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About Syzygy
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Hello! My name is Joey. Welcome to my Syzygy weblog. The word “syzygy” comes from the Greek “συζυγος” (syzygos) meaning “yoked together”. It’s come to mean a lot of things in English, but I chose the word as my blog title because of the many seemingly unrelated topics and types of content I’ve gathered together here. For a while I had two separate blogs—one for my tech hobbies and one for my theological ramblings—which have now been combined, so “syzygy” also conveys the bringing together of those two projects.
I’ve been designing websites since 1998, and I’ve been passionate about standards-compliance and open source software since 2003. I’m an avid supporter and tech evangelist for the Mozilla Foundation. I also love the Ubuntu Linux operating system and am a member of the Ubuntu Utah Team (though, admittedly, not a very active one).
Though I was raised a sixth-generation member and completed a full-time mission for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, I left the LDS faith around May 2002 and now consider myself an Evangelical Protestant Christian. In seeking to clarify and refine my own understanding of God’s truth, I sometimes start from the basis of what I used to believe, namely Mormonism. Naturally, this tendency will express itself in my writing. To faithful Latter-day Saints it should be clearly stated that I mean no offense by any of the thoughts I post here. I’m not deliberately targeting you or the Mormon faith; I’m simply telling my story from the framework that makes the most sense to me. If something I’ve said is incorrect or offensive in any way, please contact me or leave a comment and I’ll do my best to make things right.
I don’t consider myself an expert in computers, web-design, or theology, but these are subjects of great interest to me. I hope and pray you find the content here interesting, informative, and faith-promoting.
About Joey
Where to start? I’m 27 years old and I live in Salt Lake City, Utah. I enjoy spending time with my sweetheart, reading books, designing and authoring websites, watching movies, playing various percussion instruments, bicycling, bowling, playing chess, solving Rubik’s cubes, and otherwise having a good time.
I am married to a very beautiful girl named Janene. We started dating in June 2001, and have been married since January 2005. She is the love of my life and I thank the Lord that he allowed and/or caused our paths to cross. Janene recently graduated from University of Utah with a Masters in Speech-language Pathology and is currently working PRN (as needed) for a local hospital and full-time for a local school district.
I am an Evangelical Protestant Christian. Janene and I attend Southeast Baptist Church here in Salt Lake City, Utah. I play drumset in the praise band during worship services each Sunday. Janene and I also participate actively in a small group Bible study that meets every other week.
I work for Western Governors University. WGU is a non-profit online university offering competency-based Bachelors and Masters degrees in Business Administration, Education, and Information Technology. I’m an IT Service Desk Technician and I assist students, staff, and faculty with computer, network, and Internet related issues. It’s a vibrant, growing company that I believe is making a positive difference in the world and I’m proud to work there.
Incidentally, I’m also enrolled in the Information Technology program at WGU seeking a Bachelors degree. I’m not looking to switch jobs right now, but if you’d like to know my work experience, check out my resumé.
I also work part time (one or two weekends a month) for a local Christian bookstore, Christian Gift & Bible. I pretty much do everything from stocking shelves to ringing up customers, but on the side I’ve also designed and currently maintain the store’s website. A big aspect of working at the store is simply helping people find what they’re looking for, which requires me to know a lot about the various Bible translations, books, and gifts available in the store. It’s a lot of fun and very rewarding getting to know the customers and having the kinds of discussions you can imagine happen often in a Christian bookstore.
Perhaps my one claim to fame is that I’m the creator and proprietor of the Homestar Runner Wiki, a collaborative online knowledge-base dedicated to the Homestar Runner Flash cartoons created by Mike and Matt Chapman. The popularity of the site—over 90,000 unique visitors per month—is, of course, not my doing. It is owed to the popularity of Homestar Runner itself, but also in large part to the many people who’ve voluntarily contributed quality content to the knowledge-base. Over the past year I’ve been concentrating more on the financial aspect of running the site and leaving the rest largely to the fine administrators and sysops I’ve appointed and they’re holding down the fort quite well. I still visit and contribute to the site when I have time, but there are many people who put in much more time and effort than I do. Perhaps the biggest surprise for me has been the tight-knit community fostered by the site. I’ve met some amazing people who have challenged me to think deeper spiritually, philosophically, and politically. I never thought that would be possible for a group of cartoon fans, but it has proven to be my favorite aspect of the wiki. 
