[Ed. note: I have invited my sister-in-law, Kelly Hall, to write about home-tech and interesting toys for Gear Diary. I thought it would be good if she could introduce herself to you all, as well. As you will learn, she has a very unique perspective...]

From the time I could say F-16, I was fascinated with serving in the US Air Force.�I wanted to live and breathe in a fighter or stealth bomber.� Kinda strange, if you consider my Southern Belle roots from Baton Rouge. �Despite the Cajun influences and my �Lowsyana edjimication�, I graduated from Louisiana Tech University and became a commissioned officer.�For 8 years, I served in the USAF and saw all parts of the world, but only from the �cockpit� desk or mainframe.� For some strange reason, I was placed into the Communications-Computer Systems career field.� Which, sorry to say Gear Diary readers, I thought anything computer-related was going to be boring.�This was 1995, I had just turned 22 and had no idea what e-mail or the Internet was, so where could this computer thing go?�I know, what a shocker of thoughts!�

Much to my surprise, my passion for the field grew as I learned more about technology and the cool toys the AF had.�I still remember back in 1996, going through the field with this GPS thing (it looked just like a plotting calculator).�I remember going, �What the hell is this and why would anyone (civilian types) ever need a GPS?�They�ll need to remember coordinates to get somewhere!� Little did I know, they would be used for computerized maps on PDAs and vehicles in a few years.�

A definite advantage in the military was testing the technology.�I�m embarrassed to admit, BUT even down to the little-man level, we wasted sizable tax dollars on gadgets. One boss (not the ones pictured above) was notorious for his mindless spending.�If he heard of a new device, he would find a way to justify buying it on Uncle Sam�s dollar. Just an example of his wastefulness was after he attended a technology expo. There on display was a lustrous Microsoft PC Tablet, so the boss was determined to get one.�I was ordered to buy 3 at $1,300 a pop.�Ouch!�At the time, I thought he was a total waste of a boss�matter of fact, I still do�but, thanks to his self-serving nature, I saw some incredible devices and learned the need to enhance our computer systems.� �

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I’m happy to announce that a fellow gadget lover has joined the fun at GearDiary.com.  While I can’t give out his real name, I can tell you that “echo”, as he’ll be known, has been covering all things tech for more than a decade - and he’s been playing with gadgets for even longer! 

To that end, expect him to submit reviews and blog on a wide range of topics; I’m actually going to have to try to control his rants since he tends to enjoy sharing his opinion a little too much. ;-)

Seriously though, he loves to respond to comments, too. So feel free to drop some comments on this entry or email him. You may even be able to get him to divulge more information than I have included above.

FYI: echo will be writing about some of his passions including: mobile devices, video on demand, mechanical gadgets, video displays, and pretty much anything hardware or software related.

I have had a fascination with all types of gadgets and gizmos since I was a child. One of my earliest gadget memories was a Christmas when I was given yet another doll, and my brother got the coolest toy robot in the world. It didn’t take me too long to convince him that he wanted to trade…really!

And thus, the monster was born.

I never expected to become a prolific writer, it just kind of happened. I got my start in late 1999 after answering a software reviewer request at the now defunct smaller.com. By mid 2000 I knew that I wanted my reviews to focus not only on software, but also on the PDA hardware which I found so fascinating.

I soon became an occasional reviewer at The Gadgeteer, back when it was a much smaller site - basically run single-handedly by its editor-in-chief, Julie Strietelmeier. Within six months I was Julie’s writing partner, and for the next six years I had the privilege of being part of something truly amazing. As part of our team, I made a direct contribution to the Gadgeteer’s enormous growth from a well regarded enthusiast’s site into a world-wide recognized authority on gadgets, gizmos and their accessories. Due to my work at the Gadgeteer, I have earned a solid reputation as a respected consumer reviewer.

However, I am first and foremost a gadget enthusiast as well as an actual consumer.

I’ve wasted more money than I care to recount on devices that promised performance which was never delivered, and I have had the pleasure of discovering little known gadgets that performed so well, I couldn’t wait to share my happy discovery.

I’ve always had topics which I wanted to write about that didn’t quite fit into the confines of the typical structured gadget review, so for five and a half years I kept a blog on The Gadgeteer called Judie’s Gear Diary, often telling people to “read about it in my gear diary”. Which is why it only seemed natural that when I considered starting my own site, I continued with the name Gear Diary.

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