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I've been attending at least one workshop or conference every year. Highest on my ToDo list is the AYE Conference http://www.ayeconference.com/ Held in Phoenix every November, it's become a superb source of positive energy and good ideas. It's one place where the old cliché is true, the conversations in the hallways and at dinner are as useful as the classes. And the classes are great! I've used the things I've learned more often than I can count, at work and at home!

Biography

I'm an anthropologist by training, a programmer by avocation, and a manager by necessity. My husband and I have owned and operated a small plumbing repair shop since 1979. I started programming in 1985, when I bought my first PC for the business. The first thing I discovered was that computers weren't quite as obscure as I'd thought they were. The second thing was that nobody in town wanted to create a 'simple' database for the business. So... I did it myself.

I fell into Compuserve in 1989 and soon discovered a 'virtual pub' where professional programmers gathered to talk shop after work. I joined the study group in CLMFOR shortly after it started, and over the years I've gained a quality education in software engineering. (As far as we know, ours was the first on-line study group, although the idea has spread widely since then.) I started writing professionally in 1995, when I sold my first article to Windows Tech Journal. I wrote a regular book review column for Visual Developer Magazine for many years, and I freelance for other publications.

My main professional interests are database design, and software engineering and management. I'm a member of Jerry Weinberg's 1996 Software Engineering Management workshop. I'm currently programming in a Win32/Delphi environment and trying to keep the office network stable without spending all of my time babysitting hardware.