biography

From founder and designer Darren Gall

Why I can deliver this with confidence

education:

Computer Science @ university of Regina.

Here I learned to code and went on to work with an Apple dealer that also provided training and support for the advertising industry. I helped them partner with the firm Saatchi and Saatchi – which proved to be their most lucrative account. Was eventually promoted to manager.

Times changed and I started my own business with an eye towards developing a point of sale system or real estate management system based around apple hardware.

It took me in unexpected directions… I ended up teaching for a while and working with 3 major clients for several years.

My first website was for ‘Charter Miss Toronto’. Liz Carmichael was managing partner and we had met through mutual friends and she reached out to me to help grow their business.

This was the early 2000’s and Charter miss Toronto was a Boat charter Company that was beginning to specialize in weddings. At one special cruise they hosted Oscar Peterson on board the yacht – I believe it was for a birthday of his or someone in the group.

I built them a database that integrated with their web site to some degree.

It handled booking, scheduling of caterers, performers and other logistics like docking times, invoicing, billing and customer Resource Management. CRM

I also taught Photoshop and web design with Adobe’s Dreamweaver. At the time is was one of  the main development applications and is still used.  This was at the Academy of Design in Toronto.  The skill it taught me that has value for you is that I can get in deep and adjust code with css, php, javascript, and html.

These are the core elements of coding in most web pages.

Modern tools mean one seldom has to ‘get under the hood’ and write in actual code as the application generates it for you, and AI is adding new possibilities. However the code is where everything happens. Certain finished elements require some css or javascript and that skill has value.

I enjoy that and have spent a great deal of time and money investing in learning new tools.

Currently i used Divi over WordPress development, and host on SiteGround.

SiteGround is a next generation hosting platform, that has some really advanced tools that ensure a site stays running and has the best security systems i have seen. 

Their technology allows quick setup and transfer from other hosting sites like Godaddy and others. However It is the ability to host several versions of a website as ‘Staged’ copies that has been a real game changer, saving potentially days of work on a big project.

During the 2000’s I continued to work with CharterMissToronto and build logistic and management systems for Douglas Ganton Films, and a similar project for a specialty clothing company. Douglas Ganton Films was a prestigious sound production company that worked on many Jackie Chan films, The Titanic, as well as the Scarlett Letter.

I also did some flash animation for video for Bob Wiseman.

It was a lot of fun.

Around 2008, I started to develop some health issues and my friend and client at Charter Miss Toronto, was diagnosed with bone cancer.

Having studied chemistry and computer science i turned my attention to studying ‘alternative’ medicine. I built a database for keeping track of the thousands of terms i had to learn and for the research papers i was compiling.

I began to learn that much of medical system although very advanced was also corrupted by the motivation towards profitable outcomes. Health and Wellness, is where the real value is, but the big money is in treating chronic conditions with pharmaceuticals.

I turned to teachers from other cultures after my friend of over ten years died of cancer.

She refused chemo therapy, as under the guidance of her oncologist, it was made clear to her that the outcome was not likely to improve. I appreciated the honesty and courage with which my dear friend Liz Carmichael faced the end of her life. 

Traveling with her long time parter and also friend Peter Ferguson, and their dog during her last year. just as as they always had.

I found some medicines and therapies that probably would helped her but were quite experimental at the time. Nano lipid encapsulated artemisinin revealed a new pathway for slowing cancer growth and mutation, improving outcomes, and now there is compelling evidence that it can be used as plant extraction combination that is simpler and probably as effective.

Suffice to say, I see the world very differently than I did then. I have great respect and honour for the ways of knowing, that people here on turtle island represent. The very latest molecular modelling technology uses computing power that was not thought possible only decades ago, now reveals, that ancient wisdom is something we in many ways are just catching up with. 

The medicines known thousands of years are now revealed to be some of the most amazing discoveries of the current time. 

You could say I have been semi retired since 2012.

I have focused on health and wellness and on learning from elders outside of my own traditions.

I am grateful to Lori Petruskovitch, Bob Smoker, Losang Samten, and Willak Gilermo for the many seeds of wisdom which have taken root in my own ways of seeing the world. 

I can bring value to your organization in many ways, from database applications, to web apps and integration. 

More than that I sense something very purposeful in the path that your organization is taking, and may of help in other ways. I have studied and practised with energy efficient designs working with companies in construction and design.. that is another chapter