Saturday, January 01, 2011

So who is this 'Jay Garmon' dork...?

I, Jared Matthew "Jay" Garmon, am a professional geek. Specifically, I am a writer, husband & father, technologistscience fiction nerd, self-professed trivia expert and general Internet addict. Each of these aspects is entertained at different venues around the Web, as listed below.

Technologist: First and foremost, I am the director of product at LinkSquares, one of the 5 most innovative AI companies on the planet. I've founded and sold a startup or two in my day, run a $2 billion healthcare transaction platform, and once wrote an online spoof of the Daily Show focused on the stars of the Food Network.

As sidelines and consulting work, I have advised on social media and emerging technologies for the Louisville Digital Association (for whom I have served as both president and vice president), Louisville EnterpriseCORP (for whom I was a founding member of their advisory "Justice League"), XLerateHealth (for whom I was a founding director), organized the Louisville Geek Dinner, and, as a guest instructor, helped inaugurate a Social Media marketing curriculum at the University of Louisville. 

Writer:
 This post is hosted on Jay Garmon [dot] Net (formerly known as The Written Weird), which is my personal blog where I prattle on about whatever topics interest me with very irregular frequency. You can also find herein copies of my science fiction short stories that I have "trunked," which is a euphemism for "given up on trying to publish." Yes, I have written other sci-fi shorts, exactly one of which has been sold for professional publication (though it did make the Tangent list...barely). I haven't written any fiction since my second child was born the better part of a decade ago, but I hope someday to return to the practice, which is why I started the Aldebaran Roundtable writers group.

I also technically share a screenwriting credit with David Goyer, but that was for a contest, not a job. (I won.)

As to the majority of the writing work for which I've been actively paid, look no further than my LinkedIn profile, and you'll see I've made my living in whole or in part by stringing together words for CNET, CBS Interactive, Scholastic Library Publishing, TechTarget, Backupify, Talla, LinkSquares, and Practical Assurance. But that's all non-fiction, so it doesn't count.

Husband & Father: I have the requisite Facebook page for the disseminating of pictures of my daughters, wife, friends, cats, travel, and Star Trek memes, but -- fair warning -- I also do the "talking about politics" thing there. Don't go if you're sensitive about your votes or policies.

Science Fiction Nerd: I have whittled a long career of semi-professional sci-fi fandom down to a single membership these days: running Hugo McNebula's Reading Circle for a few other book nerds. The membership of said circle has largely been collected from the pursuits below.

Until 2020, I was the Vice Chair of Marketing for ConGlomeration, Louisville's fan-run sci-fi and fantasy convention that shuttered due to COVID-19.

Many moons ago, I was the originator of and prime contributor to The Geekend, a nerd culture blog at TechRepublic, a Web community for IT professionals run by CBS Interactive (I think they call it the "After Hours" section, now). Predating the Geekend is Geek Trivia, a weekly (ahem) geek trivia column that I wrote for more than a decade. Both the Geekend and Geek Trivia have been cited by sources as diverse as author John Scalzi to the editors of Wikipedia.

I was an also an extremely irregular contributor to the Hugo-winning SF Signal blog -- usually their also Hugo-nominated podcasts -- where I performed a barely passable impression of an expert in sci-fi media and fandom.

Self-Professed Trivia Expert: As an adjunct to Geek Trivia, the kind and talented hosts of the now-defunct TechTalk radio show on WRLR 98.3 FM in Chicago had me on as a regular guest. There I snarked about movies, science fiction, technology, current events and ... eventually ... provided a geek trivia question each week.

I also occasionally wrote the Truly Trivial column here at JayGarmon.Net, wherein I threw a few hundred words at an obscure factoid that very possibly only I find fascinating. Inexplicably, other people were entertained by this.

General Internet Addict: Perhaps the most holistic view of my life as the Prince of Dorkness can be divined from my Twitter stream, which is riddled with links that catch my interest, the best of which are reposted on this blog. (I sometimes post my own thoughts there, as well, but for the sake of decency I keep those to a minimum.) Finally, for you economic determinists who really want the inside scoop on my consumerist self -- or are looking for the perfect way to bribe me -- there's always my Amazon Wishlist.

In the unlikely event you would like to retain my services as a consultant, writer, speaker, radio guest, conference/convention panelist, or one-shot dungeon master, you can reach me at jay [at] jaygarmon [dot] net. Depending on the job, I can be be had for very free or very not. Pitch me, and we'll talk.

6 comments:

  1. Also you are my buddy/ former boss who always outgeeks me.

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  2. I was just checking blog visitors and backtracked a couple of links to your blog. And it amused the heck out of me to find that you are Written Weird. Best of luck with the writing. It's a blast, isn't it? (Except for those pesky rejections.)

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  3. I have read a lot of articles about the first flag raised over Iwo Jima. The Marine Mueseum mentions it has the second flag but does not say anything about the first. Just wondering if they really do have it?

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  4. @killerbees, both flags are at the National Museum of the Marine Corps in Quantico, Virginia.

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  5. You are a better man than me. I would never publicly post a flickr stream of my family. May I ask why you have done that? There are crazies out there. You still at Techrepublic?

    -Steven

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  6. @SSW There are crazies everywhere. The vast, VAST majority of predations are committed by someone you know. This myth of the random stranger targeting your family based solely off of online pictures is just that -- a myth. If I could meet the producers of Dateline NBC I'd punch them in the mouth for all their "internet is scary" horsecrap.

    I pay much closer attention to the hiring practices at my daughter's school, who her friends are, and who her friends' parents are. I don't worry about the imagined internet predator in the same way I don't worry about getting struck by meteorites -- both are about as likely.

    Now, when she's old enough to start surfing the web on her own, the game will change. Crazies use the Internet to BECOME someone you know, and that's something different altogether. In the mean time, I see no reason to make family and friends jump through insane authentication hoops just to see pictures of my wife and daughter.

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