Barry Michael Tikkanen

I was born in Germany in the early 1970's. My parents were living in Pirmasens at the time, located in the Rheinland-Phalz area. My father was stationed at an Army base in what was then West Germany. My parents were married a year earlier stateside, and my mother accompanied my father overseas.

They returned to the United States, with me in tow, when I was about a year old. We lived in Maryland for a short time, as my father was stationed there. My first sister was born in Maryland just before I turned two, making me a big brother for the first time.

We came to the greater Grand Rapids area of Michigan shortly after my sister was born. We lost my sister to SIDS, when she was nearly five months. Even after all these years, her passing has never become acceptable, easier, or less painful...just different.

I became a big brother again less than a year later. This time I had a brother. He's always been the overachiever in the family. The girls always said he was the cute one, too. I still have my doubts about the latter part though. ~:) He was the best man at my wedding. Thanks man. He and his wife have a beatiful baby now.

A couple of years later my kid brother was born. He has given me a real run for my money as the "black sheep" of the family on occasion, but he's still a good kid. No matter how old we get I guess he'll always be my kid brother. He married shortly before we did, and has four kids now.

My second sister was born two years after my kid brother. She has tried to take on the "black sheep" title a couple of times herself, but I don't think she was really cut out for it. Besides Mom and Dad were getting pretty wise to our crap by the time she was old enough anyway. She has been out of high school for a couple of years now, but I'm never sure what she's up to. She is now married, has three kids and is all grown up.

The last of my siblings was due around Christmas. She was born nearly three months premature, and right on time for my parents' tenth wedding anniversary. I guess even then that she was too head strong to do what she was supposed to do. She has earned academic scholarships, and thankfully is following the path of her "overachieving" brother.

I graduated from Allendale High School in 1990. They have built a new high school since then. I am a few classes short of a Computer Science degree from Grand Valley State University.

For those who are wondering what the heck TikkiGod refers to, follow this link.

My interests include computer programming, hockey, and first person shooter video games. My interest in programming tends to carry over into more of my life than my wife would probably like at times. I have a spent a good amount of time programming in Modula-2, C, Visual C++, Visual Basic, and Basic. I have also spent a bit of time working with assembly language, and COBOL, not to mention a passing familiarity with Fortran (a very quick pass). I have built many databases for my current job. Hockey is something my wife and I both enjoy. (We're Red Wings fans all the way.) Perhaps my most guilty of pleasures however is playing first person shooters. I am currently hooked on Half-Life 2. (Like I was on DOOM, DOOM II, Quake, Quake II and Duke Nukem 3D before it.)

My wife and I live in a beautiful tri-level home with a two stall attached garage. It has 1830 square feet of living space, a nice yard, and all the appliances we need.
Our son was born in Spring 2002.

Contact Information

I think this is all of the contact information I have right now.

First, here are some of the social network and contact sites where I hold profiles.

Let's follow up with phone numbers and email addresses.
The phone numbers are displayed as images, to help deter telemarketing calls.)

Mobile:

Work:

Next we have my chat IDs with various clients.

TikkiWeb

barry.tikkanen@gmail.com

195130180

tikkaneb@hotmail.com

barry_tikkanen

I use a mult-client chat software called Pidgin, so I don't need all of the individual clients open at once.

Sometimes you can find me on the following voip clients, too.

Name: btikkanen & Number:

btikkanen

My Career

Summary

Able to take charge of multiple concurrent projects and see each through to completion. Enjoys working with people in a team environment, as well as on independent projects. Works well with all levels of management. Strong problem solving skills. Enjoys new challenges.

Work History

CompX International, Inc. - Thomas Regout USA, Inc.
: May 1996 - Present

Computer Technician
: March 1999 - Present
Responsibilities include:
1. Troubleshooting hardware and software
2. Development and implementation of disaster recovery procedures
3. Maintaining Progress based Database Management Systems
4. Training personnel in usage of new and current hardware and software
5. Communicate with department managers and users to develop policies, procedures, project plans and provide completion status
6. Responding to and resolving the needs of network users with regard to access and operation of hardware and software
7. Organizing and completing multiple concurrent projects
8. Maintaining and upgrading existing hardware and software environment
9. Researching, purchasing and implementing hardware and software solutions for new and existing areas
10. Developing software solutions for new and existing areas when applicable
11. Web development, on both intra- and internet

Quality Technician
: January 1997 - January 2000
Responsibilities included:
1. Troubleshooting production processes
2. Calibration and use of quality tooling
3. Reading of blue prints
4. Customer relations
5. Lift truck
6. Understanding of all manufacturing processes

Assembly Operator
: May 1996 - January 1997
Responsibilities included:
1. Press operation
2. General product assembly
3. Product quality

Barman Select Temporary Services
: December 1994 - May 1996

1.  
   Thomas Regout USA, Inc.
   : December 1995 - May 1996
   1. Press operation
   2. General product assembly
   3. Product quality
   Bissell, Inc.
   : December 1994 - December 1995
   1. Plastic injection mold press operator
   2. Group leader for temporary employees
   3. Product quality

ARA Food Service/GVSU Commons
: September 1991 - December 1994

(Seasonal: September to May)
1. General food service
2. Customer interaction
3. Pizza parlor

Lakepark Industries of Indiana
: May 1992 - July 1994

(Seasonal: May through August)
1. Setup and operation of presses ranging from 80 to 1000 tons
2. Operation of resistance welders
3. Product quality

Intertrade USA, Ltd.
: February to July of 1991

1. Material handling
2. Product quality

Education

Allendale High School
: Graduated 1990
1. College Preparatory Curriculum
2. Track
3. Drama

Grand Valley State University
: 1994 - Present
1. Computer Science Major
2. Programming emphasis
3. Enrolled part-time

Engineering Major
: 1991-1994
1. Manufacturing emphasis
2. Enrolled full-time

Interests

Programming
1. Object Oriented methods
2. PHP with MySQL
3. C/C++, Visual C++
4. Visual Basic
5. MS Access (VB)
6. Modula 2
7. Pascal
8. COBOL
9. HTML
10. JavaScript
11. Linux
12. Windows
13. HTML

Desktop Publishing
1. Adobe Acrobat
2. Microsoft Office
3. Web Publishing
4. Front Page 2000
5. Ace HTML 4

Graphic Design
1. 3D Modeling
2. Bryce 4
3. Amorphium
4. Digital Graphics
5. Paint Shop Pro
6. Painting
7. Pen and Ink

Podcast Playlist

For those that are interested, I have compiled a list of my current digital media cast subscriptions.

(Updated: 2007-07-30)

Download the OPML

Title: Brave Men Run Podcast
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/bravemenrun
Site: http://www.bravemenrun.com/podcast.php

Title: The Jonathan Coulton Project
Feed: http://jocopro.libsyn.com/rss
Site: http://jocopro.libsyn.com

Title: The Seanachai » Episodes
Feed: http://www.theseanachai.com/category/episodes/feed
Site: http://www.theseanachai.com

Title: How to Succeed in Evil » Episodes
Feed: http://succeedinevil.com/?feed=rss2&cat=6
Site: http://succeedinevil.com

Title: Cult of UHF
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/Cultofuhf
Site: http://www.cultofuhf.com

Title: this WEEK in TECH - MP3 Edition
Feed: http://leo.am/podcasts/twit
Site: http://twit.tv

Title: Digital Photography Tips from the Top Floor (AppleTV/Audio)
Feed: http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com/wp-rss2.php
Site: http://www.tipsfromthetopfloor.com

Title: More Hip Than Hippie
Feed: http://www.morehipthanhippie.com/rss
Site: http://morehipthanhippie.com

Title: podCast411 - Learn about Podcasting and Podcasters
Feed: http://www.podcast411.com/feed.xml
Site: http://www.podcast411.com

Title: Slackerpedia Galactica and Slacker Astronomy video podcast
Feed: http://www.slackerastronomy.org/slack-live.xml
Site: http://www.slackerastronomy.org/

Title: Croncast - From Cool to Cul De Sac
Feed: http://www.croncast.com/castlock.rss
Site: http://www.croncast.com

Title: Skepticality: The Official Podcast of Skeptic Maga
Feed: http://skepticality.libsyn.com/rss
Site: http://www.skepticality.com

Title: President's Weekly Radio Address
Feed: http://www.whitehouse.gov/rss/radioaddress.xml
Site: http://www.whitehouse.gov/news/radio

Title: Science Friday - Making Science Radioactive
Feed: http://www.sciencefriday.com/audio/scifriaudio.xml
Site: http://www.sciencefriday.com

Title: PRI's The World: Technology
Feed: http://www.theworld.org/rss/tech.xml
Site: http://www.theworld.org/?q=taxonomy/term/6

Title: ExtraLife Radio, with Scott Johnson
Feed: http://www.myextralife.com/ftp/radio/rss.xml
Site: http://www.extraliferadio.com/

Title: 1UP Yours
Feed: http://www.1up.com/flat/Podcasts/podcasts.xml
Site: http://1upyours.1up.com

Title: dl.tv iPod video
Feed: http://rssnewsapps.ziffdavis.com/audioblogs/DLTVvidcast.xml
Site: http://www.dl.tv

Title: Grand Rapids, MI - AccuWeather.com Weather Forecast -
Feed: http://podcast.accuweather.com/podcast_rss/grr.xml
Site: http://wwwa.accuweather.com/index-forecast.asp?zipcode=Grand%20Rapids,%2...

Title: The Naked Scientists Naked Science Radio Show PODCAST - Stripping Down Science
Feed: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/naked_scientists_podcast.xml
Site: http://www.thenakedscientists.com/

Title: APM: Future Tense
Feed: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=510014&uid=99bd21cfb5e98cb4b5d40f2...
Site: http://www.publicradio.org/columns/futuretense/

Title: NPR: Technology
Feed: http://www.npr.org/rss/podcast.php?id=1019&uid=99bd21cfb5e98cb4b5d40f214...
Site: http://www.npr.org/templates/topics/topic.php?topicId=1019&ft=2&f=1019

Title: PC Gamer Podcast
Feed: http://www.pcgamerpodcast.com/?feed=rss2&category_name=podcasts
Site: http://www.pcgamerpodcast.com

Title: Hak5 Video Podcast
Feed: http://www.hak5.org/rss/ipod.xml
Site: http://www.hak5.org/

Title: MAKE Magazine
Feed: http://makezine.com/blog/archive/make_podcast/index.xml
Site: http://www.makezine.com/blog/

Title: The President's Weekly Radio Address
Feed: http://weeklyradioaddress.com/WRA_RSS.xml
Site: http://weeklyradioaddress.com

Title: The Onion Radio News
Feed: http://www.theonion.com/content/feeds/radionews
Site: http://www.theonion.com/content/radionews

Title: One Minute How-To
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/OneMinuteHowTo
Site: http://OneMinuteHowTo.com

Title: Puck Podcast
Feed: http://puckpodcast.hipcast.com/rss/puckpodcast.xml
Site: http://puckpodcast.blogspot.com/

Title: ESPN Melrose Line
Feed: http://sports.espn.go.com/espnradio/podcast/feeds/itunes/podCast?id=2666...

Title: Five Minute Memoir
Feed: http://www.fiveminutememoir.com/podcasts/?feed=rss2
Site: http://www.fiveminutememoir.com/podcasts

Title: GeekBrief.TV | Video Podcast (iPod)
Feed: http://geekbrief.podshow.com/feed.xml
Site: http://www.podshow.com/shows/?show=geekbrief

Title: Matthew Wayne Selznick - Author, DIY Advocate » Sonitotum
Feed: http://www.mattselznick.com/scribtotum/category/new-media/podcasts/sonit...
Site: http://www.mattselznick.com

Title: InDigital (Small Quicktime)
Feed: http://revision3.com/indigital/feed/quicktime-small
Site: http://revision3.com/indigital

Title: Coolness Roundup
Feed: http://www.podshow.com/feeds/coolnessroundup.xml
Site: http://www.podshow.com/shows/?show=coolnessroundup

Title: Coolness Lounge
Feed: http://www.podshow.com/feeds/coolnesslounge.xml
Site: http://www.podshow.com/shows/?show=coolnesslounge

Title: The 10th Wonder Podcast - NBC Heroes
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/10thWonderPodcast
Site: http://www.thetenthwonder.com

Title: 60-Second Science
Feed: http://www.sciam.com/podcast/sciam_podcast_i_d.xml
Site: http://www.sciam.com/podcast/

Title: Systm (Small Quicktime)
Feed: http://revision3.com/systm/feed/quicktime-small
Site: http://revision3.com/systm

Title: NOVA | PBS
Feed: http://broadband.wgbh.org/nova/rss/nova-podcast.xml
Site: http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/rss/podcast/redir/wgbh/nova/index.html

Title: commandN (iPod format)
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/commandN_pod
Site: http://www.commandn.tv

Title: Astronomy Cast
Feed: http://www.astronomycast.com/podcast.xml
Site: http://www.astronomycast.com

Title: The Radio Adventures Of Dr. Floyd - www.DoctorFloyd.com
Feed: http://www.doctorfloyd.com/blog/rss.xml
Site: http://www.DoctorFloyd.com

Title: Battlestar Galactica Podcast
Feed: http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/downloads/podcast/podcast.xml
Site: http://www.scifi.com/battlestar/

Title: Starkville's "House of El" Podcast (Standard MP3)
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/houseofel
Site: http://www.houseofelpodcast.com

Title: PMC Top10
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/PmcTop10
Site: http://www.podmusiccountdown.com

Title: Discovery News (audio)
Feed: http://www.discovery.com/radio/xml/news.xml
Site: http://www.discovery.com/radio/podcasts.html

Title: Science Talk: The Podcast of Scientific American
Feed: http://www.sciam.com/podcast/sciam_podcast_i.xml
Site: http://www.sciam.com/podcast/

Title: Ask A Ninja - iPod
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/AskANinja
Site: http://askaninja.com/taxonomy/term/20/0

Title: comedy4cast - Comedy in 4 minutes...or less
Feed: http://www.comedy4cast.com/rss2.xml
Site: http://www.comedy4cast.com

Title: Lullabot - Videocast
Feed: http://www.lullabot.com/videocast/feed
Site: http://www.lullabot.com/taxonomy/term/3/0

Title: Lullabot - Audiocast
Feed: http://www.lullabot.com/audiocast/feed
Site: http://www.lullabot.com/taxonomy/term/4/0

Title: Hometown Tales Vidcast (Videos)
Feed: http://www.hometowntales.com/htvidcast.xml
Site: http://www.hometowntales.com

Title: Tiki Bar TV (video)
Feed: http://tikibartv.com/feeds/itunes
Site: http://www.tikibartv.com

Title: Griddlecakes Radio
Feed: http://www.griddlecakes.com/griddlecakes.xml
Site: http://www.griddlecakes.com

Title: I Should Be Writing
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/IShouldBeWriting
Site: http://isbw.murlafferty.com

Title: Daily GizWiz
Feed: http://leo.am/podcasts/dgw
Site: http://twit.tv

Title: Hometown Tales Podcast
Feed: http://www.hometowntales.com/htpodcast.xml
Site: http://www.hometowntales.com

Title: This Week in Science - The Kickass Science Podcast
Feed: http://feeds.twis.org/twis/science/
Site: http://www.twis.org/audio

Title: Mr. Deity
Feed: http://www.mrdeity.com/deityrss.xml
Site: http://www.mrdeity.com

Title: Geeklabel Radio
Feed: http://www.geeklabel.com/podcast/feed.xml
Site: http://www.geeklabel.com/podcast.php

Title: Variant Frequencies
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/VariantFrequencies
Site: http://www.variantfrequencies.com

Title: AOTS: In Your Pants
Feed: http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/podcasts/22/AOTS_In_Your_Pants.xml
Site: http://www.g4tv.com/attackoftheshow/index.html

Title: ExtraLife TV
Feed: http://myextralife.com/ftp/radio/eltv.xml
Site: http://myextralife.com

Title: Irish and Celtic Music Podcast
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/mage/irish
Site: http://www.celticmusicpodcast.com/

Title: Onion News Network (Video)
Feed: http://feeds.theonion.com/OnionNewsNetwork
Site: http://tv.theonion.com/

Title: Writers Talking
Feed: http://recordings.talkshoe.com/rss20652.xml
Site: http://www.talkshoe.com/talkshoe/web/tscmd/tc/20652

Title: Diary of a Cartoonist
Feed: http://myextralife.com/ftp/radio/diary.xml
Site: http://myextralife.com

Title: Myth Show Podcast
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/mythshow
Site: http://www.mythshow.com

Title: Myth Minute Podcast
Feed: http://feeds.mythminute.com/
Site: http://www.mythminute.com

Title: Stranger Things - iPod (640x480)
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/StrangerThings
Site: http://www.strangerthings.tv

Title: The FuMP
Feed: http://www.thefump.com/cast.php
Site: http://www.thefump.com

Title: 1UP.com - Broken Pixels
Feed: http://www.1up.com/flat/Podcasts/brokenpixels.xml
Site: http://brokenpixels.1up.com/

Title: Coverville
Feed: http://www.coverville.com/fb-index.xml
Site: http://www.coverville.com/

Title: Cranky Geeks for the iPod Video
Feed: http://rssnewsapps.ziffdavis.com/audioblogs/crankygeeks/cg.ipod.xml
Site: http://www.crankygeeks.com

Title: Diggnation (Small Quicktime)
Feed: http://revision3.com/diggnation/feed/quicktime-small
Site: http://revision3.com/diggnation

Title: 7th Son Podcast Novel Trilogy
Feed: http://www.jchutchins.net/7thSonPodcast.xml
Site: http://www.jchutchins.net/

Title: PixelPerfect with Bert Monroy (Small Quicktime)
Feed: http://revision3.com/pixelperfect/feed/quicktime-small
Site: http://revision3.com/pixelperfect

Title: Technocracy Radio
Feed: http://technocracyradio.libsyn.com/rss
Site: http://technocracyradio.com

Title: Jonathan Coulton
Feed: http://www.jonathancoulton.com/feed
Site: http://www.jonathancoulton.com

Title: Discovery Friday News Feedbag
Feed: http://www.discovery.com/radio/xml/feedbag.xml
Site: http://dsc.discovery.com/news/news.html

Title: Heaven - Season Three: Earth
Feed: http://www.podiobooks.com/bookfeed/22809/183/book.xml
Site: http://www.podiobooks.com/podiobooks/book.php?ID=183

Title: The Skeptics' Guide to the Universe
Feed: http://www.theness.com/rss.xml
Site: http://www.theskepticsguide.org

Title: Delicious TV Vegetarian (video)
Feed: http://delicioustv.libsyn.com/rss
Site: http://delicioustv.com

Title: Food Guru Video Podcast
Feed: http://www.foodguru.com/podcast/xml.xml
Site: http://www.foodguru.com

Title: GamerCast Network: Video Game Show!
Feed: http://feeds.feedburner.com/GamercastNetwork
Site: http://www.gamercastnetwork.com/

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www.TikkiWeb.net Info

www.TikkiWeb.net and Big Monkey Technologies were established on May 1st of 1997. www.TikkiWeb.net was originally my personal website, while Big Monkey Technologies was for design endeavors. The separation has become less defined over time, and the Big Monkey Technologies name has become less prominent. Design of high quality personal and small business sites is still the main focus of www.TikkiWeb.net and Big Monkey Technologies.

Established May 1, 1997

Portions of this site are licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivs 2.5 License.