About

My name is Samuel Folkes (hence the domain name). I’m 22 years old and I was born, raised and currently reside in Kingston, Jamaica. I’ve always loved science and technology related stuff and as such, spent most of my early years reading scientific journals and advanced science books. I love computers. I’ve been using them since I was 2 years old and am pretty much hooked. The first operating system I can recall using was Windows 3.1 on an ancient ALR Ranger laptop. Oh yes, the days of progman.exe and the Windows GUI running entirely on DOS. That machine didn’t last very long though, I took it apart as soon as I could find an excuse. That was my first experience with the internal workings of a computer and I fell in love.

My fascination with computer hardware was quickly overtaken by my love for computer software. I started messing with programming at the age of 14 and in that same year I can recall compiling my very first program. It was a scientific calculator written in C and compiled on a Mandrake Linux 8 system. I absolutely loved linux. The concept of free and open source software excited me. To this day I cannot recall ever purchasing computer software. EVER. Fooling around with linux, I got drawn into the whole remote network intrusion shebang for a little while (thanks Fyodor) then went back to using windows. I taught myself visual basic and started writing all sorts of programs, from instant messenger clients and servers to trojan horses (had a LOT of fun with those!).

When I started University I dropped programming and other techie/geeky stuff to partake full time more ‘worldly’ pursuits such as liquor, partying, women and generally just wasting time. For some reason my parents didn’t particularly like the idea of me doing a computer science major so I ended up doing chemistry. I hated that and switched to biochemistry which I liked but didn’t love so I switched to microbiology which I liked more but still didn’t love.

I guess you can’t really deny who you are because before I knew it I was back at it. Assembling machines, administrating networks and hacking into email accounts (with permission of course!). I went back to linux (yay ubuntu!) and I got introduced to web programming by my good friend Kiran who is a certified genius. I taught myself xhtml in a week and php in two weeks and since then I haven’t looked back.

Geek stuff aside, I love watching movies, dancing, eating (though I can’t seem to gain any weight), music, and reading. I’m a certified bleach fanatic (Kuchiki Byakuya is the BOSS!) and I can probably recite 80% of all Lil Wayne verses ever recorded. My best friends Raul and Howie are like my brothers, I’ve been through just about everything with them. Drunken stupors, dodging angry/crazy women (and we had a LOT of those), almost fights, visits to the hospital, you name it. I absolutely love my family. My little sis Rachel is cool enough to be my best friend. I am currently engaged to the love of my life, my Renée. We haven’t yet set a date but there’s no real rush. We’re happy.

I’m currently working on a myriad of different projects. You can check the projects page to see what I’m working at any given time. You can contact me via the email me page or drop me an email at samuelfolkes [at] gmail [dot] com.

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