User:PropellerHead

PropellerHead plays nicely as a username - describing both my profession and my avocation.

PropellerHead as Geek
According to Wikipedia, the term propeller head can refer to a person (usually an engineer of some type) who is employed to do a technically demanding job.

I am a 20 year veteran of the computer networking industry, having been employed as a software engineer, network designer, manager and consultant. I have experience with X.25, Frame Relay, ATM, IP and MPLS networks. I have designed, built, and supported Telco, ISP and Enterprise networks.

The year 2000 was a lousy year to be in Telecom.

PropellerHead as Aviator
Ever since I was a little kid I've been fascinated by airplanes. When I was 12 years old I watched the Blue Angels perform at an airshow (they were flying the F4 Phantom back then) and I was instantly hooked. I earned my Aviation Merit Badge from the Boy Scouts when I was 14. I earned my private pilot's license when I was 21.

Today I own and fly a Cessna 182. I hold a Private Pilot's Certificate with an Instrument Rating. I have over 700 hours Pilot in Command time and probably over 5000 hours on Microsoft Flight Simulator.

PropellerHead's Mission
I joined the Wikipedia community after looking up DiffServ on the Web to refresh my memory on a DSCP codepoint. The article on Wikipedia showed incomplete and sometimes inaccurate understanding of the subject matter. After browsing through several articles on computer networking topics, such as traffic management, traffic shaping, bandwidth throttling and congestion avoidance, I found similar inconsistencies and inaccuracies.

Worst of all, some of these articles decried the techniques described because evil ISP's are using them to limit BitTorrent streams! Huh?!? Where's the NPOV??

So I've set about to slowly correct some of these articles and provide a more accurate technical understanding of the techniques and methods used to design and engineer computer networks.

I've started with DiffServ, which is currently (9/15/06) a work in progress. Be happy to receive comments or suggestions regarding any of my contributions.