about

Welcome! This is the mind-dump repository for John W. Henderson. I'm an engineer working in product development, and currently reside in St. Paul, MN, with my wife and three kiddos.

I created this primarily as an online portfolio, though I will likely migrate my blog here as well. As I write, I'm primarily just tickled that github offers hosting like this, that I can write in my beloved org-mode via Nikola, and that I got it to work after just a few hours.

I've gone by jwhendy (sometimes just hendy) for some time; you might see me on the arch linux forums, StackExchange, and github (to name a few).

interests

I studied mechanical engineering, but see myself as quite a hodge-podge of iterests. I'm into programming, electronics, data analysis and visualization, woodworking, various crafty things, and home repair/improvement. I also enjoy playing piano and guitar, soccer, rock climbing, hobby photography, and camping.

For some specifics on the electronics and software side of things:

  • org-mode: a note-taking/todo/scheduling/code-writing/document generation add-on for the emacs text editor. I use this heavily at work and home and would say that it's the most revolutionary piece of software I've ever discovered!
  • R: a statistical programming language which I use for all of my data preparation, analysis, and plotting
  • \(\LaTeX\): a document typesetting utility
  • arch linux: I used to have a Macbook, but kids + water put that to an end. Linux makes open source software so easy to try, doesn't shove alert boxes in my face while I'm trying to work, and isn't starving for RAM and CPU.
  • python: this is currently my "next big thing." I've been really enjoying several classes on Coursera, making some handy scripts, and using it to program robots via ROS.
  • arduino, raspberry pi, et al: I love the world of microcontrollers, sensors, and gadgets. It's so enjoyable to create something that mostly does your will!
  • data visualization: this is sort of meta, but since much of my programming outputs visuals, I group it in this category. If you can't understand or communicate the data, game over. I got interested in this topic thanks to the amazing site FlowingData.