About Me

Dewie - aka Andrew Barber

 

... so is your name Dewie, or Andrew? My name is Andrew Barber; I've had the nickname Dewie since early highschool, it was first started by a close friend and it kind of stuck. As the internet grew as forums and the like became popular it just kind of became common-place. Because of my web presence I've come to know a lot of people over the internet and the nickname started to get used more and more. Today I go by both names in different circles.

Another Website: those of you who know me know I've had a website, in one shape or form, since the internet became popular. It has taken on many different evolutions as I've developed what "Web Development" skills I have. Despite having graduated as a Web Development at the NSCC campus I've never actually taken the time to design a site completely from scratch; though some days I think it would have been easier. This latest revision will hopefully do me for a while. I wouldn't count on many updates to the content of the site, I will likely develop and modify the photo gallery as I see necessary more-so than anything.

Home Owner: in April 2008 Kaila and I purchased our first home - this chews up a lot of my hobby time. The house has turned out to be quite the project (not entirely unexpected) and we've had some bumps along the way. Gradually things are coming together for us and we're making it into what we want. With the addition of a small arena and some stalls we've moved one step closer to Kaila's dream of working with horses for a living. We still have a long way to go with the house and the property - all in good time though. 

 

Hobbies

 

Mechanics even before I could reach the pedals my father had me mowing the lawn with the ride-on lawnmower. When I was possibly too small my Uncle Charlie rounded up a CB50 mini-bike and had me out driving around in his back yard. Since then my love for all things automotive has only grown. At the age of 15 I was given a Honda Civic which I, and many friends, learned how to drive standard with. At 16 I was given a $50 car which we made road legal and I drove for 3 years. Since then I've changed transmissions, engines, welded entire floors and subframe members back in vehicles, and given new live to various pieces of equipment. To put it simply: I love working with all things mechanical.

From cars to motorcycles, boats and jetskis to ATVs, even tracked vehicles to hovercraft - I've had a hand playing with them all. If it moves I'll drive it!

 

Computers when I started school way back in '89 I was likely the only student who had a computer at home. Before the internet was available in Nova Scotia my father and a friend of his used to split on a dial-up account based somewhere out of the US. I "chatted" and even set up a date (with a family friend) back when I was 5 or 6. In late Jr.Highschool I started developing webpages, using the most basic of HTML. Back in the days when embedding music in a webpage was amazing, not just annoying. After attending the NSAC taking Engineering for a year and a half I spent a lot of time playing with webpages. I realized I enjoyed it enough to go back to school for it and I later enrolled at the NSCC's Truro Campus to do just that. I was hired right out of school to do development work where a few things happened and I ended up in a testing role. Currently I over-see and maintain some automated testing pieces.

Electronics goes hand-in-hand with computers and cars. Back in highschool I stumbled across plans to control lights using a computer. I found the electronics I needed in an old photocopier and started playing around from there. While I don't get a whole lot of time to play around with the computerized aspect much I do spend a fair bit of time playing with cars and various related electrical systems. In my first car I added lights, then stereo gear, then worked my way up into remote car starters and alarms. I love working with car electrics and enjoy hooking up random things. Air horns controlled by solenoid valves run off an air compressor in the trunk is a particular favourite.