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Well, hello.

Over the years, I’ve launched quite a few websites—most of which have quietly faded into obscurity. My early attempts were humble, built during the days when Netscape and Internet Explorer were battling for dominance. Back then, I used FrontPage to create much of my content, including a personal favorite: “Beekeeper.org.”

So, who am I?

My full name is Alison Raymond Lipscomb, though in the Eastern Orthodox Church I’m known as Deacon Cornelius. Most folks simply call me Al. “Alison” is an old family name—which made for some interesting experiences growing up. Picture a tall, lanky, red-haired, freckled nerd navigating the awkward landscape of school as a late bloomer. High school wasn’t exactly my glory days. But sometime around 18, I started to fill out, and for a while there, I grew into a decently sized adult. These days, well… age has a way of catching up with all of us.

My journey into computing started at age 13 or 14, sparked by my dad’s work with electronics. I cut my teeth at the Pinellas County Science Center, tinkering on a Honeywell 1648A timesharing system, dabbling in BASIC and FORTRAN, and (naturally) playing lots of games. Eventually, I found my place in the world of mainframes, working primarily on Burroughs/Unisys large systems as a systems programmer. Over time, my focus shifted toward Microsoft technologies, though I’ve logged plenty of hours with Unix and Linux as well. My coding toolbox includes COBOL, ALGOL, PERL, Pascal, PowerShell, and a few other languages I picked up along the way.

As for education, let’s just say I barely escaped high school with my diploma—my counselor suggested a vocational path, and I spent most of those final two years in work programs. Still, I pressed on. I earned a two-year Computer Science degree from St. Petersburg Junior College, then finished my B.S. in Information Technology at the University of Phoenix. I also completed a Certificate in Eastern Christianity through the Saint Stephens Program at the Antiochian House of Studies.

Then, on October 15, 2023, I was ordained a deacon by His Grace Bishop Nicholas of the Antiochian Orthodox Archdiocese of North America. The service was held at Saint Nicholas Antiochian Orthodox Church in Pinellas Park, where I continue to serve under Father Nathaniel Trembley.

And the name of this domain? It’s a nod to Public Key Infrastructure (PKI)—a cornerstone of information security. A PKI often consists of multiple tiers of Certification Authorities, with the top tier—or “root CA”—kept offline for maximum security. “Offline” means the system is never connected to a network after it generates the cryptographic key files used to protect data. It’s a concept that’s often misunderstood… and if I had to guess, I’ll probably be writing more about that soon.