This site contains info about myself, some digital photography, MP3 representations of some of my music (compositions and renditions of other people's stuff), some `how-to' documents I've created for various networking and system administration topics, links to web resources which I've found incredibly handy over the years, and more...
As long as you are visiting, if you have a suggestion of any kind please email webmaster@ivanfetch.com and voice your opinion - you know you want to!
I am currently working as a systems administrator for University Technology Services at the University of Denver. While my main interests are computers and music, I also like spending time with quality people, stimulating conversation, learning new things, enjoying the beautiful weather of Colorado, helping others, and finding / creating humor in life when ever possible. I love jazz, and play piano/keyboard, a little flute and drums, and have taken up bass guitar. IF anyone in the Denver, Colorado area is interested in getting together and playing some jazz / blues / funk / R&B, email webmaster@ivanfetch.com!
I was born 4 months premature on Feb. 11, 1977. As a result of the oxygen level I was given in order to stay alive, I "became" totally blind. My parents contacted other parents who had visually impaired children, as well as other county-based resources, and learned as much as possible about how to keep a visual impairment from stunting my growth as an individual. I am very appreciative that my parents did not turn the other cheek, as so many parents seem to do to their children now-a-days regardless of any "handicap." While everyone has their own individuality, I would not be who I am today if my parents did not possess the drive, determination, and strength that they do.
In my grade school years, I attended Nova Elementary, Christ Church elementary, Bennett Elementary, and Sunrise Middle school, all in the Ft. Lauderdale Florida area. Thank you to the many people who made that leg of my education so much more (i.e. Sandy Edmonds and company, MRS. Volgoly, Pat Houchins, Ileen Wills)!
I moved to Naples Florida around 1991 when my parents got "separated." Having already progressed to using a computer to produce my school work (4th grade, around 1989?), I was given the chance at Barron Collier High to use a scanner and optical character recognition (OCR) software to read most printed material. This is an incredible freedom to not have to rely on others so much in order to read. Thanks go out to the folks of Pine Ridge middle and Barron Collier High - special thanks go out to Carolyn Rolls, Carolyn Roth and Kay Brown!
I attended a few years at Florida Atlantic University and did a lot of work setting up and maintaining an Assistive Technology Computer Lab for the Office for Students with Disabilities. Eventually Florida Atlantic University's "publish or parish" professorial attitude, plus various other "don't fix it until someone makes us, or it falls on us and kills us" mentalities drove me to want something much more. To the people who are still sticking it out there at FAU, and still making a difference despite the BS, I salute you! I left a lot of great people behind including family, co-workers at the office where i worked, and great friends. Despite intentions, distance is a real bastard when it comes to keeping in touch like you used to. :(
In March of 1997, I spent a month at the Seeing Eye where I got my first Seeing Eye dog - a golden retriever named Zeke. This is another terrific thing in my life. I hated using a cane to get around, and Zeke is a terrific guide and companion.
In June of 1999, while visiting my mom in the mountains of Colorado, I decided to transfer to the University of Denver. I began in the college of engineering at Denver University, but after one term there I switched to the college of computer science.
Around the middle of the year 2001, I began having some misgivings about school. It wasn't that I disliked the University of Denver, but I felt like the consulting I was doing in order to pay for school was teaching me more than school was (in terms of what I wanted to do when I "grew up"). My motivation for course work was very low, and my motivation for evening and weekend consulting and learning more about system administration and networking was extremely high (and still is). I quit school and tried my hand at the job market, and with in a few months was hired by the University of Denver. I wrapped things up as a researcher and systems administrator for the Privacy Center at the University, and started my Mathematics and Computer Science (at that point the departments were combined) systems administrator position in July of 2001. The Privacy Center is no longer in operation, but you can check out the Privacy Foundation web site to get an idea of what the center did (we were the research arm for the foundation).
In June of 2004, I left the department of Computer Science for University Technology Services. This allowed me to move from the (now quite different) environment of Computer Science (and it's governing School of Engineering and Computer Science), into an environment with a broader range of technology, more opportunity to learn, a budget for purchasing new technology, and the ability to take a vacation and have other admins cover for me while I was gone.
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URL: http://www.ivanfetch.com/about.php
Document Last Modified:
Friday, March 05, 2010