It all started with a interest in a IBM computer the size of an upright piano at a local university in the early eighties. I was amazed at the punch cards and a “new” computing language called Assembly. The fact that simple math could be done by machine was amazing enough at the time. From that point on, I was hooked on the idea of computers which led me into taking courses on mainframe programming languages; BASIC and COBOL. Around the same time, I saved my earnings for a Commodore 64 which was the must have gadget of the day being considered the ultimate gaming device ( sorry Wii, there was fun times prior! ). From there followed a long trail of computing via the PC platform starting with DOS and gradually improving my skill set with newer offerings named Windows from a small company called Microsoft. I must admit that I did own a Macintosh SE/30 at one time though this was short lived.

I joined the merchant marine seeking new adventures for over a decade, where the name “Tallboy” was bestowed upon me one day while sitting on a wharf in Bequia fishing by a fellow mariner from St. Vincent who could never remember my name. During this time, I never lost my interest in programming and newer computers that only seemed to get smaller and faster. And this is about the time a thing called the internet came in to its own during the mid nineties and I found a new programming language called HTML 2.0 which peaked my interest. Fast forward to today where I can be found using a variety of tools / languages such as PHP, XHTML, MySQL, Javascript, ActionScript, CSS and XML to create interactive web sites, enriched email campaigns, ad banners and data driven web applications. Web development is a fast moving world where the skills used today will be replaced in just a few short years with newer technologies and concepts which I am constantly seeking to improve upon.

I formed Tallboy LLC ( “Tallboy” ), an Ohio limited liability company, in early 2004 after having freelanced for a number of years. Unlike many freelancers today, Tallboy is fully insured with Professional Liability insurance and maintains it's own tax-id number ( W-9 available upon request ). This allows Tallboy to serve individuals, designers, small businesses and large enterprises with a variety of web production services with over a decade of web development experience. Tallboy is a member of the AIGA, the professional association for design.

- J J Valentine