I, Aaron, having been born of goodly parents, started my journey into this world in Oakley, Idaho.  Here’s a map for all you visual learners.  The town’s population fluctuates between 645 and 668 and I’m fairly certain there are more potato guns than there are citizens.  Entertainment was easy to come by if it could actually be called entertainment by today’s standards.  Most of it consisted of dragging Christmas trees, clothes dryers, or bathtubs behind cars and seeing how long we could hang on before we started burning holes in our shorts.  At other times rotten apple wars with firecrackers did the trick.

While the town’s industry was mainly farming, ranching, and mining, my dad happened to be a programmer and computer businessman.  After having my fair share of hauling pipe and branding cattle, I opted for the more intriguing route of programming as well.  Although I was entertained with making colored circles move across the screen in Basic, the more exciting Internet didn’t actually arrive in Oakley until about 1996 when I was 13.  Even then it was accessed through dial-up and only two connections could simultaneously exist to the town.  Given that three families had modems, the sound of a busy signal meant calling one of the other two families to call dibs for some time on the web.  Soon enough I made my first Hello World web page and have been involved in building the world wide web since.

After graduating high school in 2001, I attended Brigham Young University in Provo, Utah, where I studied Information Systems.  The major is in essence a blend between business and technology–enough business to wield a laser pointer and enough programming to pack a pocket protector.  This is also where I met my wife-to-be, Holly Roberts-now-Hardy.  We dated for six weeks before I left to serve as a missionary for my church, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints, otherwise known as Those Crazy Mormons.  Yes, I was the guy you saw riding around in his white shirt and tie with a plaque on his chest with another guy in his white shirt and tie with a plaque on his chest.  Okay, so it wasn’t me–I actually went to Ecuador where bikes haven’t been invented yet and trekked my way around on foot.

After two years down under, I came back to Provo, Utah where Holly and I were married six weeks later.  I know deep down inside you want the full scoop of sappy love so this is where I hand you off to Holly’s side of the story.

Along with getting married, I went back to BYU where I graduated in April 2008 with a Master of Information Systems Management (MISM) degree.  I now work at Rain, Inc. in American Fork, Utah developing rich internet applications (RIA) with an emphasis in Adobe Flex.  I really enjoy where I work and what I do and hope to stay in RIA development for the foreseeable future.

On the side I like to spend my time sharing with the world (read: relatives…and you) my crazy ideas about politics, religion, code, and life in general on my blog, AaronHardy.com.  It’s my way of not only releasing steam, but also doing whatever I can, however minute it may be, to encourage change for the better in this world of ours.

Finally, Holly and I now have a baby girl in the oven scheduled for January 2.  For a deeper look into our personal lives, feel free to check out HardyHacienda.com.