About Me

Family

While it may not seem very smart to tell potential employers and clients that my family comes first, there is no point in denying it: family does come first for me. That being said, I work hard to maintain a healthy home/work life balance.

Writing

My father imagined an amazing and well-developed science-fiction world for a series of books he was unable to complete before he passed away. It turns out that I inherited some writing ability, too, and I am working on bringing his world to market. The Worlds of Dave W. Murray will be a collection of series that take place both on our planet and in his imaginary world. I have been busy editing his unfinished works, and I’ve started developing and writing original stories that will tie-in and enrich his worlds with exciting new possibilities.

In addition to science fiction, I have written a variety of texts, developed course materials, and done technical writing and documentation work. I also proofread and edit for another author who has written several New York Times bestsellers.

Youth Programs

Having helped raise three youth (my two nephews and my niece), I am committed to helping raise a community of children who become responsible, capable, passionate, and ethical adults.

I was a volunteer leader in Scouting America (formerly known as the Boy Scouts of America) from 2016-2023. I have worked with youth ranging from first grade (Lion Cub Scouts) to 20 years old (Venturing and Sea Scouts). I was a registered leader in both the Golden Empire Council (covering the northern central and eastern parts of California) and the Los Padres Council (covering San Luis Obispo and Santa Barbara counties).

I feel that Scouting programs are vital to helping youth grow and mature in ways that they cannot in school or through academic sports (though I’m not knocking those, either!). They help youth build resilience and a sense of achievement that is very different from anything most other youth experience.

I am also a firm believer in the value of academic sports. I became very active in the Inderkum High School wrestling team, and became a certified Academic Coach to assist the team and its other coaches. The important thing is for those involved to remember that these are student athletes. Programs like this supplement and expand on the lessons learned in school, but education must still come first.

I am also help with my church’s youth program for junior and senior high school students.

Graphic and Web Design &
Information Technology

I started doing graphic design work professionally in the 1990s. I mostly moved from that into information technology, where I became a Microsoft Certified System Engineer and earned several other I.T. certifications.

Still the graphic and Web design was a recurring and enjoyable part of my work. What I really want to do is combine my eye and passion for design with my skills and love for computers in a creative and collaborative way. I can easily see myself working behind the scenes on a gripping feature film or at a theme park, developing an exciting and thrilling visitor experience.

Unlike many people who work in the I.T. field, I am very much a “people-person”, and I love communicating with them and sharing ideas. Creativity is a key characteristic that I crave. Whether it is spitballing ideas for a new website or helping a company design a better business network, the sharing of ideas and working toward a common goal is something I am very passionate about.

When it comes to Web development, I prefer using Adobe Dreamweaver (if I am designing a site from scratch) and WordPress (if I am looking for rapid setup and easy maintenance). For media galleries, Piwigo is a nice platform that is improved over the years. For Web languages, I am most comfortable in PHP (as well as HTML, XHTML, CSS, and JavaScript, of course). I also program in C++ and my degree is in Java, though in both cases, my education has ignored GUI programming and the associated frameworks. I started programming in BASIC, Pascal, and Perl, but have not used them in many years. I also dabble in Microsoft Visual Basic, VBA, and DOS.

Most of my coding work these days involves writing and using MS PowerShell and Linux shell scripts in Bash. I am starting to learn Python, since it’s one of the most widely used languages in world, and it’s a lot of fun and very flexible.

Mixed & Multimedia Artist

Did you see one of my drawings, photographs, or videos posted somewhere? My gallery has many you probably haven’t seen. I have many more images that I still need to upload.
I am familiar with and have used most of the Adobe Creative Suite product line over the years, though I have only scratched the surface in most of the programs compared to what they are capable of doing with more experience and training.

Generative AIs and LLMs

I love using ChatGPT, Claude, Gemini, Midjourney, and other AIs. Yes, they have some concerning issues related to copyrights and training, but I feel these are growing pains, not permanent problems. As such, I am embracing the new and loving the results.