Yes, my name really is Spruce, and I have a birth certificate to prove it.

I work as a Software Developer at a seed company (as in agriculture, not as in start-up) in Davis, California. My job previously consisted mostly of software development on the .Net platform and providing support for a small team of developers in France. I have since moved over to the JD Edwards competency center, where I primarily develop and maintain ERP applications.

Although I have little formal education in software development (my bachelor degree is in electronics) I was already programming at 9yrs old on my father's TRS-80. And I try to stay current on trends and best practices in software. I like to think that my development skills are valuable as evidenced by the fact that my employer sends me to France or other overseas locations a couple times a year to assist with various projects.

A couple years ago Rob Eisenberg, of Caliburn.Micro fame (yes, I'm name dropping) suggested I create a blog post about a contravariance gotcha I discovered in testing types for implementation of generic interfaces. I didn't have a blog, but the thought stayed with me. So when I finally decided to start this blog, I made that my first post.

So what's the deal with my blog title? Well, did you know that there are different types of spruce trees, including red spruce and black spruce? Are you familiar with the phrase, "see the forest for the trees?" Do you know what a red-black tree is? If you can answer yes to all three, then congratulations, you're a geek too! But really, I do tend to get caught up in details and sometimes need to take a step back and view the big picture. And a hobby of mine that I tend to poke at from time to time is one thing on which I would like to make more progress. I figure that if I can get an audience, I might be a little more motivated to stay focused.