Neal

Hello, my name's Neal.
I'm 100% skateboarder, and I'm 100% geek. I'm lucky to live in Hammond, Louisiana, where I'm a part of what I feel is the greatest skate scene in Louisiana. Anyway...
Geek
During the day, I'm a multimedia developer and techy for my state government. I manage a network of just under 30 computers, including a couple of servers (both for internal and web use). We use a lot of ASP at work, which is something I'm starting to get used to, though it's not my language of choice. When I do the occasional freelance gig, I choose Php/MySQL back ends. I worked in that environment for most of my career, and I'm really into the concept of open source. It's proper.
I'm really lucky in my job, as it lets me get creative in lots of different ways. I do a lot of video work, Flash animation, print work, illustrations, photography, audio editing, anything and everything. I don't believe in stock photos or stock art... I insist on creating everything from the ground up.
Skateboarding
I've been skating since I was 10. At the time of this writing, that's about 22 years rolling on a board. I love skateboarding now just as much as I did when I was a kid. I still try to push myself and learn new things... there's just so much to explore on and with a skateboard. Right now I feel that I'm still at a point of progression... when I'm past that point, I'll still happily skate to the grocery store to buy milk. Until then, there's a lot I want to learn. There always is.
Plugs
These are all sites that I'm affiliated with:
Small Time Skates - Small Time Skates is my local skateshop, owned by my very good friend Kerry. Kerry is a skateboarder to the bone, and he's like the brother I never had. The shop is 100% skateboarding, and is the entire reason why skateboarding is so good in Hammond. Hell, in the entire region for that matter. Anyway, I'm the website's geek, I run the blog and forum, and do my best to keep everyone informed of what's going on in our skate scene. Kerry and I both use the site to stir up interest in various situations that call for skateboard/skatepark activists. We keep an archive of all of our news clippings on the site... hopefully some of the things we've done and written will help out other skaters in growing skate communities.
Thrasher - I'm an admin at the forums on Thrasher, where I help to ban spammers and recode little bits of the place whenever a hand is needed.
Skateboard City - I'm a content writer here, where I write pieces geared towards a slightly younger crowd of skateboarders. At this site, I try to educate young riders about the roots of our shared activity, as well as offer the best advice I can give as it relates to skateboarding and skate related geekery.
Slap - I'm a moderator at one of the most intense, informative, and insane forums in the world. If you don't know about the Slap forums, you probably shouldn't post there for a while. Lurk for a bit.
Skaters for Public Skateparks - I'm a "Core Contributor," where I aim to offer help to people fighting for skateparks.
True Love Collective - I built the site for True Love, and have had the opportunity to create several graphics. I'm very stoked on True Love and I support it 100%.
A World Without CEOs - I made this as a response to the IASC's poor anti-marketing and what I feel was an attack on skateboarders. The site is a spoof of "A World Without Pros," which is down now. The site caused a bit of a stir, but it let the industry know that skaters aren't idiots, and we won't be treated as such.