[ed: George Clingerman did not leave a bio.  That is because George Clingerman wants no bio and needs no bio.  Like the Ultimate Warrior, George has sprinted into the wrestling ring of our hearts, shaken the ropes, ran back and forth, and exited as quickly as he came, leaving nothing but an arm tassle or two behind to indicate he was ever there.  George was also one of the original people tagged in my quest to become a better developer, and has very recently shared his experience 6 months later.  I am obviously not the only person to consider him a living legend, considering his well-deserved renewal as a Microsoft XNA MVP.] 

[Disclaimer: all links to George's wonderfully entertaining blog have been added by me.]

I was hesitant to attempt to write about this. Not because I'm scared of sharing my feelings about Justice Gray, no, those I would scream loudly standing atop the roof of my car while She Wants Revenge croons Tear You Apart from my crappy car speakers with no bass, only treble. Yes, those feelings erupt from me, they don't need to be dragged.

The true fear I have is that I will not be able to express myself and my feelings for Justice in the appropriate manner for this "family-friendly web site" of his. Let's just say when it comes to Justice, my fires burn, as Paris would say "hawt". But for the families and the friendlies, I will try. 

So just what does Justice Gray mean to me? To put it very simply. He means hope. Hope I have for others, hope I have for myself and hope I have for the entire industry. Justice is a beacon in this darkness. This dim and murky pit I crawled into many years ago when I started on the path to becoming a programmer.

I don't know if you noticed this yourself or not, but um...as programmers, well, we're a bit, dorky.

We're often rude (sometimes unknowingly so, sometime very much in the know), anti-social, obsessive, sometime dirty (sometimes smelly), some still live with mom (hi mom!), some of us live all alone. Some of us have never dated. Some of us have never even thought about dating. The stereotypes run deep in this industry and they're very often true. I've seen them, I've met them, I am one. I have been embarrassed by them, I've been embarrassed by myself and what I am.

Then a pillar of light shone through the darkness.

JUSTICE! The angels sang. JUSTICE IN EXCELLENTIOUS DAY-O!

Justice Gray represents a new form of hero for myself. He (and a few others) are making a bold statement for this industry and people are taking notice. You can have incredibly good looks, wonderfully coiffed hair, a sense of style, a flair for the dramatic, a witty sense of humor, a personality a deep seated LOVE for Transformers AND still be one hell of a developer! It's true. I never would have believed it before, but since stumbling across Justice and his words, his wonderful sweet syrupy words of HOPE! that he pours forth in this blog, I am a believer now.

I am not sure there are enough words to express the gratitude I feel in this shift I'm seeing in the software industry. I think it is important to note, that software developers aren't becoming "cooler" by giving up the things they love (Dungeons and Dragons, Transformers, Anime, video games, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Mountain Dew...), no, this image shift keeps their love of everything considered geeky and dorky firmly intact. What instead is happening is that the personalities of these geeks, these golden gods of the industry is shining through. Those wonderful personalities. The personalities we all have.

We're developers. We're creative. Programming is an art and we have an artistic heart beating within us. With industry leaders, icons and figure heads like Justice blazing a trail for us as a new type of software developer, it gives me hope. Gives me hope for the industry. Gives me hope for myself.

As Justice continues to be who he is, with a personality that radiates like the sun on this industry, it gives me hope that soon, more of us will stand up and be little twinkling stars in the dark sky of this computer industry.