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Df$gS UNrKyTN

Husband, Engineer, Entrepreneur & Explorer from Earth

About Me

The only journey is the one within.

Rainer Maria Rilke

About Me

I'm Diego Terzano,

I am an engineer, programmer, entrepreneur, husband and lifelong learner. I love technology, sports and exploring our wonderful planet. I currently work independently on multiple ventures. I own a logistics/distribution company. I founded a charitable 501c3 organization, I do consulting for several large organizations, work on a variety of software development projects, run eCommerce ventures and try to keep my hobbies to a manageable amount. Currently I am passionate about CAD, 3D printing, drones and mountain biking.

Some of my areas of interest

Programming

Since I was a kid, I was always fascinated by computers. Pure creation in a box. Over the years that box has gotten smaller and smaller but the underlying fascination only grew. I love learning new languages and honing my skills. I have developed several systems from the ground up in retail, security, manufacturing, logistics/distribution, inventory optimization, labor scheduling, call centers and in the eCommerce space.
My preferred language continues to be C# but love the productivity of Python and Ruby. I also work with NodeJS and PHP, if needed.
I am currently learning Elixir and Go.

Traveling

I am an explorer at heart, my unquenchable curiosity extends beyond the intellectual realm into the tangible. I love to travel, explore the world, meet new cultures and understand new social paradigms and customs. I have traveled to well over 50+ countries and I hope I am just getting started. I believe this journey has opened my eyes to the harsh realities of the world as well as the wonders of human achievement. I am a more well-rounded and compassionate person because of it and feel tremendously thankful and appreciative for it. Last but not least, tasting the culinary delicacies of the world has been quite the perk so far.

Creative

Creativity is one of the main reasons I went into the engineering field. I enjoy the problem solving journey, the path it takes us and the creative approach it is often required to produce an elegant and succinct solution. My passion for technology and electronics affords me the perfect medium to express it. Over the years the raw materials have changed but the same driving force remains: curiosity, inventiveness and the challenge to innovate. Currently, 3D printing provides the ultimate in creative expression, the ability to take an idea from concept to production on such a short cycle is simply spellbinding.

Photography

Photography has always been a secret passion of mine. The concept of freezing a moment in time fascinates me more than the art or the science behind it. How we perceive that moment and how it transports us in time every time we see that image; the smells, the feelings, a complete sensory time machine. We are eternally connected with a simple 2-dimensional representation to that moment. It provides some physicality to an otherwise intangible dimension, which combined with our sensory experience enables to, however briefly, relive that moment.
You can follow my private instagram account: @diegoterzano or my public one: @dotwanders.

Some little known facts about me

I made 2 holes-in-one in my lifetime playing golf. The first one was rather unofficial, I was 13 years old, the tee was under repairs so I teed off from the side. It was at the 3^rd hole of the "Agua" course at Los Lagartos Country Club in Argentina, a 198-yard challenging par 3 surrounded by water. The second one happened while playing with my dad and a very good friend. I was 14 years old at the same country club on the 9^th hole of the "Old" course, a 157-yard par 3. As if that wasn't incredible enough, the subsequent year my dad sunk a hole-in-one on the same course at the 5^th, a 167-yard par 3. Just amazing!
I can memorize an entire movie script after watching a movie a couple of times. I can recall it on cue when the scene appears. My wife absolutely hates this and gets quite aggravated every time I show off. I don't know why.
I launched a high-altitude weather balloon into the stratosphere at over 100,000 feet with an army of sensors and a Raspberry Pi as its brains. The balloon landed a mile south of the planned target on an inaccessible area of the Florida Panther National Wildlife Refuge. A friend and I attempted a rescue expedition, after requesting permission from the National Park Service, wearing waders and all. After 4 hours of dehydration on 100+ degree weather in an alligator infested swamp we decided to turn around in disappointment. The area was so inhospitable that even the park rangers wished us good luck without any mention of coming with us.
I love ice-cream. I can eat as much as I want without gaining weight. It is weird, the Terzanos are built that way. During my University years I earned my picture on the wall in a couple of establishments for the elusive "sink" challenge.
I competed in the national Mathematics Olympics while in high school and didn't win.
I used to race competitively RC nitro powered buggies in the 1/10 and 1/8 scale.
I don't belong to the mile-high club. Maybe, some day. :)
In 1998 my dad moved back to Argentina and it became difficult and expensive to communicate regularly. Chat programs like ICQ and Yahoo! Messenger started to appear but lacked the personal flavor that only voice can provide. My solution to the problem was "Chamuye", a voice messenger that allowed to send highly compressed pre-recorded voice messages as email attachments. The solution worked great and we enjoyed it for several years. Unfortunately after a bad series of events and a poor backup strategy on my part, I lost the source code and the application was lost forever. Some binary copies might remain on some dark corners of the web. Needless to say I was very upset and disappointed. I definitely learnt my lesson. Today I have a triple backup strategy for all my important assets: on-site, cloud and off-site security deposit box. Who knows, this application could have been a WhatsApp like success story. I had high quality voice compression, albeit not real-time, 12 years before WhatsApp was ever born.
The year 2000 holds a dear place in my heart. I started grad school and was the first year I got published. Furthermore, the Y2K, Millennium bug, came and went without serious repercussions.
Unfortunately my dad suffered from Parkinson's disease. During his battle with the disease he was losing his voice. I never felt so helpless in my life. Consequently, I decided to build a text-to-speech application tailored to his needs. The resulting application was "OrliType", named after him (Orlando). The application featured email capabilities, pre-recorded phrases, contextual keyboard, type-ahead suggestions, etc. This was around 2006 before the tablets revolution when medical type software was extremely expensive. I also created an acrylic stand with a custom mount for a wheelchair. The software was later adopted by a clinic in Argentina for the speech impaired.
In 1999 I was awarded the All-American Scholar award and Student of the Year award from my Honor Society.
Golf was my childhood passion, I was a 3 handicap by age 15 and had over 40 tournament trophies. I appeared in several newspapers (my grandmother used to collect the articles), played in the national championship in Argentina and had my own trophy case.
I once attempted to go down a slide on a standing position. The resulting experience would have been an America's Funniest Home Videos winner. I reached the end of the slide in full control. However, the momentum and slight upward angle of the lip caused me to go on an unintentional back-flip. The back of my head hit the slide and knocked me unconscious. I eventually woke and was amazed I was still alive. The worst part was that I was an adult, around 20 years old and not a justifiable 8 years old at the time. My last measured IQ test before the event was 155, considered genius level. I haven't dared to get a new test score since :)
During an important college assignment from my then girlfriend, I programmed a fake computer virus and installed it in her laptop when she was taking a break. A few minutes after resuming her work I heard her freaking out, running with her laptop on hand back and forth in the apartment asking for my help. I was watching a movie calm, composed and cool as a cucumber while dying of laughter on the inside. I told her there was nothing I could do. I gave the virus a real name (one which has disastrous consequences) and several cool effects like a translucent background, a doom count-down, objects falling from the screen, etc. I did a search along with her on my laptop for that virus designation and showed her that the damage to the contents of her hard-drive were irreparable. Once the count-down reached zero and her panic level was reaching a new high, a friendly popup appeared on the screen letting her know she was a victim of one of my pranks. In retrospect, I recognize it was extremely mean. I take practical jokes very seriously :)
This story has a happy ending. She passed the class, graduated and we married a year later. She is truly the love of my life.
My favorite movies of all-time are: Apollo 13, The Shawshank Redemption, Back to the Future, The Godfather, The Matrix, Toy Story, Wall-E, Forest Gump, The Lord of the Rings: The Two Towers, The Silence of the Lambs, Interstellar, Star Wars, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Alien, Inception, Good Will Hunting, Space Cowboys, Die Hard & El Hijo de la Novia.
TV Shows that I loved over the years: MacGyver, Frasier, Seinfeld, Stargate SG-1, Star Trek: The Next Generation, Heroes, Psych, Monk, Lost, Law & Order, The X-Files, The Simpsons, Fringe & Sherlock.
I have a Ham Radio License, call sign: KM4AIK. I also have an Unmanned Aircraft Systems (UAS Certificate #FA394K3YHL) license from the FAA.
The headmaster at my high school in Argentina, professor Alberto R. Noble, was an "Officer of the Order of the British Empire" (OBE honor). I have great admiration for him as a person and as an educator, an exemplary individual in every sense of the word.
I have an absolute terrible short-term memory for names. Please don't be insulted if I don't recall yours. I am an equal opportunity name absent minded.
When I was 4 years old I activated a hidden silent alarm at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Within minutes a SWAT team stormed the room. I have always been drawn by buttons. I just have to press them, the more obscure the stronger the urge. Please do not entrust me with nuclear missile launch codes. :)
During my childhood I was a cricketer, I played plenty of the British born sport Cricket and was really good at it.
I built my own home automation device before the technology category was even known. I was able to turn lights on/off and open/close my garage door with commands sent using traditional non-smart phones (pre smart-phones era).
At age 12 I got a severe dry ice burn on my right hand after an ill-conceived bet with a friend involving pressing a bar dry ice bar in between a handshake to see who would release first. The next day, with thick bandages and severe pain I had a semi-final match play golf tournament. I decided not to forfeit and played anyway. I lost on the 18th hole, 1-0.
I am an extreme night owl, only sleeping about 4-5 hours a night.
My computer based simulation while working at Disney World triggered a major redesign of the "Great Movie Ride" attraction at Disney's Hollywood Studios park.
When I was 10 I "borrowed" a high-speed go-cart and crashed it into a trench. I came out with a few bruises but no broken bones fortunately.
I am the creator on NoteIt. A very popular note taking application widely used in the early 2000's. It was featured in PC Magazine and other publications and distributed on their companion CD with some of the most popular free software at the time. The application was very simple to use, it was "skinnable", had security features for private notes, text-to-speech, calculator like features and powerful search capabilities. I maintained it until 2005 when I eventually lost interest in the project and the market was flooded with alternative from Microsoft (OneNote), Apple, etc.
I have 1 sibling, a sister which I love to death. I don't convey that to her often. I am not good at expressing my feelings.
I hate artificially apple flavored things. After a 5k race event at my high school I had some frozen apple slurpee look-alike and vomited a couple of minutes later. Since then I can't stand the stuff, even the smell makes me nauseous.
In 2016 I visited the Terracotta Army in Xian, China. The discovery of such army inspired many childhood games. At age 9 I used to play many 1 on 1 war-like self-made games in which each paticipant draws an army with different strategies on paper and then battles it out until last man standing wins.
I wrote my graduate thesis in 2001 on "Simulation of flow control algorithm for multi-lane Automated Highway Systems (AHS)". I also proposed a technique for minimizing the loss of life probability on car accidents back in 2000 named "Collision prevention with continuous simulations using fuzzy logic". Fast-forward over 15 years and it is a very hot topic.
At age 11 I was fascinated by fire. I almost burnt a house via an exploding aerosol can and came really close in becoming an official arsonist.
I attempted to cheat in an exam once in my lifetime. It was a history exam in high school and got caught. That was the end of my twisted career path.
I once spent a whole summer learning how to properly treat and anodize aluminum at Aircraft Modular Products, now part of B/E Aerospace.
I built a maze solving robot back in 2000. The little fella was able to "sense" its surrounding and navigate an unknown environment. Using RF communications and a custom protocol, data was communicated to a receiving terminal which mapped the traversed path and kept readings of all the on-board sensors (sonar, IR, tilt, illumination and collision detectors). The event was covered by ABC news at the University of Florida IMDL (Intelligent Machines Design Lab). The robot was named DOTBOT which also happens to be my vanity license to date.
When I was 12 I completely disassembled my dad's very expensive ($6000+) Mark Levinson preamplifier. Hundreds of pieces scattered on the floor. He didn't panic and simply said in a stern, authoritative voice: "I better find it EXACTLY as it was when I return". In the end, he kept that preamp until the day he died in 2015, in continuous perfectly working order.
I never had a brain freeze. I have no idea what the sensation feels like. Apparently 1/3 of the population are physiologically incapable of the sensation. Another self-defense mechanism built-in to consume vast amounts of frozen treats. Yeah! I am also a lefty so I am used to the minority group membership.
I love to learn and have a deep understanding of how things are made. I toured many, many facilities in my life and I am not about to stop. Some industries include: soda beverages, bottling, aerospace, aviation, automobile, furniture, mattresses, foam, cosmetics, paper, plastics, paint, ball bearings, prescription drugs, vitamins, angioplasty stents, oil refineries, nuclear power plants, semiconductors, concrete pipes, wine & spirits, beer, cheese & lactose products, textiles, etc.
I have Cambridge IGCSE's in English, Mathematics and Computer Science.
In Italy, after I summoned all my courage, kissed a gorgeous perfect stranger on the street. I was 19, she kissed me back!
Every entry on the list above is true except one. Can you guess which one?

Places where I've studied

2000 - 2001

University of Florida
MS - Operations Research GPA: 3.92
1996 - 1999

Florida International University
BS - Industrial & Systems Engineering GPA: 3.60
1995 - 1995

Universidad Catolica Argentina
BS - Industrial & Systems Engineering
1986 - 1994

Bede's Grammar School
Elementary High school
1981 - 1985

Colegio San Gabriel
Preschool Elementary

Places where I've worked

2019 - Present

MaterialBank
Principal Engineer
2015 - Present

CharityNucleus
Founder
2009 - Present

Pi² IT/Logistics
President
2012 - 2015

European Wax Center
Franchisee Owner (sold)
2012 - 2015

HydroGoodies
Owner (sold)
2002 - 2015

City Furniture
VP of IT & Emerging Technologies
2001 - 2001

Walt Disney World
Simulations Engineer (Co-Op)
1999 - 2000

Jackson Memorial Hospital
Industrial Engineer

Recent projects and engineering ventures

Sandow 2018

Development support for the MaterialBank division of Sandow. Providing integration services and consulting for their eCommerce platform.

Inciron 2017

Business partner. IoT related projects providing end-to-end solutions to a broad spectrum of industries: Transportation, Telecom, Oil & Gas, Military, Logistics & Distribution, etc.

SimplefoneCRM 2017

SimplefoneCRM was created to bridge a gap between IP-based Telephony and Customer Relationship Management (CRM) software. It can connect to a variety of CRM systems and it is agnostic to the VoIP implementation.

Bugatchi 2016

IT Infrastructure design, data/transactions integration back-end development and front-end work (mobile and responsive design).

Project Beauty 2016

Project management and IT Infrastructure design.

Hyperloop Competition 2016

Finalist at the first ever Hyperloop competition. Focused on outer shell pod design and safety software infrastructure. More here.

GLO Creative 2016

IT Consulting and Project management services.

SpeakRelay 2015

Voice dictation app for Android. It allows you to use the speech-to-text technology on your phone to get your dictations on any computer in real-time.

Global Space Balloon Challenge 2014

Participated on first ever space balloon challenge with my friend Dustin. Raspi, GPS, APRS, Dual cameras, satelite tracking, preassure and temperature sensors. Code in Python. More here.

For more information please visit

Some of the things I have been up to...

Drone

Video - 2016-03-20

Drone

This is the second drone I built from scratch. It is a QAV210 carbon frame with BLHeli's ESC and SunnySky 2204/2300kv motors running a Dodo F3 flight controller with Betaflight firmware. Very fast and extremely durable. I designed and 3D printed some parts to increase the drone's durability and improve the electronics internal organization (see here).
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Hyperloop

Category - 2016-01-30

First Hyperloop Competition

Finalist at the first ever Hyperloop POD Competition (2016) with my friend Dustin Oprea. This was a terrific experience as we were invited to the Texas A&M Design Weekend to meet other corporate and student teams. We focused on the outer shell pod design and developed a safety software solution to monitor overall system status, gather sensor data from pods, communicate to central control, manage dashboards, etc.
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DCCV-2015

Video - 2015-02-21

Dolphins Cancer Challenge - 2015

My first Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCCV) on the City Furniture Team. We rode the Miami Beach Touchdown Ride route.
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DCCV-2016

Category - 2016-02-20

Dolphins Cancer Challenge - 2016

Second participation on the Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCCVI). This time on the 54 miles Boca route. This is a fantastic event which I intend to support year after year.
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DCCV-2017

Category - 2017-02-11

Dolphins Cancer Challenge - 2017

My third Dolphins Cancer Challenge (DCCVII) on the City Furniture Team. We rode the 52-mile Boca Route. Gorgeous day, very little wind and a fantastic crowd to complement this stupendous charity event for an extremely worthy cause.
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Tour de Coast 2017

Category - 2017-01-22

Tour de Coast 2017 100K

First Tour de Coast event for me (1/22/2017). Terrific ride, great people and beautiful vistas. Return was quite tough with wind gusts up to 25mph.
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Golfing in Argentina

Category - 2004-11-08

Golfing by the Argentinean Coast

Great outing with my Dad and friend Fede.
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DOTBOT

Category - 2000-07-01

DOTBOT - Maze Solving Robot

Created at the University of Florida as a maze solving robot (micromouse). Robot has sonar, IR, inclinometer, bump sensors, ambient light sensors, and RF Communications. Featured on ABC News in the Summer of 2000
SpeakRelay

Video - 2015-07-14

SpeakRelay, free your voice!

SpeakRelay is a dictation, speech-to-text application that allows you to relay your dictation to a website. Perfect to dictate emails, personal notes, documents, etc. Just talk to your phone and the text appears in real-time in your browser. Once there you can edit the text, add images, polish the document and convert it to a PDF or copy/paste it into your favorite word processor or email application.
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Garage Door Automation

Category - 2008-07-06

Garage Door Automation

Before all the security/lighting automation solutions in the marketplace there was my own hacked solution. My wife and I left on a road trip one day and we forgot our garage door opened. Fortunately our neighbor gave us a call and closed it for us. That night, at a restaurant, I grabbed a napkin and diagramed a small circuit using a relay, opto-isolator and serial communication to a PC to address this problem and make sure it never happens again. In a few days I had a working solution that worked on the flip phones of the day. I later adapted the UI layer to work on modern cell phone browsers. Furthermore, I revised the hardware to use my custom circuitry attached to a Raspberry Pi making use of the GPIO's instead of serial communications. The application displays a live image of the garage so I can see the current status and sends me an SMS when the app activates a close/open action from any user for security reasons.
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NoteIt

Category - 2001-01-01

NoteIt

NoteIt was a very popuplar note taking application I developed back in 2001. It was featured on PC Magazine and UK publications as one of the most popular free productivity shareware applications available. The application was skinnable, supported password protected notes, text-to-speech, rich-text capabilities, automatic URL and Email detection, had a built-in calculator and much more. Before OneNote and Evernote, there was NoteIt!
3D Printing

Category - 2016-01-01

3D Printing

In January 2016 I entered the fascinating world of 3D Printing. Since then I designed and created countless items for various projects.
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OrliType

Category - 2010-05-16

OrliType, typing assistant for the speech impaired

I created OrliType for my Dad who unfortunately contracted Parkinson's Disease and had tremendous difficulty speaking due to stiffness affecting his face and neck. The software featured word autocompletion, dictionary lookups, word prediction, pre-recorded phrases, built-in email and obviously speech-to-text capabilities with several configurable voices. The software was adopted by a clinic in Argentina for patients with various speech impairments.
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DOTNIK

Category - 2014-05-10

High Altitude Balloon - DOTNIK

Participated at the first ever Global Space Balloon Challenge in 2014. The capsule was equipped with dual cameras, a RaspberryPi running custom Python code with a battery of sensors including barometric, temperature, light, geolocation and APRS for realtime GPS tracking. Unfortunately, the capsule landed a couple of miles south of the predicted path on a natural preserve. After requesting permits to U.S. National Park Service and a valiant yet unsuccessful rescue mission, the capsule still remains on its resting place.
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RC Buggies

Category - 1999-01-01

RC Nitro Buggies

In the late 90's and early 2000's I developed a passion for RC Buggy racing. I built a Kyosho MP-5 1/8 scale 4x4 and an Associated RC10GT 1/10 scale. They are both nitro powered and they are still in perfect working order. They are both very powerful machines and they handle corners beautifully at high speeds.
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Golden Gate Bridge

Category - 2004-07-01

Golden Gate Bridge

Stitched and processed photo of the Golden Gate bridge. Photos taken on July 1st, 2004.
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HDR - Deerfield Beach

Category - 2016-11-19

HDR - Deerfield Beach

Experimenting with HDR at the Deerfield Beach on November, 2016.
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Long Exposure Deerfield Beach Pier

Category - 2016-11-19

Long Exposure Deerfield Beach Pier

Beautiful night at Deerfield Beach on November, 2016
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Machu Picchu

Category - 2015-11-18

Machu Picchu - 2015

This majestic site needs no introduction. A true wonder!
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Vancouver

Category - 2014-09-20

Vancouver - 2014

Beautiful city of Vancouver in one of those rare sunny days.
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Fairmont Empress Hotel

Category - 2014-09-21

Fairmont Empress Hotel - 2014

The famous and luxurious Fairmont Empress Hotel in Victoria, British Columbia, in all its Victorian beauty with a golden radiance thanks to the sunset rays over the harbour.
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