Hello, my name is Dennis. I’m an aspiring programmer, looking to break into the IT industry. I enjoy messing around with Linux and anything open-source. I also enjoy making sparks (on electronic and welding projects) and slinging code on programming/electronics projects. I’ve always been curious about the world around me and a lot of that comes from when I was a kid and I’d watch my Dad work on his own vehicles. I think this natural curiosity is what drives me to learn and also drives my creativity.
There are a total of seven little programs controlling the LED’s here. Not that many years ago, this would not have been a possibility with the limitations of the older microcrontrollers.
Upper left (L to R): Diffused White fade-in-out LED; RR crossing flasher LED’s;
Lower left (L to R): Red “heartbeat” LED; Yellow quick flash LED; Green half-second flash LED; Blue 1-second flash LED; White 2-flash-per-second LED.
That history of watching my Dad work on cars would eventually propel me to Diesel Mechanic’s school in Detroit Lakes, Minnesota (about 200 miles northwest of where I grew up in Minneapolis/St. Paul) after finishing High School. At the time, my goal was to go to work for a railroad, working on the big locomotives like the ones that always passed by my house when I was growing up.
Right out of mechanic’s school, I worked at a few truck shops, one of them was a trailer repair shop and the other was a Cat engine dealership (in their truck shop). In 1992, I was able to track down a lead for a locomotive mechanic’s job with the Wisconsin Central at Stevens Point, Wisconsin. With my strengths in electrical and air brake, one of the foremen/managers at the roundhouse believed that I would be a good fit.
Unfortunately, the WC was in the process of acquiring the Green Bay and Western/Fox River Valley properties from ITEL, and there were 6 mechanics in Wisconsin Rapids that the WC was going to have to find a home for when the GBW shop in Wisconsin Rapids was closed. This precluded their hiring me. A little over a year later, I would wind up going to work for the railroad, but in a different capacity and with a different carrier.
Me in my wilder days. I was training as a locomotive engineer on the Chicago and NorthWestern Railway (CNW) between Altoona, WI and Adams, WI in the summer of 1994. We were waiting for the arrival of in inbound train before departing Adams for the return trip to Altoona.
(L to R): Conductor Jimmy Dickerson, Me, Engineer Floyd Berg.
My +27 years in the industry have spanned 6 carriers, doing everything from working as a conductor, engineer, mechanic, clerk, Rail Traffic Controller and even assisting in track maintenance in my time on a shortline. Let me tell you, the men who work on the tracks are the true unsung heroes of the industry – that can be some really tough work, and every single one of them that I have ever met take a lot of pride in what they do.
Since August of 2004, I’ve worked as a train dispatcher (think “rail traffic controller”), where I am at today.
Feel free to look around the site and get to know me through my posts and articles as I add them.