Gregory (Grisha) Trubetskoy

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me

Hello, my name is Gregory Trubetskoy. Many people call me Grisha (pronounced like Greesha), which is a common Russian nick name for Gregory. I was born in 1971 in Moscow, Russia, and in 1988 came to New York with my mother and sister. Soon we moved to Washington, DC, where I reside to this day.

my family

I am married, my wife's name is Tanya, she is also from Russia. We have two wonderful children, Alexandr (Sasha) and Michael (Misha). Some time I will post a picture. Tanya is an artist, and you can see some of her work here.

You can see my flickr photos here.

work/computers

These days my work is split between software development and networking.

I've been interested in computers since about 1988 when I first came across an IBM PC and then later learned BASIC on an Apple IIe, then Pascal on a PC. In 1989 I got my first job programming in RPG (which I figured out from reading the IBM reference manual) on an AS/400 system.

I've been using the Internet since 1993, and still remember well the excitement of being able to use IRC to talk to my friends thosands of miles away in Russia when phone calls cost a fortune.

My favorite programming language is Python. As much as I wish that everything I develop would be written in Python and C, I find myself spending quite a bit of time with Java, C++ and even Perl.

I am a proponent of open source software (I am one of those people who favor BSD licenses over GPL), I use it daily, and my contribution to the OSS community is mod_python which I wrote and to this day maintain (but not without the invaluable help from many people). I am also a member of the Apache Software Foundation.

My favorite operating system is FreeBSD. I also like Linux very much, but at the moment FreeBSD seems to better fit my needs. I've owned an Apple PowerBook since late 2001, and have become quite fond of Mac OS X as well.

I am also interested in computer security, encryption, wireless and high-speed networking and high-availability systems. Up until September 2001, I used to work for a large hosting company where I got an opportunity to be on a small team charged with building a very large datacenter, so I also happen to know a lot about large computing facilities, power, cooling, cabling and other fun things (like management).

music

I'd had piano lessons since early childhood and until I was around 14. Some time before ending my piano lessons I learned to play guitar on my own and quite well, well enough to play Isaac Albeniz'a Asturias from beginning to end at some point. (I know I could not do it now without some serious practicing). In my not so distant youth I used to be a big fan of bands like Pink Floyd, Led Zeppelin, King Crimson, etc., but these days I listen to a lot of classical music, and just recently have become very interested in Russian Church music. My list of favorite composers would include J.S. Bach, Rachmaninov, Beethoven, Chopin and Shostakovich, though ones taste in art is never a constant.

Since 2001 I sing in a Russian Orthodox Church choir as a second tenor, which has been one of the most rewarding experiences in the recent years. I started out as a complete neophite, and only recently begun to feel like I have a handle on my vocal abilities. The most fascinating aspect of singing has been the discovery of how truly complicated it is, and the sense of learning something new, acquiring a new skill. You can get a taste of what we sound like by listening to mp3's from our rehearsals here [192bps/5.6MB] [96bps/2.8MB] ("Reveille", A. Pushkin, music G. Sviridov, secular) or here [64bps/1.1MB] ("God's Clarity Everywhere", A. Block, music G. Sviridov, secular), or here [64bps/2.9MB] (Cherubic Hymn, Sofroniev Monastery Chant, music P. Chesnokov).