Tod means Fox

Welcome and thank you for visiting Tod means Fox. Here, I discuss data management and its role in decision support applications, business intelligence, and software development. You will find a heavily updated blog, a list of my articles, and some valuable links and resources.

Quick Reference

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To read my published articles, click here.

I am a Quantitative Technical Specialist for a major Investment Management institution in Europe. My responsibilities include managing the Data Warehouse, developing Business Intelligence applications, and supporting the general data and data quality needs of the Quant team. With expertise in data modeling, profiling and integration and extensive experience developing vertical and integrated desktop, Internet, and BI applications I have found myself a nice home with the Quants.

I develop mainly in Visual FoxPro (VFP), C#.NET, LAMP (over PHP), and T-SQL while using SQL Server 2005 and all the BI tools that come with it. I have industry experience ranging from municipal government and real estate to financial applications and clinical technologies. I have developed full vertical/custom application solutions on various platforms. I was once (and still am?) an entrepreneur, having started or co-started four companies (Blackstone Providence, Data Integration Management Company, Firm3d, and The Application People). I currently publish Tod means Fox (Support decisions through sound data management ) and Rabbit Stew Lounge (a site dedicated to green living, political discussions, humor, and music: you can join, just use invite code STEW4U.

By night, I work with my son and daughter designing Lego towers and Thomas & Friends train track routes.

Contacting Me

I am currently living in Belgium with my family. You may reach me via email at tod at blackstoneprovidence dot com. You may also leave me a comment on any of my blog posts (including this one), follow me on Twitter or reach my through LinkedIn!

Tod does mean Fox

In Middle English, ‘todd’ means ‘fox’ which probably in some way refers to ‘fox hunter’. Is it just a coincidence that someday I would be a FoxPro developer and have my very own Fox blog? Probably, but hey — it is a little odd. Tod (with a single ‘d’) is how my name is actually spelt. In Scotland, tod refers to an especially clever or wily person. I’d like to think that this is no coincidence!

Spanish: Zorro
Arabic: Fanak
Italian: Volpe
Dutch: Vos

The metaphysical meaning of Fox

Fox: Shape shifting, Cleverness, Observational Skills, Cunning, Stealth, Camouflage, Feminine Courage, Invisibility, Ability to Observe Unseen, Persistence, Gentleness, Swiftness, Diplomacy, Wildness, Adaptation, Slyness, Wisdom, Protection, Provider, Intelligence

Being able to camouflage self (which is also a trait of a Gemini, which I happen to be). It is about using our instincts and creative energies. When we learn to detach from our surroundings and to observe with all of our senses we will be able to anticipate and create the future as we wish it to be.

Appearances

Contrast 4TM, 2008

I gave a one hour presentation to discuss Dimensional Modeling with a group of IT professionals from various backgrounds (from Sybase DBAs to ITIL specialists). The 4TM (which stands for “Fourth Thursday of the Month”, I think!) was held in Brussels, Belgium and also featured a nice evening of food and wine (I’m not a wine drinker though). You can find out more about the Contraste Group on their website.

FoxForward, 2007

I have been accepted as a speaker to discuss Data Warehousing with Visual FoxPro at this year’s FoxForward in Georgia! If you don’t have tickets, please get them soon. This is a great event and now, more than ever, the community needs your support. There are a lot of great speakers this year with a bevy of interesting and relevant topics. If you haven’t been to an event, or it’s been a while, then we hope come out to Georgia this year. See you then!