Who Is This Guy?

My name is Jordan Fernandes and I’m proud to be a geek! A geek is usually understood as an unfashionable or socially inept person who enjoys video games, books, and movies to an obsessive level. Also, someone who engages in or discusses computer-related tasks with great attention to technical detail. Those descriptions fit me to a T! Being a geek seems to be back in vogue, but that’s mostly because people confuse us with hipsters.

Things I Like

I like movies and habitually sprinkle movie quotes into daily conversation. Especially quotes from Star Wars or The Princess Bride. I know too many useless facts and movie lines for my own good! My mind just remembers details. I’m a voracious reader who spends WAY too much money on books for someone who owns a library card… I like the world of technology and I try to stay up to date on new developments even though it seems like changes are happening almost every minute. I like being outdoors and staying active, so I love riding bicycles off-road and on and I also love hiking and trail running. I’ve completed two Spartan races and in two days I summited the highest point in the contiguous US (Mount Whitney, Lone Pine, CA) and the lowest point (Badwater Basin, Death Valley, CA).

Things I Love

I love connecting with people and I especially love sharing between cultures. My dad is of Mexican and Portuguese descent and my mom is of Italian and Irish descent, so my ancestry is a glorious, colorful mixture! I also love volunteering and giving back to my community. I think that serving people who can give nothing in return is one of the noblest acts and I’m always amazed at how rewarding it is. Surprising a waiter with a generous tip or giving an extraordinary, unexpected gift are a couple of ways I enjoy giving. I’m very passionate about the art of Do-It-Yourself creating. I recently built a Raspberry Pi to display dashboards full of data at work and my next project will be figuring out a way to commute work via e-bike. I can’t wait to see how that turns out! My greatest love (and biggest inspiration) is my wife Kirsten. She’s the happiest, kindest, smartest, and most balanced woman I know. She’s like a ray of sunshine on my soul – my life would be so sad without her. Together we are my ideal team for adventuring through life.

Things I Dislike

I dislike cheating, disrespectfulness, dishonesty. I regularly distance myself from negativity and unbridled cynicism. I detest anything fake, hateful, or needlessly violent.

Things I’m Working On

Sure, I have plenty of weaknesses. That doesn’t mean I’m not working on them! I firmly believe in redemption and I think everyone deserves a chance to prove they are improving. I’ve made plenty of mistakes in my life, including some I’ll forever regret, but the best I can do is to apologize, learn, and grow better! I’ve been working on my quickness to pass judgement recently. I naturally try to assess facts and arrive at a conclusion which works fine in the tech world when I’m reviewing a piece of code, but I’ve learned that things can be much more nuanced in life. I’ve passed judgement too quickly in the past and realized later that I needed to look at a thing from a few other angles before I made such a quick jump. I think it’s a natural struggle for anyone with a passionate personality, but I’m still working to improve on myself.

Things I Aspire To

I hope to be a leader, an agent for positive change in the world around me. My heart is broken by violence and caustic dialog and I want to be an inspiration for others who feel similarly. I want to break down barriers and walls between people because I believe everyone has something valuable to bring to the table. Ideally, I would love to see a community where everyone is building each other up. This is an ambitious vision, but I would love to be part of a shining city upon a hill – a model of communal charity, affection, and unity to the world.

My Goal With This Blog

Aside from having fun and meeting new people, my goal with this blog is to show how connected we are, how much we truly have in common. I want to share the power of positivity and the benefits of investing into each other. This blog is really a result of a quote widely attributed to Gandhi: “Be the change you want to see happen.” So I’m out here with my family and in my community putting legs on my prayers and clacking away on the keyboard to share this message: Love someone today, learn something new.

Something I Loved And Something I Learned Starting This Blog

I loved looking back through piles of great photos in preparing future blog posts. It was a fun reminder of how blessed I am. My future is bright! I learned that getting this going would be much harder than I thought. It takes a lot more work to put results together when the ideas are so big!