About Crys’s Crap

It’s just crap, so don’t take it personally.

I grew up in Wyoming in a small town in a state that has more cattle than people, by a lot. The early Crystal years were all about the Crystal Zoo. Not much has changed now that I’m a DBA.

I was first introduced to a computer around the age of ten, typing up my mother’s documents. At fifteen I was introduced to the internet and I was never the same again. I taught myself to build websites and then moved to Seattle where I was given a 30 day contract at the age of 19 to build an ASP website connected to a SQL database. I didn’t know ASP but I learned it real quick and the company hired me full time. They didn’t know what I was going to do but I apparently had made a good impression. Bizarre but true.

I was tasked with building 300 reports in a couple of months for the new application and once again was introduced to this magical thing called SQL. I suffered the Crystal Reports jokes (making only a few death threats) and eventually became the DBA where my first task was to set an SA password and remove the hardcoding of the SA login from every sproc. I was pretty damn proud of myself.

It wasn’t long before it became apparent the company was doomed to merger hell and I got my lucky break of being a production DBA for Aquantive, Inc. A couple years ago we were acquired by Microsoft. I have to say I work with an amazing team which makes my job worth it.

I live with my husband and our two dogs, two cats, and three turtles. We currently have a roommate but he’ll be moving out in a couple of months. We’re trying to reproduce and my hope is that the roommate will move out before we have a kid on the way so I will for the first time ever get to enjoy not having a roommate – you know before we produce one that if we’re lucky, we get to kick out at the age of 18. I’m an off again on again vegan, which makes trips home to Wyoming interesting. My parents are very supportive but with a daughter like me it is either support me or strangle me. My hair color changes every couple of months and I have literally had every color of the rainbow. The only thing that stays the same about me is the fact that nothing stays the same about me.

People seem to enjoy my company and I have no idea why. I think people just need a little more crazy in their world. I’m happy to oblige.

Hobbies include my zoo, reading, writing, photography, exercise, dirtbiking, a SQL Server obsession and whatever else interests me (ooh look, something shiny!).

The opinions expressed on this blog are my own and they do not reflect the company I work for, my family and friends, my neighbors, or any other stranger encountered in that thing you people call reality.