The Semi-OT Get to Know Your TeAmmates Thread

[Neurodog]

Ok, here goes.

Well you know my name is Simon but I don't like to draw!

I'm 32 and live in Gatineau, Canada with my wife and daughter. We own a house about 15 minutes away from the Capital(Ottawa).
I work for the International Development Research Center in Ottawa as a Sytem Analyst since 2004. Before that I've worked as a Helpesk analyst for 6 years.

I got interested in computers when my friend got his XT computer. I remeber my early LAN parties that we would spend more time troubleshooting the network connectivity in DOS then playing the games(Monster Truck Madness, Car and Driver, Doom etc...)

I got hooked on DC I first started with Seti back in June 1999. I've since crunched for Seti Classic, Rosetta, F@H, WCG and now with SOB.

My other hobbies include, ATV'ing with friends, Computer games and I also collect Radio Control Tamiya trucks.


Off I go to see my stats! again

-Simon

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: caferace
so ScottSid is buying me a beer.

(he promised not to laugh at my slow azzed motorscooter)



PS: So why did she laugh when I answered; "yea, this is a mouse in my pocket"?

 

[RaySun2Be]

My name is Tim. I'm 35 and live in Rolling Meadows, IL with my wife (and soon to be daughter).

First, early CONGRATS! on the new arrival. :beer::thumbsup: Things will never be the same in that household again!

Second, I work in Rolling Meadows on Algonquin near 53.

There seems to be a number of us in the Chicago or near Chicago area. Hmmmm, me thinks it might be interesting to have a TeAm Anandtech get together sometime this year, maybe when it warms up a bit. I know TallBill has settled down in Il somewhere, hopefully not too far from Chicago. There is you, GenHoth, and maybe TallBill so far.

Anyone else want to admit they are in Chicago or nearby?

 

[bryanW1995]

I live in Victoria, TX. Not too far from fullmetalchocobo, actually. I'm 34 years old. I have a bs in management and actually use my degree. I'm the gsm of one of the largest GM dealerships in south tx. I studied aerospace engineering for 2 1/2 years in college, hence my interest in seti. I crunched a lot in seti classic, drifted away for a while, and for the past year or so have really gotten back into it. I usually borg a couple of computers at work (with network admin's complicity), but I keep that to a relatively low number since the boss could always stop them if he thought I was losing my focus on selling cars .

My great loves are my wife and 2 daughters, computers, and my m5. I hope to own a car dealership one day soon, hopefully in partnership with my current owner. I'm the most competitive person I know, I often have to force myself not to yell "f**k" when I have to restart a video game (which happens way too often for the wifey's liking).

This thread is great, it's nice to picture where others live. Well, others who live in exotic places like europe or, um, canada. New Braunfels or Illinois aren't quite so far out there, but are nevertheless cool, too

 

[biodoc]

My name is Mark and I'm 53 yrs old and live in the Boston, MA metro area with my wife of 20+ years and a teenage daughter. I'm a protein biochemist and have worked in the biotech/pharma industry for 20+ years.

I grew up in a small town near Fargo, ND (no Fargo jokes please ) and went to college in ND and Iowa. I spent a couple of years working in the San Fran area before settling in Boston. I had motorcycles from the age of sixteen 'till I moved to Boston but had given them up 'cause the drivers in this area are too insane.

My first exposure to computers was in grad school where I used a commodore PET. I learned BASIC and wrote a custom program to analyze genetic data I was collecting. That was sooo much easier and cheaper than using the university central computer with the punch cards, etc.:shocked: I bought the original Mac (GUI & mouse thingy was great!) and many more after that but I wish I had used that money to buy micro$oft stock. My first build was a pentium pro running linux.

I have a passion for watching American Football and I played in high school 'till I destroyed my knee in my senior year.

I enjoy photography/video editing and have been crunching DC off and on since RC(?) and Seti Classic. Anandtech has always been a useful source of info for me and I stumbled into this forum and thought the folks were very helpful and nice so I joined TA.

 

[jonesthewine]

I started crunching in 1998 , running SETI for a couple of years, then lost the urge and didn't pick it up again until last October when I picked up a 60GB PS3 and saw the pre-installed F@H app. I started running the PS3 24/7 in November and currently have the windows client running on 2 of the 4 PCs in the house. The numbers that some of you people put up are simply amazing - congratulations.

My crunching takes place in Richmond VA where I work from home most of the time, selling wine to wholesale distributors in 18 states scattered mainly across the eastern US. I spend around 65-70 nights per year visiting those clients, and am home 24/7 the other 300 days of the year except for the occassional overseas jaunt to a wine-producing region. The time at home provides ample opportunity to enjoy my wife and two children. Before this job I spent a lot of time in the restaurant biz, including a rather enjoyable stint with Ritz-Carlton as the sommelier in the Mobil 5 star Dining Room at the Buckhead property in Atlanta.

In 2001 I passed a series of exams and became one of 80 or so Americans to earn the Master Sommelier diploma, which is the highest professional recognition that one can achieve in the wine service business.

An interest in building a gaming rig led to my discovering Anandtech in late 2003 and I have been lurking and learning ever since. Besides my family and wine I enjoy biking around the neighborhood, gaming (FPS & puzzles mostly),watching baseball and movies, and listening to all manner of good music. Most enjoyable, however, is driving my 2007 Civic Si and listening to the engine as it approached 8000 RPMs. VTEC is a drug.

 

[Assimilator1]

I started DC back in Nov '99 with SETI a few months after I 1st had the net.I remember 1st hearing about SETI@Home on BBCs Tomorrows world over a year before.
Earlier 05 I had my 1st real foray away from SETI (excluding a tiny stint on an old PC crunching RC5) & crunched DPAD for a short while before switching back to S@H1 til the end of the year when it ended.After that I started to do some serious crunching for DPAD & much latter F@H ,on my own rigs at least.Also done did a little Gamma Flux, possibly Genome @home & DIMES.
I used to read Anandtech on my dads PC about 10yrs ago (before I had the net) ,so when I finally got on I checked out the forums ,redicsovered SETI & found a forum section talking about SETI (etc) & haven't looked back .

I lodge in my friends house ,been here w-a-y too long & I desperatly need to move out so I can have more than a room!. House prices & renting is stupidly expensive here in SE England I'm single & don't earn much so I've got no hope of private buying or private renting something much bigger ,I hope to move to a council flat or maybe share buy this year ,I've just got to get my arse into gear about this & sort it out!.

I have a 14yr old son who I see twice a week ,naturally he crunches for me
We game alot ,but also do a little football & cricket though lately its been more badminton & archery .

I'm a car mechanic & TBH I'm sick to death of working on cars now ,been doing it for 13yrs as a job & some years prior to that I did a few years on agricultural machinery.Most car designers now give absolutely no thought whatsoever to access these days (!£$%*)making my job more & more difficult & aggravating:|.I should of gone into IT ~6yrs ago as I'd intended ,maybe this year?
I still like reading & driving cars though ,talking of which I have a '97 BMW 323i which with 2.5ltr 6cyl 170 bhp engine & ~29MPG suits me nicely atm ,so far its got ~137,000 miles on the clock.

I haven't read most of this long thread yet ,I'll go through it latter

 

[MadMurph]

Wow, there?s some serious horsepower in this group, and it isn?t the cars and computers.

Born and raised in Southern California, my father branded me a ?jack-of-all trades, master of none,? and I?ve spent my life of 54 years (I think I?m 29) living up to it, though I have revised the saying to ?brief flashes of brilliance held together by near misses and narrow escapes.? My name is Tom, but to those closest to me, I?ve always been Tommy.

I?ve raced all the above stuff: anything with wheels, my feet ? marathons and triathlons, and now computers. Played football, and baseball through college, surfed since I was 8. For my 50th, I took up figure skating. Go figure. (pun intended) That out to be good for some laughs. BTW, Sid, it?s a great way to meet single women!, though I don?t need to, as I?ve lived with the love of my life, Judith, for 14 years.

I have a 26 year-old son doing his third tour in Iraq, and a brilliant and beautiful 14 year old daughter. My son is the computer whiz; he had to show me how to turn on my first computer (IBM 8088). His most recent exploit was to hack the Military?s firewall in Iraq, so his buds could get on MySpace. (hence his third tour!! Arghh!!)

I?ve had many careers, including owning a business building and restoring custom and antique cars. (I feel your pain AS1 !) I was in the insurance industry at various levels for many years, and ran retail for a while, as well. (see where my dad got the label?)

At age 40 I qualified for the Hawaiian Ironman, and while I thought I was training for that event, it was really to battle the cancer which was silently growing inside my body. I never made it to Hawaii, and I vowed a life change if I survived.

That has brought me to my current station in life: teaching Math and Science to pre-pubescent adolescents, aka, Middle School, and crunching for a cure. I started begging and scrounging computers for the classroom and, the next thing I know, I?m teaching kids how to build them. I can?t beat Mark, but I?m training his replacements! Through a pilot program I authored, we built over 200 computers for our school ? one for each teacher and a full computer lab. My ?farm? is a personally financed undertaking where the kids and I have now also built computers so each student in my classroom has their own computer, and we have a network server. I teach to a segment of the population that can?t afford it, so they?re a bit behind the ?Tech Curve,? and I wanted to level the ?playing field.? I let the school district underwrite the electricity. (Oooohhh, that's how he does it!):roll:

Judith and I spend our spare time cutting brush and clearing a little slice of heaven we have at 3000 feet in Northern California, where we retreat to escape the madness.

Cheers all, :wine:
MM

 

[GenHoth]

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496

- GenHoth, I noticed you go to UofC. Both my brother and mom work for their physicians group.

Sweet! Its a great hospital!

 

[RaySun2Be]

I teach to a segment of the population that can?t afford it, so they?re a bit behind the ?Tech Curve,? and I wanted to level the ?playing field.?

That's awesome, MadMurph! ::thumbsup:

 

[TAandy]

sh!t, i was wiped last night, totally out of my tree
oh well, not the first time and won't be the last
does a persons ego??? a wonder to read so many good comments, even if, and after, you act like a twat!!!
after my kids, you guys are the best

ps, someone expecting a delivery soon?
many congrats!

 

[JonB]

JonB checking in - I initially passed this thread by thinking, didn't we do this already? Then I realized it was probably two years ago and things are out of date.

I don't have nearly as many computers running now as I did - down to only four right now - from a peak of about 12 that I actually owned and ran. There was a time, way back in the RC5 days when I (with permission!!!) asslaminated over 120 computers and churned out some massive crunching. Seems that our IT people finally had enough and told me to shut 'er down. Those were the days of Mika Andersen (OK, who remembers????).

Anyway, I have too many other interests and the Overclocking and Crunching keeps falling down the pecking order. At least now that Christmas is over, I am not fully involved with the Animated/Synchronized light display in my yard. Talk about sucking up your free time. 80 channels of D-Light controllers, 20,000 lights, 6 songs in rotation. This was my second season and it just gets worse/better. Now my wife is fully involved so there IS NO BUDGET!!! Its fun but I'm glad its shutdown. My Website for Christmas Lights

Age is almost 55. Served on the same nuclear ship as Sid. Had some beers with him in Indianapolis while on a business trip. I'll be on another one in Houston during the first week of March. First beer is on me! Just PM if you are interested. Unlike Sid, I left the nuclear navy to work in the commercial nuclear field and have been at the Comanche Peak reactors for over 20 years. What was once considered a dead end career is now looking up with new designs and new plants on the books (though no ground broken in the US yet).

I am very partial to AMD processors. It's an underdog kind of thing anymore. When they get the errata problem ironed out, I'll probably upgrade (actually replace) this AMD64 3000+ machine with something new. Yeah, I know about Core Duos. Got 'em at work, but like I said, it's an underdog thing. And they run DPAD better than Intel on a Mhz basis.

DPAD is the only DC project I am currently running. I am 3rd place on the Anandtech TeAm and 8th place in the world. Amaroque will catch me eventually but I'm not standing still for him.

 

[mk]

I tend to have a kind of a love-hate relationship with these threads. It's nice to get to know something about you guys but they also bring up feelings of embarrassment for not having anything interesting to write and guilt for not posting a response.
So here's a little something to avoid the guilt:


A long time ago in a galaxy far, far away, or so it seems at the moment, I was studying to get my master's, sort of looking forward to an ordinary life and a long, boring career doing R&D in some tech field (details to be filled in later). Ended up getting burned out and plunged into a lengthy depression.
Yay.

After a few years of banging my head against the wall, not getting anything done decided to give up on school and dedicated whatever energy I had to take care of my dad who at the time was pretty worn out by chemo and was forced to retire from work.

At some point along the way (2001-05-30) read an article about SETI@Home in our biggest newspaper. Of course I had to try it. Staring at the graphical client for hours on end, waiting for the first WU to finish I knew I was hooked. Fast forward 6 months, accidentally strayed outside the HW/OS forums here at AT and stumbled into DC. Here I learned about running the much faster non-graphical client and feeling grateful for that, joined the TeAm (forums too, after a year of lurking). Been here ever since.
Over the years have been mostly crunching SETI classic & UD and now various BOINC projects with DIMES on the side, tried also F@H, DF, D2OL, Lifemapper, DPAD and 1 or 2 I can't remember right now.


Nowadays I'm happily miserable, drifting aimlessly through life...

On my spare time I enjoy listening to gloomy, depressing music and doing statistical analysis and some related number crunching. Whee.

 

[Rudy Toody]

In the fall of 1962 while a physics student at the University of Washington (home of Rosetta,) I discovered an idle IBM 650 computer (the inspiration for LISP) in the basement of the EE Building and became hooked on programming. Since the UofW did not have any programming classes at that time, I dropped out to enroll in a trade-school to learn the IBM 1401 computer.

I worked two years at Boeing as a programmer on the 727 Flight Testing and was laid off when the testing was over. I then worked six years at a bank--- until I lost interest--- then I became a consultant with my first project being the installation the the Bill Status System for the Washington State Legislature in Olympia. It was the first on-line system for the state (people could look up a bill's status on a CRT, Wow!) Because of my success on that project, IBM offered me a job. I was flattered that they would overlook the missing credentials (degree,) but I had to turn them down because I do not look good in white shirts, dark ties, and polished shoes. (I preferred pastel shirts, paisley ties, and whatever shoes I could find in the mornings.)

During those years I worked on projects ranging from: Market Research (statistics) for a Seattle bank, the American Plywood Association, the Boston Consulting Group, and a local research company; Inventory Management for various wholesalers; Medical Accounting for the UofW Hospital and a local dot-com company; various banking systems for commercial banks, savings and loans and credit unions; embedded systems for a couple of manufacturers; and a job-shop management system to control the assembly of products for a company that manufactured athletic gear.

I encountered all types of computers: IBM 1401, S/360; DEC PDP/11 and VAX; RCA; Univac; Honeywell; Burroughs; Control Data; NCR; and Singer (yes, the sewing machine people.)

When PC chips became prevalent, I worked with Intel 8008 and 8080 and the Zilog Z80 chips in an embedded mode and finally the Intel 8086 and offspring when IBM came out with the PC.

About 6.5 years ago, I began suffering from severe depression-- so much so that I couldn't finish projects, or the ones I did finish were buggy, and finally couldn't find new work at all. I lost everything and spent 1.5 years living on the streets of Seattle--- in doorways, loading docks, parks, and the occasional shelter. When I became suicidal, another street person (Tony--- who now lives on the streets of Arizona) took me to a mental health specialist who worked with the homeless. He set me up on a program with a Psychiatrist and a Psychologist, got me through the paperwork to get State welfare, and into a transitional housing program of the Salvation Army.

Now, four years later: the anti-depressants are still working; I no longer see the Psychologist; I got early Social Security and paid back the State; and I am now living in low income housing that caters to those who have just gotten off the street.

I had crunched SETI when it first started and when I collected my back SSI I built a few computers and got back into DC. I joined TeAm AnandTech because they have more groupies.

In addition to DC, my other hobbies are Number Theory and Comedy Writing (which is why you see my quips all over the place--- I throw them against the wall to see what sticks.)

Rudy Toody is the nom de chortle of Fred Kline.

 

[caferace]

Wow, Rudy (errr. Fred) you are the comeback story of TA. :bowing down:: I glossed over my downs, and spent some time semi-homeless in the late 80's, intensely unbusy trying to "find myself". I think perchance Peter could have roused us from our funk.

Bravo to you, kind sir.

-jim

 

[lizardth]

Hi I'm Liz! FMC wasn't lying when he said I'd been busy lately! I worked 70 hours this past week, went to a job interview and an awards banquet!

So...I've lived in Central Texas all my life. I've been married to FMC for almost 3 years now. We have "fur children" consisting of 2 cats (Jarvis and Liam) and 2 dogs (Priscilla and Kramai), all of which are horribly spoiled. I have shown and trained borzoi (Russian Wolfhounds) since I was 7 and I do actually own 4 but they reside with my parents and they probably won't ever live with me b/c of space restrictions. And they'd probably eat my cats! They are, in short name, Buster, Annie, Elladan, and Hot Shot. I am currently working retail at one of the largest outlet centers in the US (Mainly b/c there is actually 2 outlet malls). I am currently on the look out for a better paying job, as I don't intend on working retail my entire life! I first found Seti Classic running in my dorm's computer lab in 2000 and (honest) I liked the bright colors so much I went and looked it up. After reading a bit more of what it was about I was hooked. I guess those are the high points...

 

[MadMurph]

Originally posted by: caferace
Wow, Rudy (errr. Fred) you are the comeback story of TA. :bowing down:: I glossed over my downs, and spent some time semi-homeless in the late 80's, intensely unbusy trying to "find myself". I think perchance Peter could have roused us from our funk.

Bravo to you, kind sir.

-jim

Right there with you, bro', in all respects. Sometimes it's the slightest of "chance" between riding the rails, or living under them.

Cheers to the survivors :beer::thumbsup:

 

[Spacehead]

I live in a small town in NW Pa.
I've been in manufacturing since after high school. 8 years as a welder, 5 of those working on aerospace components. I'm in my 12th year working in a tool shop running a surface grinder. A few odd jobs in between too.

Still single(ladies take note ) but i have my own place & 30 acres of land.
I my spare time i try to get out at the telescope as much as i can(8" Orion dob & a 16" Meade dob) but this is typically a very cloudy area so that puts a damper on that quite often.
Listen to alot of music too.

Read about SETI in an issue of Sky & Telescope and couldn't wait to get hooked up to the internet to try it out. Been hooked ever since.
At some point i was looking to join a team & after looking a a few i decided to join AT, mostly because in was an international team.

 

[caferace]

Oooh. Can you weld Aluminum? I think I may have a project. ( <----- blatant threadjack)

-jim

 

[Uppsala9496]

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be

My name is Tim. I'm 35 and live in Rolling Meadows, IL with my wife (and soon to be daughter).

First, early CONGRATS! on the new arrival. :beer::thumbsup: Things will never be the same in that household again!

Second, I work in Rolling Meadows on Algonquin near 53.

I work off Golf Road near 53 (Meadows West Tower).
My place is by Euclid and Plum Grove (meecham). Small world.

Oh and tomorrow is the day my world changes. 7am induction. I asked my wife what she wants for her "last supper" as she calls it. Her response was pasta since she has been on a low carb diet for 6 months now since her glucose was a little high. How boring!! I was thinking lobster and steak or something fun.

 

[petrusbroder]

LoL Tim, please do not be surprised at the dietary preferences of pregnant women who are to give birth soon. My wife did absolutely not want salmon and lobster - she wanted pasta carbonara (2 kids) and chicken with pasta (one kid). Oh, and then she wanted fresh strawberries and mango.

 

[RaySun2Be]

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496

Originally posted by: RaySun2Be

My name is Tim. I'm 35 and live in Rolling Meadows, IL with my wife (and soon to be daughter).

First, early CONGRATS! on the new arrival. :beer::thumbsup: Things will never be the same in that household again!

Second, I work in Rolling Meadows on Algonquin near 53.

I work off Golf Road near 53 (Meadows West Tower).
My place is by Euclid and Plum Grove (meecham). Small world.

Oh and tomorrow is the day my world changes. 7am induction. I asked my wife what she wants for her "last supper" as she calls it. Her response was pasta since she has been on a low carb diet for 6 months now since her glucose was a little high. How boring!! I was thinking lobster and steak or something fun.

Lol!

I would suggest getting together for lunch, but tomorrow you are going to have your hands full for quite some time, and your life will never be the same! But it's a good thing!

Let us know how things go tomorrow

 

[Insidious]

Originally posted by: Uppsala9496
Oh and tomorrow is the day my world changes.

I remember year after year... I would be cooking another birthday cake for my son and saying to myself..... this was my favorite year!

OK, 14 and 15 were NOT my favorite years. :roll:

Enjoy it buddy.... If I wasn't so old, I'd be very jealous of the adventure you're beginning

-Sid

 

[RaySun2Be]

LOL@Insidious. I can relate!

 

[petrusbroder]

Well, considering that I have one 12 yo, one 14 yo, one 15 yo, one 16 yo, one 17 yo and one 19 yo at home - it ain't so bad.
You just have to keep your cool (similar to keeping the CPU cool).

It just is like this: small kids, small problems; large kids, larger problems.