to do it in an enterprise production environment. This will be me learning, in public. I welcome your additions and corrections to my writing, starting with “You’re wrong. Dane Cook is the greatest comedic genius of our time because…”
- Groundbreaking — Everything I write about has probably been written about before from someone who knew it better and wrote better than I do. Please feel free to use my posts as a laughable comparison as appropriate situations arise.
In summary, welcome to my new blog project, where I will embrace my nerdiness with gusto and try to provide some value as I dive ever deeper into the nerd abyss. It should be quite the party by the time we reach the bottom. Or the top, depending on whether you prefer abyss or mountain analogies. Either way, I hear the cookies are amazing.