The “Rosario children” were fathered by Juan Rosario, who died on July 23rd, 1972. At the time, I was two years of age. As I heard it, he was a great musician - a guitar player, to be precise. Obviously, he was unable to pass his talent along to his children, or so it would appear. He had taught some guitar concepts to my mother and when I reached the age of six, she taught me and my sisters what she knew. We learned. Some of us expressed greater zeal than others but, nonetheless, we all learned. It is my opinion (I don’t know if there is actual evidence to substantiate this) that musical abilities can be hereditary because the “Rosario children” are all musically inclined. My sister Gladys sings, plays guitar, a little drums, and piano; my other sister, Jenny, also sings, plays a few chords on the guitar, and then there’s me. I learned how to play guitar at 6, and moved on to bass, drums, and keyboards (oh, and of course, the recorder!) After two years of having started learning how to play guitar, I began playing in church (now at the age of 8) on a guitar that seemed bigger than I was. I now usually only play keyboards in church, although I will pitch in with the bass or guitar as needed.

When I was 15, my mother and sister bought me a Casio CT-310 (wow!) When I was 16, and had a summer job programming computers in assembler (machine language), I bought a Casio CZ-5000, my first acquisition of a musical instrument. Over the years, I amassed an arsenal of equipment. Items I acquired but no longer possess are: Ensoniq SQ-80 (keyboard), Alesis HR-16 (drum machine), Tascam M-208 (mixer), Ensoniq Mirage (sampler), Roland P-330 (piano module), Roland U-220 (sound module), Korg M3R (sound module), Alesis D4 (drum module), Alesis 3630 (dual channel compressor/limiter/gate), Midiman MidiSport 8x8/s (USB midi interface), Yamaha TX-7 (sound module), Alesis QS-8 synthesizer, and Event Electronics Gina 20 (2 analog in, 8 analog out, 1 S/PDIF in/out). The items I currently have are: Alesis Quadraverb with Plus chip (multi-effects processor), Yamaha Motif Rack (sound module) w/PLG150-DX (DX7 card), Ensoniq SQ-R (sound module), Alesis DMPRO (drum module), Rane PE-17 (parametric eq), Roland A-30 (76-key midi controller), Music Quest 8 Port/SE (PC midi interface bought by Opcode), Edirol UM-880 USB MIDI interface, Boss BR-1600CD multitrack recorder, an Ibanez EXB445 5-string bass modified with EMG J pickups and the EMG BQC System, the Roland Fantom X8 music production workstation (with SRX01 Dynamic drums, SRX06 Complete Orchestra, SRX07 Ultimate Keys, and SRX10 Big Brass Ensemble), a Mackie SR32·4 mixer, an Audio Technica AT-3525 condensor microphone, a Neumann TLM103 condensor microphone, Yamaha A5000 sampler (with AIEB1 expansion card), Kurzweil PC2R sound module, Behringer SRC2496 sample rate converter, MOTU 2408 mkII (allows digital audio recording - 8 analog in/out, 3 ADAT in/out, S/PDIF in/out, 3 TDIF in/out), MOTU 308 (provides 8 AES/EBU in/out, 8 S/PDIF in/out, and 8 TOSLink in/out), a t.c. electronic Finalizer Plus mastering processor, a t.c. electronic Triple-C multi-band compressor, a Behringer V-AMP Pro guitar amp modeler, the Presonus Eureka channel strip, Tech21 SansAmp RBI bass preamp with tube emulation, a T.C. Helicon Voice Works vocal processor (pitch correction and harmonization), the Lexicon MPX1 multi-effects processor, a Roland M1000 digital mixer, a CAD PMP742C 7-piece drum microphone set, a CAD GXL1200 condenser mic, an Alesis ADAT XT, a Yamaha MS400 powered speaker (400 watts) for some sound reinforcement, a Guild DCE3 acoustic electric dreadnought guitar, a “Standard” Fender Stratocaster w/noiseless pickups, an Ibanez GA6CE classical guitar, and a Clavia Nord Electro 2 (73). If I was able to make a decent living producing, I would choose it over computers. Music is in my blood; programming is a skill I acquired.

I went to I.S. 171 and moved on to Brooklyn Technical High School. I wanted musical equipment so badly but didn’t have the resources to accomplish this, thus the brilliant decision: “I’m such a good programmer, I really don’t need college. I’ll work right away.” (a) Stupid, (b) naive, (c) arrogant, (d) misguided, (e) all of the above. After many years of procrastination (and lack of funds), I registered at the American College for Computer and Information Sciences (a distance-learning college) in 2001, enrolling in the BS/CS program. As my children grow, so have the demands of being a father, and it became quite impossible to do both. I left ACCIS for an accredited Bible college, which I can do while raising two kids, in persuit of a Bachelor in Theology, and who knows how much further I will go; a Master or Doctorate in Theology, Divinity, or Ministry looks very appealing. Computers may be my profession, but they are not my life!

My first daughter, Lillian, was born in 1992. I married an Argentinian girl, Elizabeth, in 1997. She is also musically inclined, playing a little classical piano and singing beautifully. She discovered that she has a gift for writing songs, and we have completed one recording, Crea En Mí, and are now working on an English and the next Spanish recording. We have one son, Gabriel (2000) and a daughter, Rachel, born in 2002. They are the joy of my life.

On a different note, my mother has made me become health-conscious. She looks young for her age, because she eats healthy and works out. It has been a huge motivation and for a few months I have followed suit. You see, I lived on soda and junk food and had complete disregard for my health. I had a soda withdrawal but now I’m on water and low-fat, no- or low-sodium, no- or low-salt diet. I feel much better and younger and was inspired to do some pages about exercising and healthy eating.

I remember the first computer I saw; the Commodore Vic20. Eventually we got the Commodore Pets. I wanted to score higher on the games we had so I started learning how to program so I can alter them so that when I scored, I would score more than I should. That’s what got me into the computer field. Eventually I was programming professionally at the age of 16 in assembly/machine language. I have dealt with many languages (check my résumé further on) and got into networking also. I am totally into Linux/Unix now and I only use Linux (desktop), FreeBSD (server), and OpenBSD (firewall) at home. Windows is trash, even worse than the one in the Staten Island landfill. In fact, everything (except really old stuff) on this web site was built using only Linux (GIMP for graphics, Emacs for editing, PHP for scripting, PostGreSQL for database, and gPhoto for digital camera) ...; and I still hear “insightful” comments about how Linux will never replace Windows and is not ready for the desktop.

I have what may be considered to be a perpetual employer change. Such is the way to initially advance in my field, but you get to the point where you must settle down, and that time has come. I had been working for JPMorganChase (actually Chase side) since January 2001, and at the end of 2002, the rumors that had been circulating for months turned out to be true; we were outsourced to IBM. So my official start date with IBM was April 1, 2003, and very much like politicians, they made many pretty promises and made some wonderful claims as to the beauty of working for IBM Global Services - promises that have not come to fruition. Now we are being reintegrated into the bank because of the merger with Bank One. Well, it sure beats waiting to be replaced by an off-shore (Indian) counterpart. At any rate, it should enhance my resume, as Chase and IBM are Fortune 50 companies and working in these companies has given me exposure to enterprise-level networks.