Nathan Balon's Home Page
Welcome to my web site. On this site, I have included the following : information about myself, my weblog, a sample of the projects I completed during school, my resume, pictures, and links to other web sites I like.
Hobbies and Personal Interests
I have many hobbies and interests. Some of the things I enjoy are: sports, music, politics, computers, programming, and reading.
I'm a sports fan. I follow most the Detroit sports teams. I'm a big fan of the Tigers, Pistons, Lions and Wolverines. At times, I also listen to sports talk radio, mostly 1130 WDFN. I'm a big fan of Jim Rome and the Jungle.
I also try to stay informed on current issues. I don't really understand how people fail to take an interest in politics, when the elected officials' decisions affect them so much. I support the Libertarian Party and the principles of liberty.
A few of radio shows that I listen to that discuss politics are Off the Hook with Bernie S and Emmanuel Goldstein from 2600, Free Talk Live, Free Domain Radio, and Democracy Now.
I am interested in various aspects of technology. To stay up on the lastest issues in technology, I use both online and printed media. A few of the sites I read regularly are Slashdot, Digg, Lxer, and Linux Today. For the last few years, I have also started to listen to numerous Internet audio shows, such as The Linux Link Tech Show, Binary Revolution, This Week in Tech, and Lug Radio. Also, I like to read books, on topics such as UNIX and Linux, computer networks, distributed systems, security, algorithms, math, programming languages, and software design. I have accumulated a few hunderd books on these various topics. O'Reilly and Addison-Wesley are my favorite publishers.
Education and Computer Interests
I'm a recent graduate from the University of Michigan - Dearborn where I graduated, in April of 2007, with a Master's Degree in Computer Science. The area of concentration for Master's Degree was computer networks. As a condition of graduation, I chose to do a research project in vehicular networks. In addition to graduating from the Univesity of Michigan, I received my undergraduate degree from Eastern Michigan University in Computer Information Systems.
The aspect of computers I am currently interested in are: computer networks, database systems, object oriented programming, computer security, UNIX programming, and open source software.
Future Plans
Eventually, I want to pursue a PHD in Computer Science. In addition, my long term goal is to start a company that produces software.
School Projects
While attending Eastern Michigan and U of M, I completed a number of programming assignments and research papers. These are a sample of some of the projects I completed, and a sample of what I am capable of. In addition, many of the programming Assignments from EMU I have lost. At Eastern I took a couple of classes on C++ programming, and I have no idea where I put all of the assignments.
Some of the projects I completed while attending Eastern Michigan University while working on my Bachelor degree in Computer Information Systems.
Some of the projects I completed while attending University of Michigan Dearborn while working on my Master degree in Computer Science.
My Resume
I am currently looking for a job, perferably programming job.
My Current Resume, which was last updated July 2007.
A text version of my resume
Weblog
I created a weblog that has some of my thought on various topics.
Pictures of Me and My Family
I put together a collection of pictures. These pages contain pictures of me, my friends and family.
Reach Me
If you have any questions or comments, I can be reached at nathan_balon@yahoo.com
I can also be reached through Yahoo instant messenger. My Yahoo ID is: nathan_balon.
