I’m Todd Ogasawara (Todd(AT-SIGN)TechOnABudget.com) and I enjoy writing about a number of tech topics that interest me. You can find me in a number of areas on the O’Reilly Media site (the tech publisher with animals on their covers). Here’s my mini-bio and publication list there: Todd Ogasawara on O’Reilly Media. My interest in Open Source for proprietary systems (Microsoft Windows and Mac OS X) found me writing a blog about that specifically at: OgasaWalrus.com. I write about Apple Macs and Microsoft and its relationship with the Open Source world there. I’m very interested in mobile technology. You can find my blog about that at MobileViews.com. And, every now and then I want to write about some tech thing that doesn’t fit into one of those blog categories. So, you can find my general tech blog at: TO-Tech.com.
You can find me on Twitter at: Twitter.com/toddogasawara
The most important premise for this site is that Tech Geeks are people too. I want to break the stereotype of the un-social or a-social loner nerd techie. Tech Geeks have families, interests outside of pure technology, and generally live a life like most other people. The only difference is that we usually put a tech spin on a lot more things than non-techies. So, I’m going to talk about life-stuff that in my experience seems to appeal to Tech Geeks in particular.
The other important premise for this site is that as of right now, Summer 2008, the economy of the world doesn’t look so good. My day job loss is just one little blip. I’m sure there are a lot of other people in similar situations. Some better, some worse, but we’re all in the same economic world. Instead of going into a woe-is-me downward spin, I want to figure out how to make the best of a bad time.
So, the focus of this site is living the Tech Geek life on a budget that makes sense. This includes my original idea for information about budget gadgets and software. However, my new spin on the topic brings in all kinds of other topics too. For example, I’m also a dad. I talk to a number of other Geek Tech dads (and the occasional Geek Tech mom) and I think there is a lot of material for me to look at there. I live in part of the U.S. that has the highest energy prices for electricity and gasoline in the nation. As I say on my GreenTechies blog, you don’t have to be a tree hugger to be concerned about energy use. So, I’m going to talk about some of the things I’ve learned over the last couple of years about reducing power use in the home and office. I also enjoy being entertained. But, how do you do this on a budget? Going to the movie theater with a family can easily run over US$100 these days. This is not exactly a budget item anymore. So, I’ll dig through my SF books, comics books, DVDs, games, and other forms of entertainment that can be budget entertainment if approached properly.