This space is the personal and professional website of Michael Lumley, software engineer, musician, husband and father. Here you will find some information on my work, my music, my personal interests, and links to my other spaces on the web.

Well, I keep all sorts of rubbish in my real garage, tools, old papers that I might find useful one day, photos, my homebrew kit (when not in use, which let's face it, is never the case), bits of old music, dozens of old plastic Yamaha descant recorders, etc. It seemed natural that I should call this place my virtual garage — a place where I throw all of my internet detritus.

This website has been put together with the help of the MooTools javascript library. I recommend it for its ease of use.

I am a software engineer, with a background in telecommunications and system adminstration. I have worked in the telecommunications, logistics and defence industries.

I am currently employed as a solution architect, and working for a large multinational. I have been working here for almost four years. The work we do is quite varied, both in scale and subject, and very hands-on, which makes it quite interesting at times. In the past, I have worked in both teeny, tiny small, and very, very large companies, in jobs ranging from software developer up to head of development. I have also worked as a project manager and team manager at times.

I play basketball once a week in the North Sydney competition; this somehow manages to stave off the ravages of complete indolence. The other gentlemen in the team are all, like me, over 40, so we are in the slower league. I have an interest in languages, so much so that I've never actually been able to learn a second language to any reasonable level.

I assist in coaching my son's junior AFL team, the Lane Cove Cats. I also follow the Sydney Swans in the Australian Football League. As usual, I have a whole gaggle of online presences. These include:

• The usual Facebook embarassment.
• A LinkedIn profile.
• Records of my frustration with Sydney public transport on Twitter.
• Personal development projects on GitHub.

I have been interested in music for as long as I can remember, since I picked up my first descant recorder.

Trombone is my prime instrument, and I was previously the leader and Guitarist of The Castaways, a small covers/wedding/parties/anything band. I am also a former serving member of the University of NSW Regiment Band, playing Bass Trombone and occasionally Guitar. This band has recently been dissolved, and other members dispersed into other Reserve Army bands. I also played Bass Trombone in the Universe City Swingers Jazz Band, a seven or eight piece traditional Jazz band.

In the past I have also played in the Zoot Suits, Rockdale Municipal Brass Band, Bankstown City Brass Band, Sydney Schools Wind Ensemble, East Hills Boys' High School Band, and various small ensembles, show bands and groups throughout Sydney.

At times I have also tutored in trombone and beginner brass.

The other aspect of music I enjoy is arranging music. When I took over a Blues Brothers band I started arranging simply to increase our repertoire beyond the basic Blues Brother's numbers. Arranging has since become an enjoyable and rewarding pastime.

Perhaps the single most interesting thing about music is the women you meet. I met my wife, Alison, through music. She plays flute and saxophone, and sometimes trumpet. Her hobby is her career — she also teaches music at a prestigious Girls' School in Sydney. I play a Yamaha YBL-830 double-independent-trigger bass trombone. My prime electric guitar is a Epiphone Les Paul Classic, a simple guitar with lovely red tonings. The noisy output jack is beginning to annoy me, though. My accoustic is an EM225C Maton accoustic/electric with cut-away. This guitar has a beautiful sound; I only wish I could do it justice.