About
Michael Hacker (is) Me.
I was born on August 9th, 1969 in the old St. Anthony’s hospital in Carroll, Iowa. A shade over 17 years later, I left Iowa, never to return (except for the occasional visit). Since then, I have lived in Texas, California, Japan, Korea, New York City, Baltimore, and Washington, D.C. I currently reside in Arizona.
I am a United States Air Force veteran, a graduate of the Defense Language Institute Foreign Language Center, and have worked for the National Security Agency, Central Intelligence Agency, Defense Intelligence Agency, and Federal Bureau of Investigation. Since leaving the military, I have worked both as a college teacher and in the Information Technology field.
I am a linguist and have worked as a translator in two different languages. I speak a little French, a little more Russian, and a lot more Japanese. I’m also learning Spanish and German, albeit somewhat half-heartedly.
I play guitar, am teaching myself to play piano, write music, and own my own small recording studio. For the entire year of 2009, I am committed to doing a song-a-week project. This means that I have to write, record, and release a song (with a little laxity in my definition of “song”) every week of the year. I’ve pondered starting my own independent record label. If anyone in Arizona wants to work with me, drop me a line.
I have trained in Japanese martial arts for 20 years and currently teach Jiyushin-ryu Aikibudo at the Renshinkan in Arizona.
I’ve recently become interested in yoga, primarily Ashtanga, and could stand to drop a few pounds.