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Steve J. Martin

Contact me via e-mail but please read Note to Recruiters.

Table of Contents


Work Experience

At heart I am a logician (please don't hate me!). In recent years, my main way of earning a living has been doing technical support on
Unisys 2200/CPIX/Dorado enterprise servers. I work in OS 2200 (aka Exec), OSG, TIP, UDS, DMS, security, Enterprise Output Manager (aka DEPCON), automated operations, disaster recovery, UCS and ASCII compilers. I am an accomplished Meta-Assembler (MASM) programmer and am a leading expert on Symbolic Stream Generator (SSG).

I know quite a bit about Web page creation and about Web site administration, but it is not something I do professionally.

I also enjoy Windows programming in Prolog and especially Python. And I'm one of the world's great relational data modelers.


Education

As you can see, I'm a big believer in university education. I'm somewhat of a polymath in that I've enjoyed studying computer science, philosophy, law, accounting and finance.

Certificate in Accounting, 2009-2012
Mount Saint Vincent University
Halifax, Nova Scotia

I completed several accounting courses at UNB in the late 1970s, briefly considered making a career of it, and have since maintained an interest in it. I completed this program, which requires 12 semester courses in undergraduate accounting, in May 2012.

SMU logo No degree (political science), 1992-1994
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia

I often thought about going to law school because I see a close connection between law and philosophy. Although I never applied to law school, I did take several advanced undergraduate courses in judicial review from Ed McBride, who was a terrific professor.

Emory logo No degree (philosophy), 1990
Emory University
Atlanta, Georgia

I only spent one semester at Emory in its philosophy PhD program but the courses I took from Tom Flynn and Nick Fotion are among the highlights of my academic career. I soon realized that there might not be a lot of future openings for forty year-old assistant professors. Although I was more than holding my own in Emory's program, I wasn't exactly going to set the philosophical world on fire with my brilliance (who is?). So I decided to return to earning an honest living.

Master of Arts (philosophy), 1988-1990
The University of Georgia
Athens, Georgia

My MA thesis was entitled Authenticity and the Consequentialist Vacuum Cleaner: An Examination of a Good that Appears Resistant to the Maximizing Logic of Consequentialism. Bernard Dauenhauer was my very able supervisor. My plan was to combine the best of analytic philosophy with the best of continental philosophy (particularly that of Jean-Paul Sartre). My fear is that I combined the worst of both. Although they share no blame should I be correct in my self-assessment, the work of David McNaughton and Piers Rawling heavily influenced me. And I very much enjoyed studying with Frank Harrison and Bob Burton.

SMU logo No degree (philosophy), 1987-1988
Saint Mary's University
Halifax, Nova Scotia

During my first tour of duty at League Data, there wasn't always enough interesting work for me to do and I was bored, so I started studying philosophy part-time. I particularly enjoyed studying under Arthur Monahan and Wayne Grennan. I met some of my all-time favorite people doing philosophy at Saint Mary's, including Steve Monk. What I learned here in 16 months (and good GRE scores!) got me into graduate school in philosophy.

UNB logo Bachelor of Arts (economics), 1975-1979
The University of New Brunswick
Fredericton, New Brunswick

Although my major was officially economics, I took quite a few courses in computer science, accounting, and finance. Professor Rod Cooper largely shaped how I approach computer work. I thoroughly enjoyed living in MacKenzie House for four years. Among my best friends there were Aardvark, Redwood and, of course, The Purple Mongoose (their real names remain classified). And who could forget the Fun And Games Society, or the Serious Club!

JMH logo High School Diploma, 1972-1975
James M. Hill Memorial High School
Miramichi, New Brunswick

I discovered computer programming in Computer Education class during the 1973-74 school year. Technology was crude: We filled in cards with special pencils, sent our card decks on the bus to Fredericton (100 miles away), and wouldn't get our results for a week. But it worked. I quickly became a good programmer. Looking back, I'm impressed that such a course was offered in that dark age of computers. Much of the credit must go to Fred Holmes, a great teacher.


Personal

I live and work in Halifax, Nova Scotia. Halifax is a truly great city, overlooking the world's second largest natural harbor, but in mid-February when there's half an inch of freezing rain on everything and the wind is blowing in off the Atlantic at about 1000 miles per hour, one wonders!
Age:Mid 60s
Citizenship:Canada, eh
Heritage:French, Irish, Welsh
Parents:Lois and Robert
Birthplace:Chatham, New Brunswick, Canada
Current residence:Halifax, Nova Scotia
Home:"Where the earth shows its bones of wind-broken stone and the sea and the sky are one" -- Stan Rogers
Love:Sandra
Joy:Our grandsons, Braden, Gavin and Eddie and Arthur; and my nieces, Charlotte and Marilla
Religion:None
Interests:Ideas (see below), listening to music (see below), walking, swimming, bicycling, watching sports (soccer, football, baseball, hockey)
Ideas:Western philosophy (existentialism, ethics, history, argument analysis), computer software (programming, relational database, artificial intelligence), constitutional law (theory and practice of American judicial review), urban planning (car-free cities and new urbanism), theory of evolution, speculative cosmology
Thinkers:Aristotle, Darwin, Thoreau, Sartre, Buffet
Music:Classical, rock, blues, alt-country. And some folk (personal not political) and jazz (not too weird). I like music with a hard edge--nothing too sweet, middle-of-the-road, or 'poppy'.
Friends:Quality over quantity, because as Sartre said, "Hell is other people"
Aphorism:"The only difference between a rut and a grave is the depth" (I first heard this from Gary Crandlemire)
Prime numbers:11, 17, 79
Pet peeve:Incompetence, mediocrity and impurity in all their many forms
Proudest moment:Successfully defending my thesis and thereby earning Master of Arts degree in philosophy
Best decision:Studying philosophy
Worst decision:Giving up piano lessons after a couple of months when I was eight
Worst fears:Aging and dying (Heidegger was right--we are "being toward death")
Future goals:Read more philosophy, work part-time, spend winters in the south, age gracefully; avoid neckties, suburbs and commuting
Ice Cream:Butterscotch Ripple
Beer:Oland Export, Schooner, RIP: Ten Penny
Bar, hangout:The Globe (Athens, Georgia)
Bar, live music:40 Watt (Athens, Georgia).
Swimming:Beach: Martinique Beach (East Pepeswick, Nova Scotia)
Wharf: Gordon's Wharf (Miramichi River, New Brunswick)
Coffee shop:Uncommon Grounds (South Park Street, Halifax, Nova Scotia)
Bookstore, Used:Atticus Books (Toronto, Ontario)
City:Halifax, Nova Scotia. Honorable mention: Athens, Georgia
Sports teams: Chatham Ironmen (Canadian senior baseball), Toronto Blue Jays (Major League Baseball), Chelsea Blues (English Premier League soccer), New England Patriots (NFL), University of Georgia Bulldogs (US university football and baseball), Montreal Canadiens (NHL)
Transportation:2014 Trek Dual Sport DS 8.4 hybrid bicycle; 2022 Toyota Venza hybrid (I am no longer car-free)
Fashion:Very casual (shorts, jeans, t-shirts, rugby shirts, sneakers, baseball caps)
Small pleasures:Bendy straws; those crackers packaged in cellophane which come with your soup in diners
R.I.P: Toks Akpata
Gary Crandlemire
Dennis Cook
Harvey Button
Frank Harrison
Karen Graham
Brian Wesleyson
Don McDonald
Pat O'Brien
Jim Reinholz



Revised 2024-03-02