About CoffeeMuse

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About

Hi, I’m RJ — though around here I go by CoffeeMuse.

I’ve been 21 years old for at least the past two decades. I stopped counting once I reached perfection.

By trade, I’m an IT professional with many years of experience. I’ve worked across everything from grassroots nonprofits to global law firms. I’ve also completed IBM’s z/OS Mainframe Practitioner course, because mainframes are just really big retro machines, right?

Origins

I received my first computer — an Atari 400 — as a birthday gift when I was around seven years old. It lit the fuse on a lifelong fascination with computing.

In high school, I took over as the SysOp of the official BBS for our local Atari user’s group after the original operator retired. It was my first real experience running a live system for a community — and probably where I developed my reflex to monitor blinking modem lights like a hawk.

Later, during university, I discovered VMS and Ultrix, which opened the door to multi-user systems, shell scripting, and serious time on shared terminals. I spent countless hours parked at a DEC VT220 in the student hall — posting on DEC NOTES forums, exploring a favorite MUSH, and soaking in the soft amber glow. I’m pretty sure the color of the phosphor is permanently etched into my retina…and now I wear prescription eyeglasses.

Over the years, I’ve collected (and occasionally resurrected) a small herd of fascinating machines, including:

  • Apple Lisa 2
  • Atari 8-bit series and 520ST
  • Firebee (Atari Falcon clone with a ColdFire CPU)
  • Sun UltraSPARC 10
  • DEC Alpha PWS 500 and Compaq AlphaServer DS10
  • HP Integrity rx2600
  • Practically every generation of Mac: 68K, PowerPC, Intel, and Apple Silicon

Some might say I have a type — and that type involves proprietary bootloaders and long-discontinued manuals.

Professional Experience

Non-Profit IT Department of One

I served as the entire IT team for a community nonprofit, supporting ~70 users. That meant handling:

  • Server admin (Netware, Windows, and Linux)
  • Desktop imaging and support
  • Network infrastructure
  • Procurement
  • And basically anything with blinking lights or buttons

AmLaw 100 Law Firm #1

I started as the on-site IT lead for one of their regional offices, then transitioned to a firmwide telecom analyst role — responsible for managing PBX systems across all global offices.

Global Chemical Firm

For several years I was the on-site IT for a global chemical firm in one of their regional administrative office complexes. This position ended leading to learning more about Lotus Notes than I ever wanted. It is also knowledge I’ll likely never use again.

AmLaw 100 Law Firm #2

Even larger than Law Firm #1, I am a member of the IT Customer Service team, ensuring legal professionals are able to use technology as needed. I regularly assist with hardware, software, and network support requests as a member of a large IT team.

Why CoffeeMuse’s Musings?

This site is a personal playground, archive, and project lab. While the homepage covers its purpose, this page is just to say: I’m someone who enjoys blending retrocomputing, modern tech, coffee, and the occasional cat walking across the keyboard.

If you’re curious, exploring, or knee-deep in the same kind of beautifully strange tech tangents — you’re among friends here.

Disclaimer

This is a personal site. All opinions, experiments, and config hacks are my own and not affiliated with any employer, vendor, or other organization — past or present.

This page intentionally avoids full PII for privacy. Thanks for understanding.