About Me

Greetings! My name is Vicky. I was born and raised in the great state of Virginia. I grew up in a small town called Occoquan. I had a good opportunity for high school– I got to attend the Thomas Jefferson High School for Science and Technology. For college I moved down to Blacksburg and attended Virginia Tech. After college, I got a computer programming job in the area, I fell in love in the mountains, and stuck around for 15 years.

In November 2008, I found something I loved more than the mountains– an amazing man by the name of Ryan Somma. I left the mountains and moved to the swamps of Elizabeth City, North Carolina. We lived in a low-income neighborhood, but it became my favorite neighborhood of all. We were particularly fond of the neighborhood kids. We did a lot of activities with them– cooking, water fights, rollerskating, badminton, geocaching.

In February 2010, when Ryan and I were expecting our first son, we moved back to little Occoquan, Virginia. We’ve been there ever since raising a family of our own. We took Bradley Method classes and had two natural, medication-free hospital births. We welcomed Sagan in 2011 and then little Dyson in 2013.

As a child, I was a tournament bridge player. I’m retired now, but back in the day I did pretty well. At 15, I became a Life Master– which made me the 4th Youngest Female to do so at the time. I expect I’ll return this hobby one day. But for now, I would prefer to be outdoors– hiking, skiing, rollerblading, geocaching, camping, etc.

Common Things You’ll Find Me Posting On

1) Hiking and Family Hikes
Although I live away from the mountains, hiking is still a passion of mine. I am particularly fond of the Appalachian Trail. In May of 2006, I finished hiking all the mileage maintained by the Roanoke Appalachian Trail Club.

Even though we are busy working parents of two young sons now, Ryan and I still regularly get out for “Family Hikes”. They are shorter and less than intense that my Appalachian Trail hikes of the past, but every bit as fulfilling.

Summit of Mt. Bierstadt in Colorado

2) 3D Printing
In February 2014, I coveted a breastfeeding charm for my Origami Owl locket. They didn’t sell one, but guess what? There’s this thing called 3D Printing. Using Blender and Shapeways, I started learning 3D modeling and was able to make myself my very own breastfeeding charm. This was the humble start to what is quickly becoming an addiction.

In December of 2014, a Christmas ornament I designed was selected to be part of a Smithsonian collection and be displayed in the East Room of the White House. : )

2) American Chestnut
It is safe to say, I’m an American Chestnut enthusiast. And so, I’m also a proud supporter of The American Chestnut Foundation. Periodically I’ll post shots of the trees I encounter while hiking. In addition, in 2010 I started growing some potentially blight resistant seed of my own. 

Me with American Chestnut Leaves

4) Rollerblading
When I graduated from high school, my grandmother gave me a pair of rollerblades. I still have those blades 14 years later. It is my policy to take them with me on my travels. So far I have rollerbladed in 21 different states and 4 different countries.

Rollerblading in Montana

5) Web Development
I’ve worked as a programmer and support technician for 10 years now. When I run into a tricky problem whose solution isn’t quickly found by the search engines, I go ahead and post the solution here. At the very least it ensures *I* can look it up again later. 🙂 Technologies I typically work in include Internet Information Services, SQL Server, Oracle, VB.NET, C#, Visual Basic, ASP, ASP.NET, and Microsoft Office (VBA).

Me at work

6) Travel
I’ve been lucky to travel a lot for business and pleasure. On my trips, I typically cover my adventures here.

Skiing at Vail

Contacting Me
Email: vicky[at]tgaw[dot]com
Personal Website: http://www.tgaw.com
Flickr: http://www.flickr.com/photos/tgaw
Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/tgaw
Instagram: http://www.instagram.com/vickytgaw