About Nathan!

Hello! My name is Nathan, as if you could not tell from before. I am grew up in Denver, Colorado until I moved to Charlottesville, Virginia when I was 16. I then attended George Mason University, in Fairfax, Virginia and studied Management Information Systems and Decision Sciences.

I am a Systems Engineer at CNN in the Washington, DC Bureau. Or as I like to describe myself in my résumé a "Talented, results-driven IT leader charged with making crucial decisions in a time-sensitive, high-pressure, high availability environment. Experienced engineer capable of sustaining live television computer systems with versatile, cross-platform abilities in systems/network architecture, installation, implementation, integration, security, and administration in local and remote environments."

I own the first model of the Honda Civic Hybrid (mine is a 2003 in Titanium), one of the most fuel-efficient cars on the market today. I chose this car as I feel the only way to free our country from the conflict in the middle east and truly fight terrorism is not war—it is to no longer purchase the oil that fuels their hatred towards us. My individual contribution will not win the cause, but if more people thought as I do perhaps we could be energy self-sufficient and not so dependent on foreign energy recourses. The ecological benefits are also compelling, getting up to 51 miles per gallon and polluting 90% less than a comparable car. Couple that with a sizable federal tax refund there is very little to loose (well except for horsepower)!

On another note, to get to know more about me, here are some thoughts on attitude and happiness:

"The longer I live, the more I realize the impact of attitude on life. Attitude, to me, is more important than facts. It is more important than the past, than education, than money, than circumstances, than failures, than successes, than what other people think or say or do. It is more important than appearance, giftedness, or skill. It will make or break a company ... a church ... a home. The remarkable thing is we have a choice every day regarding the attitude we will embrace for that day. We cannot change the inevitable. The only thing we can do is play on the one string we have, and that is our attitude ... I am convinced that life is 10% what happens to me, and 90% how I react to it. And so it is with you ... we are in charge of our Attitudes." — Charles Swindoll

The above paragraph sums up my feelings on life and happiness. I feel if one wishes to be happy, they just need work at it, just as you would to attain a strong body or mind. With hard work and perseverance even the most upsetting of life traumas can be dealt with!

Feel free to e-mail me anytime at nathan@nathanpayne.com.