Gender: Male
Height: 5'8"
About Me: Who I am:
My name is Tony and I am a computer technician for the El Paso Times. I first began my carreer as a Computer Graphic Artist. I soon found myself in a position to share my experience of graphic design applications (such as Illustrator, Photoshop, and QuarkXPress) with some of my co-workers who weren't as familiar with these applications. As well as helping with software problems, I also helped with hardware and OS related problems. After about nine months as a graphic artist, a position in the Technical Services Department opened up and I was asked by the Pre-Press Manager, Composing Manager, as well as one of the night-time technicians to join the technical staff. Needless to say, I accepted and I have had the privilege of being part of the major changes that we have undergone. Some of the changes I've been involved with are as follows:
Roundhouse:
Roundhouse:
The ad tracking system which allows the scheduling department to log into a MAC client and input job information such as run dates, ad size, section, and other information pertaining to an ad and then update it to a SQL database. The ad department can then check out the job with the mac client to build or revise an ad. My involvement was to help setup and train the operators.
QPS Editorial Pagination System:
QPS has allowed us to fully paginate all of our news pages. Our QPS configuration consists of a windows 2000 file server, a G3 QPS Dispatch Server, and Macintosh iMacs, G3s & G4s in our sports, editorial, features, news, and prepress departments. Our news departments build the pages using QuarkXPress and CopyDesk for there articles, they then check the pages into the QPS dispatch server which stores the files on the file server. Then our prepress department can check out the pages and import the ads directly into the pages through QuarkXPress. Once the pages are complete, they then output the pages and are prepared for the press. My involvement was to work with the integrators in setting up, configuring the system, and training the operators.
ImageHunter© 2000
Part I
ImageHunter© 2000 is an image and logo cataloging database program that I created for our advertising services department. It utilizes a FileMaker Pro database running on a FileMaker Server and a custom user interface that I created using FaceSpan. This program allows our operators to easily catalog images into the FileMaker database. Once the image is cataloged, users within the department can then run queries through the application to locate any image in the database that matches the query. The application contains a table for displaying information about the files that match a query such as filename, size, file type, image type (logo, clip-art, other), description, keywords, and color. Another feature is a picture box which displays the graphic when it is selected from the table. A user can get access to the file of their choice by simply downloading it to their computer.
Part II
Another feature which runs as an independent application, but uses the same database, is the IHAdmin©. I created this application for use by administrators to easily run maintenance on the databases and stored files. From this application an administrator must login to the application for it to be functional. Once an administrator is logged in, they have the option of detecting any records within the database which no longer has a link to the image file. They then have the option of deleting the record or having the application try to locate the file throughout the storage path. If the application locates a file within the storage path that matches the last known link, the administrator will receive a dialog box specifying the name of the file that the application found. The administrator can then re-link the file to the record. If no files are found, then the administrator will receive a dialog box with a message saying that no files where found, the administrator can then remove the record from the database. Also, to keep the storage path clean from files that do not belong to the image catalog system, administrators also have the option to locate any files that are not associated with any records in the database. If files are found, the administrator can then delete the files or export them to another location.
Asura Gateway:
The Asura Gateway is an application that was brought about by a dilemma. The production department purchased an application called Asura which analyzes and corrects the EPS files produced by their ad department by using hot folders. This is fine for light workloads, but not so great for production. The problem was that the application has no routing features so the processed files would just sit in an output folder and the users would have to constantly go and check if the ads they created had been processed and move them to the correct location. This process greatly slowed down production due to the fact that the application can only process one file at a time. Now comes the dilemma, keep the application and hire more people to make up for the time lost or discontinue using the application that serves as the pre-flight and analysis of the ads.
After some thought I came up with another alternative, "Asura Gateway". Asura Gateway is an application that I created that takes the place of the ad operators having to check on their ads and moving them to their proper location. The application watches the hot folders and determines where the files need to go then moves them to that location. Production gets to keep their application to ensure the quality of the ads produced and production time has been restored. For more information on how the Asura Gateway works, check my projects page.
RHI Roundhouse Importer:
The roundhouse importer is an application that I built in Visual Basic for the purpose of formating the data files generated by the Classified AdPower application. The AdPower creates a data file for every single ad that is filed. What the RHI does is allow you to schedule a processing time either concurent or at specific times then upon schedule the RHI reads each and every one of the generated data files and formats them into a single importable file for use with the Roundhouse tracking system.
Music: I like everything from classic rock to electonic dance to Hip/Hop and R&B.
Movies: Action, Comedy
TV: Simpsons, Family Guy, South Park, Cops, Ultimate Fighter and others.
Hobbies: Carshows
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