My name is Ira and I was born in Peoria, IL in 1982. In my younger days I was always interested in learning and playing sports. I always tried to be the best at everything. Being a shorter guy, it wasn't easy for me to excel in sports, but having heart and dedication to be good at something is a trait that no coach can teach. I played baseball, football and wrestled back in my middle and high school days. I had many great friends growing up in Seminole, FL. My friends and I pushed each other to be better at whatever we were doing due to their (but mostly my) competitive nature.

Growing up it was fun to be a jack of all trades, but the problem in lies that you are a master of none. I made a decision at 18 that I was going to have a career utilizing my mind. That is what pushed me toward computers. I went to college to quench my thirst for knowledge, specializing in computers.

Half way through my college career, I caught a lucky break and got hired by a web hosting, development, and design company. It is there where I was able to really dig in and learn things that I wanted to learn while doing something that interested me. I began developing web sites using ASP and SQL Server. With each passing day I learned more about the web and development. That is when I truly fell in love with what I do.

Career wise, I am learning more than ever about development. I spent a lot of time studying for my transition from ASP and VB 6 to ASP.NET and C#/VB.NET. I now have the liberty of being able to utilize my studies on a current project I am doing. The more I learn about the ASP.NET and .NET architecture, the more interested I am in it. There are so many new things to master and so many options of when and how to use them. I am very excited to be moving in this direction with my career.

Just before finishing college, I was blessed with an opportunity to be with a woman that I had known since high school but had been in and out of touch with for years. Her name is Amy, and she is my fiancé. I love every moment we spend together. I have a great family, with excellent friends and a woman I would do anything for in my life. I consider myself to be a very lucky person. Amy and I have our sights set on a house this year.

These days I like to spend my free time with my fiancé, friends and family. Whether it is going boating during the summer, or racing in the winter it feels like I constantly have things to fill my free time with. Boating and racing have to be my two favorite activities. I love going out on the lake with my fiancé and family, wakeboarding for hours on end. Then in the winter time, I drag my Sentra down to Bradenton to run the quarter mile. In between those times are filled with a weekly car meet, video game nights, cards, and bowling. I am a busy guy!

I am really looking forward to starting a family of my own in the near future. Getting a house this year and with the right things happening at work, this year could be something great. I am constantly struggling to make the right choices for my small family of Amy, our beagle Zoey, and our cat Choochoo. Amy and I are hoping to be wed by the end of 2009. My life has been a good one so far, but there is always room to make improvements. I've said it before and I'll say it again, I'm a lucky man.