Thomas Pfau
My mail address is <pfau at nbpfaus.net>
I have some pictures that I have scanned online. One of these days I might add to this collection.
I will be trying to collect my thoughts and put them onto the web. Don't expect any great insights but if you want to take a peek inside my head, look at my Random Thoughts page. Please ignore the cobwebs.
In a further attempt to collect my thoughts, I've started a blog. I don't know if I'll keep updating it for long. I am not a great writer but maybe it will give me something else to do besides playing solitaire all night.
Check out my hoax e-mail page.
I am a Christian, Husband, Father, Grandfather, Programmer, and Musician.
Christian
My wife and I have been attending at The Point Church. The meetings are held at Parson's Elementary School in North Brunswick.
Husband
I've been married to my wife, Karen, since January 1982.
Father
I have four daughters named Melissa ('83), Megan ('84), Heather ('87) and Courtney ('89). They're all beautiful and talented (but I'm biased).
In April '98, we were adopted by Dodger who the vet tells us is a Shepard-Collie mix but we think he has some Golden Retriever in him. We have also adopted two cats; Chessie was adopted as a kitten and Cuddles was a neighborhood stray (sort of). We used to have several birds but they have all died.
Karen just brought home a kitten. 
Melissa tried her hand at breeding hamsters for a high school project. She started with Mork and Mindy.
Grandfather
Charles Anthony Oryniak was born January 9, 2008.
Programmer
I have been a VMS system programmer since 1983. I worked for Digital Equipment Corp. for 12 years starting in Field Service and switching to Software Services after a couple of years. I started programming on unix in November 1992 after installing linux (V0.97) on my home computer.
I mostly program in C/C++ but have also used various assemblers, BASIC, PASCAL and FORTRAN. If you twist my arm I'll admit to having coded a few lines of COBOL. I took a Java course in November, '00 and have done a few things with it. I've done plenty of DCL and some shell programming (bash and zsh). Since getting involved with database programming, I've become very fond of Perl/DBI.
I worked at a startup where I developed an administration utility using C++, Java, CORBA and PostgreSQL. We were working on NT but with an eventual desire to move to linux. We had trouble raising financial backing after September 11 and the company has somewhat failed as a result. The product was finished and marketable but we ran out of funds to deploy it. I no longer work there.
In previous jobs, I have worked on VMS, OSF/1 (Digital Unix), RSX-11M/M+, MS-DOS, Pick (Ultimate), MUMPS (DSM), and some other things without operating systems and probably a few more I can't remember. I have worked with Oracle, PostgreSQL, Visual C++/MFC, DEC C/C++ on OpenVMS, gcc/g++ on linux, HTML, perl, X Windows, Motif, TCP/IP, Java, and more.
I have developed a set of subroutines called ftplib which implement the FTP protocol. This allows programs to send and receive files to remote machines without forking. The current release (V3) allows programs to read and write remote file data directly.
I have been doing a bit with Perl lately and have uploaded some programs and modules that might be generally useful. I also have some applications on line driven by perl and backed by Postgresql. I track scores of several leagues (Atlantic League, National Hockey League, National Football League) and the programs take care of generating standings and team statistics.
Musician
I have been playing guitar (electric, 6 & 12 string accoustic, bass) since about 1975. I have attempted to play keyboards with little luck. I've also been known to use a harmonica on occassion. If I start singing, leave the room.
I was recently part of a band called 9 Feet Tall. This was a collection of musicians that played worship at our church although not all were ever together there at the same time. We performed at coffee clubs and benefits. We recorded a CD which is available from the web site.
I just finished another CD project with some friends I played with just after High School.
Last Updated - May 30, 2008
Thomas Pfau / pfau at nbpfaus.net