Keith Hertzer

School

I am a graduate of UC Berkeley (Electrical Engineering and Computer Science option C, class of 1995, with honors [they even put a sticker on my diploma that says so]).

Work

I am currently spending my days as a small cog in the machine keeping the lights on at Google in San Francisco. (Yes, the food really is that good, and no, I can't figure out how the new Google Maps UI is supposed to work either, so I'm afraid I can't help you with it.) Prior to that I did the startup thing with Compass Quality Insight, where we proved that nobody wants to pay for a change test coverage tool that ends up telling you that you might have to re-run all your tests because somebody changed something in your core libraries. For 8 years before that, I worked for AmberPoint, Inc. (acquired by Oracle in 2010). Before then (2001-2002) I was at a smaller startup, CrossWeave, but it was not meant to be. My first real job (July 1995-February 2001) was at Forte Software, the coolest enterprise software development tools company ever to be acquired and digested by Sun Microsystems.

Family

I grew up over the east bay hills in Walnut Creek, to which I occasionally return to see my parents. The cat, alas, is no longer with us.

Travel

Vanessa and I are attempting to travel the world together.

Trips to date:

Sep 2021	Olympic Peninsula, WA	May-June 2021	Rocky Mountain NP, CO
Sep-Oct 2020	Arches and Canyonlands NP, UT	Feb 2020	Sedona, AZ
Dec 2019	New Zealand and Sydney, NSW, Australia	Sep 2019	Alaska and Mt. Ranier NP
Dec 2018	Chile/Patagonia	Oct 2018	Baxter SP and Acadia NP, Maine
Aug 2018	Oregon Coast, Columbia Gorge and Silver Falls	Oct 2018	Maine (Baxter St Park and Acadia NP)
May-Jun 2018	Mediterranean Cruise from Barcelona (including Naples and Pompeii, Tarquinia and Civitavecchia, Pisa, Cannes, Mallorca, and Madrid)	Dec 2017	Central Coast and San Diego, CA
Oct 2017	New England Cruise including Sydney, NS Halifax, NS St. John, NB Boston, MA Acadia NP and Bar Harbor, ME	Jul 2017	Zermatt, Switzerland (home of the Matterhorn)
Jun-Jul 2017	Baltic Sea Cruise including Tallinn, Estonia St. Petersburg, Russia Helskini, Finland Stockholm, Sweden	Mar 2017	Western Caribbean Cruise including Costa Maya, Mexico
Dec 2016	Santa Barbara, Joshua Tree, and Palm Springs	Nov 2016	Panama canal cruise from Miami: Gatun locks (Panama canal) Roatan, Honduras (animal sanctuary) Belize Zoo Costa Maya, Mexico (aviary) Florida Everglades (alligators)
May-June 2016	Switzerland	March 2016	Death Valley and the Eastern Sierras
Dec 2015-Jan 2016	Northern Arizona: Montezuma Castle Sedona Grand Canyon (south rim) Hwy 163 and Monument Valley	Dec 2015	Utah National Parks: Bryce Canyon Capitol Reef Arches Canyonlands
Dec 2015	Antelope Island (Great Salt Lake)	Jan 2015	Mexican Riviera
September 2014	Cruise on the Norwegian fjords	September 2014	Copenhagen, Denmark
August 2014	Hamburg, Germany	July 2014	Crater Lake, OR
Feburary 2014	Costa Rica	January 2014	Hong Kong and Tokyo
December 2013	Thailand	October 2013	Ecuador highlands and Galapagos Islands
June 2013	Puerto Rico	May 2013	Vancouver and Alaska cruise
Jan 2013	Petra and Wadi Rum (Jordan)	Dec 2012	Israel
Aug-Sep 2012	Grand Teton and Yellowstone NP	June 2012	Croatia
Dec 2011-Jan 2012	Vietnam, Cambodia, and Singapore	Aug-Sept 2011	Banff, Jasper, and Yoho NP, Canada
July 2011	Portland and Silver Falls SP, Oregon	May-June 2011	Boston and Southern Maine
Dec 2010	Channel Islands and Joshua Tree NP	Sept 2010	Return to Cusco, Peru
Apr 2010	Prague, Czech Republic [2]	Apr-May 2010	Paris, France [2] [3] [3] [3] Loire Valley, France [2] [3] [4]
Dec 2009	Iguazu Falls, Patagonia, and Buenos Aires	Sept 2009	Niagara Falls, the Thousand Islands, and Ottawa, Canada
Apr 2009	Washington, DC and Shenandoah NP in Virginia	Dec 2008	Central Coast, Death Valley, and Las Vegas
Sept 2008	Montreal and Quebec	Nov-Dec 2008	runis and nature of Oaxaca, Mexico
May 2008	Kauai including Napali coast trail	Dec 2007	colonial towns of Mexico
Sept 2007	Seattle, Vancouver Island, and Vancouver, BC	May 2007	ancient and modern cities of China
Nov 2006	Guatemala and Honduras	Sep 2006	New Mexico and Mesa Verde
Mar 2006	Belize and Guatemala	Dec 2005	Puerto Rico and Vieques
Sep 2005	Alaska	Dec 2004	Yucatan peninsula, Mexico
May 2004	Zion and Grand Canyon NPs	Sep 2003	Cusco and Machu Picchu, Peru
Apr 2002	London, Netherlands, and Nice	Nov 2000	Nepal and Thailand

kSoft/Graphmatica

kSoft, Inc. is a Shareware programming company with one employee, namely me. My flagship product is Graphmatica, an easy-to-use equation-graphing program for Windows.

Please see the kSoft homepage for more information or to download a copy. If you decide you like it, now you can even register online!

The Heuristic Squelch

I am one of the Editors Emeriti of the Heuristic Squelch, U.C. Berkeley's only intentionally funny newspaper. See www.squelched.com for excerpts from old and current issues.

Other Activities

I enjoy backpacking and climbing mountains when I get the chance. This marmot doesn't have to wait; he lives there (photo taken by my friend at the top of Mt. Massive, Colorado, elevation 14,000 ft.)

I was once a marginally active member of Eta Kappa Nu, the national EECS honor society, especially when food was involved.

Last updated: 25 Sep 2021
KRH [khertz at pacbell dot net]