Mike Loewen's Corner of the Web

Hi. I'm Mike Loewen, and I'm currently working for Penn State's Information Technology Services organization, as a Senior Research Programmer. My areas of emphasis are various flavors of UNIX, plus system and network administration and security. These days, I spend most of my time writing software for the User Services group. My office is in the Computer Building (room 214E), upstairs in the consultants area. Some of my past and present projects include:

• An automated status page for ITS systems
• The Lab Manager project, a client/server system for lab consultant timeclock, scheduling, contact recording and online conferencing. The Labman project was presented at a seminar for the 10/02/1996 ACM SIGUCCS conference in Chicago. Labman has turned into a monstrous system which includes direct payroll submission and web-based timecards, and is in use throughout ITS and several other units at Penn State.
• A utility for listing and deleting messages from your PSU POP mailbox, called POPsickle.

I graduated from Penn State in 1979, with a degree in Music Education, and am a brother of the Phi Mu Alpha Sinfonia fraternity: our local chapter is Alpha Zeta. I'm still active in the local music scene, with several groups:

• The State College Municipal Band (bass trombone)
• The Dixie Lion Jazz Band (trombone)
• The Dixie Lion Quartet: 3 Musicians and a Banjo (tuba)
• The Consord Sounds (trombone/trumpet), a 7-piece dance band
• Trombone Chowder, a trombone quartet (bass trombone), with Mike Bruster, Jay Vonada and Dave Priester.
• Slide Zone, a jazz group with 5 trombones and rhythm.
• Below Centre, a tuba/euphonium quartet with Phil and Leif Jensen (tubas) and Dave Priester (euphonium).
• The Deacons of Dixieland

Here is a list of the various groups I've played with over the years.

I also substitute for the Nittany Valley Symphony, the Altoona Symphony, the Tarnished Six, the Last Resort Dixieland Band, the Big Band Sound of Mt. Union, plus just about any other group that calls (I mean, pays - hehehe). My arsenal consists of:

• Bach 50B3LG bass trombone, .562 bore, 9.5" gold brass bell, lightweight slide, F and Gb Thayer valves, Shires B2.5SS leadpipe, Giddings & Webster Don Harwood signature mouthpiece. The Thayer valves and Shires leadpipe were installed by Todd Clontz of Rosso Music in Baltimore.
• Bach 42B tenor, .547 bore, converted to Thayer valve, Bach 6-1/2AL mouthpiece.
• Bach 16 tenor, .495/.509 bore, Bach 7C mouthpiece.
• King Flugabone, Benge 6-1/2AL mouthpiece.
• Schilke M1 trumpet, Bach 3C mouthpiece.
• Besson euphonium (from 1960), 4-valve compensating, bell front, Besson 10 mouthpiece.
• Weltklang tuba, .748 bore, 16.5" bell, 4 rotary valves, Giddings & Webster Bayamo mouthpiece.

When Homecoming rolls around at Penn State, I usually end up performing with the Alumni Blue Band, a group of close to 400 alumni band members. We perform part of the pregame and halftime shows, and combine with the Blue Band for a mass performance during halftime. Marching with the Blue Band as an undergraduate was a great experience, and I was fortunate to attend 5 different bowl games (Orange, Cotton, Sugar, Gator and Fiesta) during my tenure.

I've undertaken a crazy project: building my own Lost in Space robot. It's going to take a long time to complete, but I'll document my progress here.

My father, Henry, is keeping himself busy during retirement. Besides fishing, hunting, fly tying, tuning pianos and playing with the band, he builds giant scale radio control models. Here are a few pictures of his Chance-Vought F4U Corsair, one of his best! Another plane flew on 4/29/98 for the first time, a 104" span Piper Cub. From Winter 2000, his P51 Mustang. From March 2001, a Great Planes Aeromaster. And his winter project for 2004/2005, a re-covered Morrisey Bravo.

Here are some things to peek at:

• My modest collection of old computers and technology.
• The AN/FSQ-7 (SAGE) computer system on TV and in the Movies
• System Administrator's Price List
• The Sysadmin Hierarchy
• Monty Python's Completely Useless Web Site
• The Trombone-L Home Page
• The UNIX Guru Universe
• The Red Hot Jazz Archive
• The Keesler Blue Knights Drum & Bugle Corps

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