Meet Jay Hannah

In this blog post in our interview series, we would like to introduce you to our own Jay Hannah.

Meet Jay. He is a traveling man, currently somewhere in North America — we think. He is a programmer and team lead at Infinity.

Name, Company, Title, City

Jay Hannah, Infinity Interactive, Lord of Fire, Somewhere in North America in my RV

When did you first work with Infinity?

In ye olde year of our lord 2011-04-01

What are six words you think of when you think of Infinity?

Smart, flexible, low-overhead, productive, focused, guru.

What would you be doing if you weren’t in your current job?

Once my 13 year old dog dies, I’d love to work full time for some sort of international crisis relief organization like the World Food Program, UN High Council on Refugees, Gates Foundation or similar. Would love to try to use my computer skills to help people full time. Perhaps supply chain management or logistics? I tweet about this sort of stuff at @jayhelping.

That sounds awesome (except for the dog part; I want your dog to live). Have you been able to use your computer skills to help organizations like this?

I doubt it’s possible or practical to work in international relief part-time. If it is possible and you spot an opportunity, please let me know! I tend to dive into the deep end of things, so I suspect if I got into it at all I’d “run off and join the circus” of broke-ass bleeding hearts. Until my dog dies, I’d rather still have an income and try to save some money.

I’ve done some volunteer work, like the Nebraska TIF Report site, but not much.

How do you recharge?

Long walks in the woods with the mutt.

Tell me about where you live when you’re not traveling? Are there lots of trails? Do you hike often?

Omaha, Nebraska. However, I’m selling the house in Omaha that I bought in 2003 with my ex and son. When I had two dogs, we’d spend a lot of time in the woods. Tipper, one of my dogs, is gone now. We spread her ashes at the suspension bridge in Schramm Park which I imagine was her favorite park.

What made you decide to travel North America in your RV?

Hopefully, this RV experiment helps me break out of the 13 years of big Nebraska house living and allows me to see more of the world from the ground. I’ve travelled a lot by the standards of most people, but I’ve also spent a huge chunk of my life in a big box in Nebraska. Now, I’m experimenting with spending a chunk of my life in a small box that moves around week to week.

What is your favorite mode of transportation and why?

You can’t beat riding dirt bikes in the woods. Exercise, outdoorsiness, adrenaline, communing with nature. It’s amazing.

I have never ridden a dirt bike, but I bet it is fun. How did you start?

When my son was in middle school he had to had to had to have one, so we bought him one. I fell in love with his and had to buy my own. I’ve been puttering around like an idiot ever since. :) I hope to still be doing it when I’m 75.

What is your favorite time of day/week/year?

Whenever I get to pursue my hobbies.

What are some of your favorite hobbies?

Motorcycles (dirt, cruiser), scuba diving, racing FPV drones. :)

If you could have one superpower, what would it be?

I’d be a Jumper.

Are there times and places that tickle you the most? Where would you teleport to if you had the chance and why?

Oh, I guess I’d steal a bunch of gold from vaults first. After burying it so I’d never have to worry about money again, my life would devolve as the governments and militaries of the world tracked me down and ran experiments on me. Until they caught me and chained me in a lab, I’d see all the great national parks and sites of the world, every highlight reel from every tourist brochure ever, the Pyramids of Giza, inside and out. :)

What technology do you (realistically) look forward to arriving in the next 5 years? What if it didn’t have to be realistic?

Realistic: bi-directional high speed satellite Internet so I can work from anywhere without having to stay leashed to LTE or wifi.

Not so realistic: cold fusion opening up space travel, the end of much human suffering (food, water).

If you could know the answer to any question, besides “what is the meaning of life?”, what would it be?

How can humans make cold fusion practical for daily use?

If you could be an animal, what would you be and why?

Some dogs have a pretty great life. Some dolphins do too. A vulture might be awesome, soaring endlessly, eating anything.

This is good because not many appreciate vultures. Do you have a favorite type of vulture and why?

Umm, I don’t know anything about vultures. Some of them soar endlessly on updrafts, right? That’d be cool. Flapping sounds like a lot of hard work, but soaring for hours would be amazing.

If you ruled the world, what would you change on day one?

As a human, or as a god? If I’m mortal I’d outlaw all institutional discrimination. Equal justice under law.

As a god I’d probably have an existential crisis / melt-down like Doctor Manhattan.

Tags: culture people interview