I'm Chris Vollstadt and I'm a full time developer living in Northeast Ohio. I'm currently working for a large health insurer as a developer on the IBM i. I love programming, solving problems and delighting my customers. When I'm not doing that or hanging out with my family, I like to play and create sounds for wind controllers using Reason and created ewireasonsounds.com to help others do the same. I play sax professionally with a band called 'The Avenue.'

A few years back I took up the Python programming language just to see what it could do. I've found it to be incredibly useful and a lot of fun.

Programming and Development

I created these sample apps as I was learning the Dojo JavaScript framework. Naturally, the web pages are served from Google AppEngine and the server side logic (when needed) is written in Python. However, you could use any server process that returns JSON.

DocFinder - Search for documentation within a specific site. Uses google search and some zippy graphics. Inspired by a tip from Jon Paris, IBM i guru extraordinaire.

Code Stats/Charting - A Dojo based demo of charts that update in real time.

TV Dimensions - One of my first web apps, built using MooTools. I was shopping for a widescreen TV and wanted to compare the size to my old regular TV. Includes animations of two TVs plus all sorts of statistics comparing the screen sizes.

Top Jobs - Displays the top 5 jobs running on a simulated IBM i in a grid and pie chart. Retrieves refreshed data via AJAX.

Music

Prior to getting involved in IT, I was a performing musician playing sax for Royal Caribbean and Holland America Cruise Lines. I then played in Branson, MO. I love programming but am still involved in music with my web sites and playing with a band called The Avenue.

EWI Reason Sounds - An online resource for EWI (Electronic Wind Instrument) players that use Reason from Propellerheads software. You can also download various sound banks I developed for wind controllers.

I recorded and released a CD - A few years back I recorded and released some of my music. You can hear it here. I got some great players to help me out.