Welcome to my blog. Nothing on here necessarily represents the view of my employers, educators, parents or other ancestors. I've been blogging here for 18 years so there is a fair amount I don't agree with any more either.
Professionally I make software products. Over the years that has involved banging out code by hand, leading teams and bringing teams together through acquisitions. I also have to sell those products and I currently run customer acquisition, marketing and product analytics for an expert marketplace. I co-founded and was the CEO of an angel backed software startup. I also ran a micro-ISV for many years. If you want the gory details most of them are on LinkedIn.
I write a lot about code here, sometimes entire projects and sometimes highly specific and idiosyncratic issues. I also write about product development and marketing (and also see the etcetera section for anything harder to classify).
Making software has long been my hobby as well as my profession. I used to ship shareware under the Catfood Software brand — Catfood Earth and Catfood WebCamSaver are both still going strong with regular updates.
My other passions are photography and hiking.
I focus on landscape and astrophotography, both still and timelapse. I also like to photograph wildlife when I get the chance. Like everything worthwhile this is a constant journey of learning. I'm embarrassed about where I started, and hope to feel the same way about my current work in another few years. You can browse my photography and timelapse collections and I regularly post on both topics.
This blog started as a place to talk about hiking. I still post new hikes and I'm starting to add hyperlapse videos to many of these. Given where I live most are San Francisco Bay Area adventures.
I'm a dual national and follow US politics with the zeal of someone who had to work hard to win citizenship and UK politics with the increasing nostalgia of a disloyal subject. I write about current events and unrealistic plans to fix both systems from time to time.
Lastly, even after all of the above (and more, I have two kids but have never become a daddy blogger), I still find some time to read a book or watch a movie. This has resulted in many reviews.
I write primarily for my own sanity, but I love it when I help someone else. If I make you think, laugh or just fix a bug please leave a comment or send me an email.
Contact Robert Ellison
You can email me at [email protected]. or follow me at @[email protected]