Richard Bannister

Hello, world!

I'm Richard, a twenty-one-and-holding professional from Dublin, Ireland.

Throughout my considerable tenure as a student I wanted to be a professional programmer. It was during WWDC 2004 that this goal began to come apart for me; frankly, the event bored me, and I began looking for something different. Nevertheless I still look after a considerable quantity of shareware and freeware, which keeps my skills relatively up-to-date without being overly tedious.

These days I'm working as a Senior Network Engineer at Spector Information Security Ltd, a small networking company based less than twenty minutes walk from my home. I have also worked for Datalex, eircom.net, and RTE. It should be noted that the contents of this page do not necessarily represent the opinions of any of my employers.

My most unusual hobby is a love for amusement parks and fun fair rides. My travels have taken me to more than three hundred amusement parks in countries as diverse as Kuwait and South Korea. I've done my best to keep diaries from these visits, which are hopefully of some interest to those who might plan their own trips. A direct consequence of these travels is my second web site, ThemeParks.ie, which can best be described as geek porn!

Music is also very important to me, though my taste can best be described as esoteric. My favourite genre remains sacred music, and with fifteen years and counting in St Bartholomew's Choir, that's unlikely to change any time soon. My iPod also contains large chunks of the classical repertoire, some broadway musicals, and a small amount of video game music.

For the last two years I've been taking flying lessons in fixed wing aircraft at the National Flight Centre. There is nothing that quite matches the feeling of flying your own aircraft on a beautiful summer day. Unfortunately, we don't get those very often in Ireland, and as a student cannot fly into cloud, it's taking me longer to complete the course than I'd have liked. Nevertheless it's still likely that I'll earn my Private Pilot License in the next calendar year.

Due to high volumes of junk mail I've had to remove my e-mail address from this site. Those wishing to speak to me should use the convenient contact form.