About

John Stamper

I am a son, a brother, a friend, a husband, a father to three children, a nephew, an uncle.

I have a bald spot named 'Herman'.

I enjoy doing physically and mentally challenging work.

I am color-deficient to red and green.

I have an affinity for headlamps.

I enjoy learning languages with a current fascination with Italian.

I enjoy spending time with dogs and my joy is directly related to the dog's size.

I am not a good cook but regardless, am asked to do it from time to time.

I play Clash Royale WAY too much.

I am a career programmer and technologist yet I am using Google Sites.

Coffee, the stronger the better. Cafe Italiano, 5-shot Americano, Double Black Eye.

My actions are guided by a few phrases. Below are the big ones:

  • "Flexibility is the key to victory" -CPT Keith Detwiler (USA), 1996

  • "Whether you think you can or you can't, you're right" -a rock on my desk

  • "You only see what you are looking for" -(poor grammar, sorry Mom)

Origin story of the title 'Clown Daddy'

I was interviewing for a Customer Engineer position in Reston, VA for Google Cloud in the fall of 2019 and I felt confident I would receive an offer. I thought, "wouldn't it be cool to show up on Day 1 with a pair of shoes with the Google colors". Converse Chuck Taylor's, of course. So one lazy Sunday afternoon I visited the DIY site for Converse and created a custom pair of shoes whose image is splattered all over this site.

I ask my wife Kara, of 25 years, "WDYT?"

"Hideous", she replied.

"Wow", I thought, "worse than my cooking? Sheesh."

I beckoned my son Tate, seven years old at the time, to join me at the computer and asked, "Tate, would you be embarrassed if you and I were together and I were wearing these shoes?"

"Nah Dad, you are just my Clown Daddy." Add to Cart, swipe the card, be there in ten days.


Epilogue

I wear the shoes all the time and (conservatively) receive daily compliments from strangers, mostly women. (?) I don't know why the men aren't more open about their admiration.