I'm a 58-year-old computer geek trained as a physicist but who has
been messing around with computers professionally for 37 years, in
various roles: repair, systems engineering, programming, teaching, and
network administration. Currently, I'm a systems administrator,
managing Solaris and Linux servers used for bioinformatics
applications.

As a person who dreamed in the 60s of someday having his own computer
in his house--when the smallest computers consumed enough electricity
to heat an average house--it seems only natural in the 21st century to
heat my house with computers. Most of my home machines run Solaris or
Linux or FreeBSD, with the obligatory Wintel box or two. I use them
to learn skills I don't cover at my primary work sites, and support my
computing habit with small independent consulting projects.

My hobbies are serially collecting old houses, cooking, bicycling
(more than 50,000km logged), reading, hiking, and--so far--dreaming
about building airplanes. Like the heroes of Robert A. Heinlein's
stories, I believe specialization is for insects: I'm always looking
to develop new skills. My wife and I live in a small town in western
Montana, just beyond the fringe of high-speed Internet access, and
have a tiny off-the-grid weekend cabin we built ourselves with a
little help from her brother-in-law and two of our sons.