bamatone.net

About me

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I was born and raised in Montgomery, Alabama, living there for 18 years until I moved a whole two hours away to Tuscaloosa for undergrad work at The University of Alabama. As a student, I worked tech support on campus to make extra money. That lasted about three years, until I finally graduated in December 2005. Shortly thereafter, I took a full-time position on campus.

Most of my free time is spent browsing my favorite sites like LiveJournal, Facebook, My Yahoo!, Digg, Google Reader, and of course, the Opera Forums. When I'm able to pull myself away from the computer, I spend vast amounts of time with my amazingly loyal friends, where we eat, drink, and be merry! And of course I can't not mention fantasy sports... I spend a LOT of time tweaking my football, baseball, and hockey teams. :D

I used to spend a lot of time playing various RPGs for the NES, SNES, PSX, and GameCube, but my lust for console gaming has evaporated as the years have gone by. My favorite games of all-time are the Dragon Quest / Warrior series, Castlevania: Symphony of the Night, Medal of Honor: Airborne, and Rock Band 2 (drums). I can still play those anytime!

I do like to travel, but am not able to do so as often as I'd like. Cool places I've visited include Chicago, Boston, the Norfolk/Newport News area, Baltimore, Washington, D.C., Dallas, Tampa, Miami, Atlanta, Nashville, Memphis, San Francisco, the Bahamas, and Toronto, Canada. One day, I'd like to make it over the Atlantic. :D

I am a huuuuuge sports nut! I've played soccer ever since I could walk, but the last few years have been tough as there are not many opportunities for college grads to play. Luckily, since I work on campus, I'm allowed to participate in the intramural leagues. My absolute most favorite sport to watch and attend is Alabama Crimson Tide football. I also claim the Atlanta pro sports teams since the state of Alabama has none - Braves, Falcons, and Thrashers. (But not the Hawks... I hate the NBA, meh.) I grew up watching the Detroit Red Wings before Atlanta had a team, though, so I'm allowed to be a fan of both!

My work

As of March 2009, I'm entering my fourth year as a Talisma administrator for the Enrollment Management Technology department at The University of Alabama. Enrollment Management includes Undergraduate Admissions, Enrollment Services & Programs, Technology Support Services, Testing Services, Academic Records & Registrar, and Financial Aid (though only the first three have made the jump to Talisma). I coordinate campaigns, create web forms with html and asp, and help administer the Talisma servers on campus, among other things. Basically, if it's Talisma related, I do it. (Except for data imports and other SQL related back end stuff. :) What exactly is Talisma? It's Customer Relationship Management software. Talisma manages our contacts (prospective students), interactions (all communication with prospective students - phone, email, web chat, etc.), knowledgebase, and more.