Grant Root

Welcome to my web!

This site is a combination of resources for my family, a place for me to post things I'm thinking about or doing, and a test bed to try different web technologies.

Meanwhile, here's some stuff about me. I was born on Friday, October 13th, 1961. I'm married (to Deirdre Bray Root) with no children, but we do have three cats: Auric Goldfinger, Domino and Pyewacket.

A 1983 graduate of the University of Dayton in Computer Science, I currently work as the MIS Supervisor for the Dayton-Phoenix Group, Inc., a small manufacturing company. In more than twenty years in the computer field, I've been an operator, systems analyst, mainframe programmer, PC hardware tech, user support tech, network administrator, web designer / programmer, and technical manager.

I'm currently most interested in web technology and design, and I program in PHP using MySQL databases. I also do a little with Perl, which is my favorite "fun" language, and I know just enough about JavaScript to get me into trouble. I own and operate a freelance web design business called WhoWhatWeb.

I'm an avid Open Source user in general, and have set up several Linux web servers, such as this one that is running on my home DSL line. Debian is my current favorite distro for using on servers, and I'm running Kubuntu on my laptop.

I have quite a variety of hobbies and interests. I still spend some of my time in the Society for Creative Anachronism, a group that studies and re-creates medieval culture, and I've held a number of offices since joining the group in 1982. I also belong to the Dayton Microcomputer Association (DMA) and several of its SIGs. I'm working at learning the guitar, and I do a bit of woodworking, leatherwork, role-playing games and (though not lately) medieval armored combat and archery.

Thanks for visiting!