Who is this man?

You might be asking yourself why we would put a photo of this fellow on our blog. This man is Cristian Hotescu, formerly of Bucharest, Romania, and now a full-fledged U. S. Citizen. He is the owner of Black Pearl Technologies, and he is completely behind the development and programming of createsticksandstones.com. Though he works behind the scenes and from 2 states away, his work is crucial in keeping the website end of the company up and running on a daily basis.

Jera and he used to work together for Car.com a few years ago. When Car.com sold to Autobytel in 2004, he gave up a secure career and took a chance on working full time with us. Though our business model has changed drastically since 2004, he has been a constant. When the site first started in 2005, he brought us from a blank page to a fully functional website by working for weeks on end 16 hours a day.

Of his many sayings, my favorite has to be in response to my very common question “can we make the website do this? (Insert something newfangled and difficult here)” I then brace myself for his unwavering response: “anything is possible”. I’ve never heard him say “impossible” yet, and I don’t expect to hear it in the near future.

Many times web programmers come equipped with mad programming skills, but they are missing a few cards from the customer service deck. Mr. Hotescu believes customer service is part of the package. He’s worked on websites from the ski slopes of Vermont, from Romania, and from Seattle, Washington, all while vacationing.

He’s worked hand in hand with some of the web’s premier designers. He’s been known to pull all-nighters to meet a deadline. The night before the Rachael Ray show featuring Sticks and Stones aired (which you can see here), we just so happened to be finishing our web re-design. He was uploading the new site as the show was airing, and we made it through with only a few minor hiccups!

Though the casual web browser might go to our “About Us” section and find out a little about our family, Mr. Hotescu’s contributions go largely unheralded. So, we thought we’d introduce him to you today.