My name is Miguel Moreno and am the author of this web site. This site is my personal site where I will post anything I see that may be of interest to anyone.

Most of the times it will be related to Web & Software development, other times I will post about anything that I think is worth sharing with anyone interested.

I am also posting a variety of experiments. These come from challenges that I have eventually managed to overcome and find worth sharing, or simply curious combinations of technologies that I have not found anywhere else.

It started out with the need of having a site to display some work I had done, while looking for a job. Then I added the blog as a way of sharing interesting links, news and information and it has grown out of control into what you are currently looking at.

Besides that, it is not a bad idea having an online portfolio when you work in software development (or any other industry in my opinion). I think it shows your potential client or employer your skills, quality of your work and overall initiative.

I am a .NET software developer with a somewhat functional right brain. That means a programmer with a rare blend of creative capabilities, enabling me to write software and also make it user friendly, attractive and intuitive to the end user.

My experience includes .NET Web and Windows applications, business applications and enterprise systems integrations, API programming, rapid prototyping, consequent development, and am quite comfortable with graphics and corresponding tools.

After working for about 18 months at Microsoft Store website and the Windows Anytime Upgrade app (part of Windows 7 launch), I have recently moved over to a new group, which I am not ready to disclose yet. Still closely related to Microsoft Store, but a completely new project.

A few key points that I find important on anything I work on:

• Teamwork I believe strongly in being part of a solid team with a common goal. A team where one can share one's knowledge but also learn from others; good cooperation and communication between its members is what makes a team and the product it produces successful and it makes a project fun... amd if you are not having fun, that means you are actually working... and that, I prefer not to do.
• Cutting Edge I am in always exploring new technologies; if there is something new out, I want to know how it works. If I don't know how it works, I'll at least try to familiarize myself with the concept and if it still interests me, eventually, sooner or later, I'll find myself doing an experiment about it.
• Presentation I give a lot of importance to the presentation and looks of anything; whether it is a product, a manual or the code itself...it has to be tidy, organized, clean and presentable to make a good impression; it is half the battle. I am not particularily obsessed about this, but will spend a good amount of time and effort to make sure it looks and works as good as it can be.
• Relationships In regards to relationships at my all jobs I have ever had, I tend to leave friends behind, not former colleages, and with many of those friends I am still regularly in touch with, to share knowledge or simply see how they are doing.

The year was 1982 when on a cold, Dutch winter (I was living in Holland at the time) day my parents surprised me with my first computer and at age 11, I was the proud owner of a Commodore 64 with a tape drive, a floppy drive (the size of a shoe box) and a color monitor. Wooohoooo! Did I mention it was a COLOR monitor? Yes, I was probably the coolest kid on the block those days. Since then, others followed: I subsequently owned a 286, 386, 486 dx2, etc.

I went to college and studied a few years Computer Science but at 19 years old, there were too many girls to look at and too many parties to attend to and eventually (and inevitably) dropped out.

I knew my parents were not going to be happy about this, so I decided to enter the Merchant Marine Academy and please my father, following his carreer. This is a military academy, so I was straightened out by my superiors and graduated with honours. I then ended up at sea for 5 years, travelling around the world several times.

My passion for computer science remained. I would write onboard maintenance planning applications in Access, write programs in Visual Basic and anything else I could get my hands on.

After a few years at sea, I decided to trade my compass and sextant for a keyboard and a mouse. I got married, moved ashore and have since then been involved in anything from designing simple web sites, teaching software to developing complex, multi-tier, web applications and desktop software.

I am considering finishing my CS career and enroll this fall.

Now, that is a bit complicated. My mother is from Venezuela, father is from Spain (Barcelona) and they have travelled most of their lives.

However, at just a couple of years of age, my parents moved to Holland and I spent over a decade of my life in Amsterdam and Rotterdam. We subsequently moved to Genova, Italy and then on to Rio de Janeiro, Brazil where we spend another few years. (yep, I hold three passports).

Add to that, 5 years at sea and about 10 in the US and you will realize that I am really a citizen without a country.

When asked, I usually say I am from Spain () to keep it short and simple. And although I have never technically lived in Spain, I feel far more identified with the European (EU) culture than with any other culture, having lived there pretty much my entire childhood and over half of my life.

I think it is just a matter of time, before I find myself moving there again...

Yes. I am an US Citizen and can therefore work in the US for any employer.

What kind of question is that? What every other nerd does, of course..... write computer code or update my web site... :)

Absolutely... All the experiments and their code were written by me.

For the site itself, I use BlogEngine.Net, a popular and open source blogging engine, with the theme designed by me as well.

I am currently available for .NET software consulting opportunities, such as:

• Personal web sites
• Company web sites
• Custom code development

I proudly started with Macromedia Flash 3 and quickly evolved with the subsequent versions. After many projects and loyally and singlehandedly running the only South Florida Macromedia User Group for several years, I seem to have drifted more towards .NET, especially now that Silverlight is out. I haven't touched Flash since version MX 2004, back in 2004...?

Yes, I am fluent in English, Spanish, Dutch and Italian.

In addition, growing up in Europe you can't help but become familiar with other languages. Besides, it is mandatory in school... just another great feature we have in Europe. ;)

However, I can find my way around in German, Portuguese and French.

You can reach me at: me[at]miguelmoreno[dot]net