My name is Rich Hanson.  I've been working in the computer field since 1967.  I've tried to stay current with the latest technologies rather then getting stuck being a COBOL programmer.  I now work for the eCommerce division of a retail womens apparel retailer, Charming Shoppes as Sr. Staff Consultant. I managed to start with a dying small dot com, alight.com in 2001 just before they were bought by Charming. This has allowed me to move into the newer technologies and keep my skills up-to-date. Although keeping up with all the proliferating technologies and standards is not possible. You pick and choose the ones that make sense for what you need today.

I try to keep up with web related technologies by experimenting with my own websites.  I currently work with with ASP, ASP.net and MS SQL Server for server side work. Need to work more with .net. Since I do a lot of web work I'm using CSS for layouts and of course javascript. Lately I have been working with AJAX to asynchrounsly pull information from a database.

Although nothing above is bleeding edge, I do try to keep my ear to the ground as to what's happening, particularly in the web area. There is only so much time in the day. For the websites I create, content is the most important thing rather then wizbang effects. Which just acknowledges that I'm not a designer.

I run fan websites for Madeleine Peyroux and Maryanne Marino. I even own the domain www.lindaronstadt.com, I don't do much with this since there is an excellent fan site already. It's just very interesting that I was able to get the domain of my favorite singer of all time.

Besides technology I'm a big fan of folk / accoustic / singer-songwriter / celtic music.  I enjoy going to the small intimate clubs where this music is generally performed.  See my music page (future) for my favorite artists. You can also see pictures from some of these concerts at my Photo Gallery. I just started a music site in Tucson, Tucson Music Scene to help people find live music.

And I manage to squeeze out some reading time for science fiction / fantasy.  See my books page my favorite authors and books.