After this time, the system information department formed a separate company, Bell Sygma Telecom Solutions, and I moved to be with it. Most of my work consist of programming a Honeywell/Bull mainframe in COBOL, but I also get some exposure to PC programming in "C" under the OS/2 operating system.

I was downsized in the beginning of 1997, with a few other hundred of my colleagues. So I was looking for another job for a while. I did find one with CIBC in the information warehouse department. I was learning new things and the work was interesting.

After nearly two years, I was downsized again and had no success finding a position. So I decided to use the time and go back to school to upgrade my skills. I was enrolled in an intensive program of e-commerce where I learned many languages, databases and some server technologies.

I am now working for myself while still looking for a permanent position. At the moment, I am working as a contractor for a small company called Cimatec and I am the whole IT department. I do everything that deals with computers, from fixing any glitches to programming their intranet and updating their web site.

For a picture of myself, that a friend took with a digital camera, click here!

Interests

I enjoy being active and I manage not to have much free time. I accomplish that by playing squash, swimming, playing billiard. I also like to read, mostly science fiction and fantasy novels, and to play on my computer. I might be a cyberholic with all the time I spend on the net. I maintain a PC system in DBase III+ for a church to keep track of parishioners and offerings.