A little more about me

I had to come up with a bio for an upcoming speaking engagement, and I decided I should have a little more fun with it than the dry weak bit of fluff that I've used in the past... Here it is:

Eric Bowen is a former Microsoft Architect Evangelist and currently a Principal Consultant at ILM Professional Services specializing in enterprise architecture and technical project leadership of complex projects using Microsoft technologies. Eric has been programming for 28 years since he taught himself Z80 assembly language on his family's TRS-80 Model I Level II. And he has still never worn the t-shirt that Bill Gates signed when he won the programming contest at the Microsoft PDC in 2001.

In his spare time Eric works as a photojournalist providing independent coverage of the Minnesota National Guard and the war in Iraq. Eric has made multiple trips to Iraq, and his work has appeared locally on Channel 5 Eyewitness News and MinnPost.Com, as well as nationally on the CBS Evening News and in Parade Magazine. Eric is also a former US Army Paratrooper, and former member of the US National Biathlon Team.