About Me - Carl Sorenson

Recent history

After graduating from Brigham Young University with a computer science degree six years ago, I moved to Northern Virginia to do .NET development. I knew that NOVA would have lots of singles in my church and plenty of jobs, and would be more interesting than staying in Provo. I haven't been disappointed, and I consider this my home.

I currently do C# development for Feld Entertainment, the parent company of Ringling Brothers and Barnum and Bailey Circus (yes, I do get free tickets).

I am 31 years old and married almost a year, with two kids on the way.

What am I like?

I am the kind of person who does mathematics voluntarily, loves vocabulary, and reads about enantiomers and the Lorenz curve for fun. I tend to read science fiction books in a few days because I can't stop reading once I start. I write both non-fiction and science fiction. I went to Mexico City alone for ten days in 2002 just to see what Mexico was like. I taught myself ASP.NET after college, since BYU seemed to pretend that Microsoft did not exist. When I moved to Virginia, I didn't have a job. I saw a job posting and got the job by walking in the door and introducing myself. I became a Democrat while living in Provo, UT. I am a Mormon. Peer pressure will probably backfire when applied to me, but I do believe in consensus, standards, and pulling my weight. I was once the only person in my precinct to vote in an election.

My views

I approve of:

• the teaching of evolution
• the use of surveillance cameras in public places
• the adoption of the metric system
• food irradiation
• Ultimate Frisbee, soccer, cycling, and other ways of being active
• carbon taxes and renewable energy for environmental and sustainability reasons
• pure research in science, including astronomy and particle physics
• mixed-use high-density development
• alternative transportation options, such as mass transit, cycling, and Flexcars
• IPv6

I dislike:

• laws against price gouging
• celebrity gossip
• UFC
• comma misuse
• astrology, horoscopes, and fortune-telling
• Conservative and Libertarian positions on a lot of things
• profanity and vulgarity
• the International Space Station and other distractions from results-oriented research
• economic protectionism
• abuse of animal cruelty laws
• cold weather
• being interrupted
• hip-hop and mariachi
• competitive eating
• acting or performing
• practical jokes
• the death penalty (it should be abolished)

I am interested in:

• religion, economics, the metric system, software development, history, politics, astronomy, particle physics, mathematics, biology, urban planning, phylogenetics, computer modeling and alife, law, science fiction, psychology, civics, environmentalism, music, cycling, linguistics, medicine, and comics.