Personal computing discussed

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DeadOfKnight
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Topic Author
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Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:09 am

I've been looking around here and I'm surprised that I haven't found such a thread. I've been reading TR for a good many years now and I've gotten to know many of the personalities that frequent this site, but I've been very curious to know more about "the man behind the moniker". Tell us all a brief background on yourself, what jobs and hobbies you have, what brings you here to TR, and overall what makes you "tick". Anyway, it's only fair that I start with myself, so here goes:

Hello everyone. I'm a 26-year-old from Rhode Island (originally from Massachusetts) and I've been in the Marine Corps since January of '07 as an air traffic control communications technician. I'm a geek and a nerd in every way those words are defined, although growing up those things weren't as "cool" as they are today. I like reading sci-fi and fantasy, riding my bike all over town, tinkering with electronics, and playing video games. I hate running and working out, even though I do it every day, and I'm always picked last when it comes to sports.

My generation was probably the first that grew up with computers in the classroom (at that time it was MS-DOS, with a few Apple IIs scattered about). My first computer was an old Tandy that ran Windows 3.1 on which I played games like The Oregon Trail and The Incredible Machine followed by a Packard Bell with Windows 95 which was my first introduction to the internet. I then moved on to a Compaq with 98 where I played around with IRC chatting and a copy of Starcraft Shareware which I fell absolutely in love with and immediately saved up to buy the complete battle chest of Starcraft Brood War. From then onward it was Blizzard games for me. I got Warcraft II Battle.net Edition and Diablo and played the hell out of those until I got Diablo 2 which is where the problems began. I couldn't run Diablo 2 on my machine which had one of the old Cyrix processors in it, so I nicked a Pentium 233 MMX from my mom's PC and swapped it for mine. Playing Diablo 2 was a breeze and forever afterward I became obsessed with PC hardware. In 2005 I graduated high school and got myself a Dell XPS gaming laptop, Warcraft III, and then World of Warcraft and I became a stranger to the world for the next 2 years aside from my brief attendance at Ohio State University the multiple dead-end jobs I had to hold just to get by.

In 2007 WoW finally lost its appeal after boot camp and I broadened my horizons for games. I had a stable income, so I started buying whatever was on the shelf. I got a copy of "The Orange Box" and was forced to install Steam. From then on it was game over. My little gaming laptop, as beefy as its 6800 Go Ultra was, didn't have the oomph or the hard drive space to play all the latest games. That's when I started going online and drooling over all the hottest hardware and gaming benchmarks and realizing that a cheap desktop could mop the floor with my $2000 laptop. It was the system guide that brought me here, and the build guide showed me just how easy it was to put it all together. I became a lurker until I finally had the guts to take the plunge and start asking questions in this forum. It was part of this story that won me a free copy of Just Cause 2 and ever since then I've been a vocal member of this community.

While I've been here on this site I've been stationed in 3 places. I was in Pensacola, FL for over a year, Hawaii for 4 years, and now I'm in Okinawa, Japan awaiting orders to recruiter school in San Diego. Who knows where I'll be sent next, but if it's anywhere close you can bet I'll be at next year's TR BBQ.
Last edited by DeadOfKnight on Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:28 am, edited 1 time in total.
Intel Core i7-5775c, Asus Maximus VII Formula, Win 10 Pro
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tanker27
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Location: Georgia

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 7:21 am

Hi my name is tanker27, I like long walks on the beach......and I am a ISTJ. That should cover it.
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DeadOfKnight
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Topic Author
Posts: 726
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Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 8:56 am

tanker27 wrote:
Hi my name is tanker27, I like long walks on the beach......and I am a ISTJ. That should cover it.

Well, if you wanna go that route, I'm somewhere between INTJ and INFP. I get different results every time I take one of those tests. I think the conflict lies between how I act and how I feel.

For example, I like to be spontaneous, but I rarely am. However, it gets even more difficult when they ask me if I make decisions with my head or my heart. For me that is always changing.
Intel Core i7-5775c, Asus Maximus VII Formula, Win 10 Pro
RTX 2080 Ti FE, Corsair 2x8GB DDR3-1866, Corsair AX860
Corsair H105, WD Red 4TB x2, Creative X-Fi Titanium HD
Samsung 850 EVO 1TB, Alienware AW3418DW, Corsair 450D
 
Hawkwing74
His Holy Gerbilness
Posts: 13961
Joined: Wed Aug 20, 2003 5:51 pm
Location: Streamwood, IL

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:08 am

38 year old from the Chicago area. Grew up on the South Side both in Chicago itself and Evergreen Park. I have known Starfalcon (also frequent on these boards) IRL for 25 years. I believe he invited me to TR. I moved to NW suburbs of Chicago to be closer to work in 2002.

My first computer was a Commodore 64. I fondly remember gaming on it, and am amazed by what it could do with such limited power. I played Wasteland, Castle Wolfenstein, Into the Eagle's Nest, Mars Saga, and various other games. We later got a Commodore 128 but for gaming the results were about the same. I also used to write silly little games in BASIC on that box.

I went back to school in 1998 for IT (AS400/RPG) and got a Pentium II around that time. Those were the golden days of RPG gaming to me, with the likes of Planescape: Torment, Baldur's Gate, and Icewind Dale. I also played a lot of Diablo 2 and Civilization 2 and 3.

Now I'm married with 2 small kids so video game time is limited. I still love my desktop and am somewhat disturbed by the waning of desktops, but time marches on. Technology has changed vastly in my lifetime and if I consider my still living parents, the changes are even more immense.
 
mattshwink
Gerbil Team Leader
Posts: 200
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Location: Alexandria, VA

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 9:38 am

Hi I'm Matt and I'm addicted to hardware.....oh wait, wrong meeting.....

I'm 38 and reside in Alexandria, VA and work in Washington, DC. I'm married and have a 22 month year old daughter.

I've been a geek as long as I can remember. My first "computer" was an Atari 2600, moved up from there to an Atari 800 and then to TI-99/4A (with a tape deck!). Those were the days, Hunt the Wumpus, anyone? From there I graduated to my first real system, a PC-XT (generic clone). Moved to a 386 a few years later, and finally, in HS, graduated to a 486/DX2 66 which lasted into college. In college, I built my first Pentium system.

In college I stumbled into my first job (literally) and went to work for IBM supporting their servers world-wide on a variety of network OSes (though mostly Novell). From there I have worked in a number of IT jobs. Netware was my gateway but now mostly a Windows guy. At one time I was certified on all the major e-mail systems (Groupwise, Notes, Exchange) but all these days almost everyone uses Exchange. Currently I am working a security gig, working on improving documentation, configuration management, SIEM implementation and other things in accordance with NIST guidelines. I've been with my current company (fourth different tasking, same agency) for over four years now, which is approaching a record for me.

As for current systems, I inherited some Dell's last year and have an old (4+ years) Lenovo laptop (work). I also got a Nexus 10 for Christmas last year which I am really enjoying. Looking at upgrading but don't really have a pressing need. I did build my first complete system since college (17 or so years ago) for my Father-In-Law a few months ago with help from the gerbils. I've been coming to TR for a number of years but don't post a lot. I used to visit a number of sites (Toms, Anand) but TR is now the only one I visit daily.

As for gaming, I am a Blizzard fan, having played Diablo I, and participating in the Beta for Diablo II. I have Diablo III, and have beaten it, but with family and work obligations I don't have much time for gaming. I used to love Lucasarts, and enjoyed 4x games as well. The last one I really enjoyed was Galactic Civilizations II. I also enjoy baseballs sims, with OOTP being my hands down favorite, although Earl Weaver holds a nostalgic place in my heart as my favorite all time sim. The last two years I do "participate" in the Steam sale in December, but still have games I haven't even played yet. I might pick something up in the current sale, but nothing has struck my fancy (yet).

EDIT: Oh, and I was once an INTJ, though I haven't taken a Miers-Briggs (sp)? in at least a decade.
 
superjawes
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2475
Joined: Thu May 28, 2009 9:49 am

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:04 am

Hi, I'm superjawes. I'm an electrical engineer currently working in the Chicago suburbs, originally from the west side of Indianapolis.

I got my first computer--an HP laptop--in 2006 when I started college. Yeah, my parents had a computer in the house since 1992 (iirc), but it wasn't really mine, and I didn't really get "into" computers until I had one of my own. In 2009 I finally got my own gaming desktop.

I game...I used to be big into consoles before 2009, owning several different systems, but now I mostly do WoW, some TF2, and a healthy variety of games usually picked up during Steam sales.
On second thought, let's not go to TechReport. It's infested by crypto bull****.
 
Flatland_Spider
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1324
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:33 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 10:56 am

I am Flatland_Spider.

My nickname comes from an early Sunny Day Real Estate song. I just happen to like the song, and I decided to use it as an Internet nickname.

I live in Tulsa, OK as a transplant, and I'm primarily a server geek. I like Unix and Unix-like systems, and I also like dabbling with odd hardware and alternative operating systems. I was first introduced to computers in 1987 with a Tandy 1000 HX. It was a 286 with 128K of RAM. I remember pining for the 640K upgrade kit, but I could never convince my parents to buy it. :) I started working with computers professionally in 1999 when I was hired as a tech for the local school district.

I've never been much of a gamer. My hardware has rarely been current enough to run games, and now, I just have other things to do.

Other hobbies and interests include college, learning, cooking, soccer, writing, drumming, music, running, solving problems, literature, analyzation, and amateur philosophy. Some of these I don't get to do as often as I would like.
 
ludi
Lord High Gerbil
Posts: 8646
Joined: Fri Jun 21, 2002 10:47 pm
Location: Sunny Colorado front range

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 11:25 am

Mid-30s, electrical engineer, currently employed in the power industry. My hobbies are as diverse as an elementary school textbook cover, and tend to come and go in 1-2 year spurts. Currently on a bit of a woodworking kick and toying with some electrical/electronics projects on the side, but this time next year I could be deep inside the guts of my car. I've been inside of computers since the early 1990s and saw the advent of the Internet as a force of nature while in high school. Quake, and QuakeWorld Team Fortress, were first becoming a "thing" when I entered college and that sucked away several years of my life, although I don't have much time for gaming now...too many other things to do.
Abacus Model 2.5 | Quad-Row FX with 256 Cherry Red Slider Beads | Applewood Frame | Water Cooling by Brita Filtration
 
cphite
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1202
Joined: Thu Apr 29, 2010 9:28 am

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:41 pm

Been really into computers and other such gizmos since I was a little kid. Started programming in BASIC on my neighbors Texas Instruments computer; upgraded to the TRS-80 Color Computer shortly after that, and then a few years later got an Apple IIGS that got me all the from middle-school through college. Currently I have a six-year old Dell that is about 95 in computer years; I suspect I will have to walk it back behind the barn and shoot it in the near future.

Career wise, I started off as a mainframe operator; then went to PC support and later server support. These days I am a SQL programmer and DBA. I've also done some C++ but it's been a few years.

Aside from that, I like to play games... I mostly like action-adventure RPG stuff, but also first-person shooters, sports games, and sim games like Civilizations. I tend to play single-player, except for the occasional jaunt into Counter-Strike land. I also tend to play the hell out of old games rather than buying new games; in part because I am cheap, but also because I'm one of those people who can't just beat Skyrim, I have to beat Skyrim with a warrior character and a magic-user and a stealth character; and I have to see what happens if I join the 'Cloaks or the Empire... you get the picture.

Outside of gaming, I like martial arts, hiking, and biking. I also like museums - mainly art and history, but science is cool too. I like reading - I like horror and science fiction, mostly.
 
RickyTick
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 746
Joined: Fri Aug 03, 2007 2:29 pm
Location: South Carolina

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 12:45 pm

Semper Fi, DeadOfKnight. Thank you for your service. I served in the Marine Corps from '95 to '99.

I'm 49 and a single (widowed) father of 2 kids. My daughter is 8 going on 15, and my son is 11 and has autism. Got my hands full around here. No wonder I don't have time for gaming anymore.

We live in a suburb of Charlotte, NC. I was born and raised in Alabama and moved to NC as a teenager.

I bought my first PC in 1994 and have been tinkering with them ever since. I've built several since then and seem to be the"go to" guy in the family for PC help. Mostly simple stuff. I considered a career change into the IT/Tech field, but without real hands on experience, there's not an easy transition path. I took several courses at the local community college, but then my wife passed away and kind of changed everything.

Here's a funny story from my first computer class,
I took an Intro to Computers class in 1993 (It was DOS based), and it was my first real experience with a computer. I went to my first Lab class and was handed an assignment. The lady pointed to a computer and told me to go there, turn it on, and get started. I couldn't find the button to turn the thing on. I saw a power strip on the floor with a orange button on it. "Hey! That must be it." When I flipped that button, I turned off the other 3 computers that were plugged into it. The poor girl sitting across from me screamed out, "MY COMPUTER JUST TURNED OFF!!!" I looked right at her with a straight face and screamed, "MINE TOO!!" I don't know how much data she lost, but it must have been a lot. It taught me a valuable lesson about Save.

I have a BA from the University of North Carolina Chapel Hill.
Corsair 450D | EVGA SuperNova G3 650W | Asus Z270 Prime-A | Intel i7-7700K | Cryorig H7 | MSI GTX1070 Gaming X 8G | 16gb GSkill TridentZ DDR4 3200 | Crucial MX300 M.2-2280 1TB | Corsair K70 Rapidfire | Logitech G502 | Asus ROG Swift PG279Q
 
just brew it!
Administrator
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Location: Somewhere, having a beer

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:05 pm

Been messing around with computers since the 8-bit days, dabbled in electronics before that. Currently employed as a software engineer in the Chicago area. Used to game a fair bit (DOOM, Quake, Descent, Serious Sam, etc.), but not any more. My forum nick comes from one of my other hobbies (homebrewing); I also collect obscure jazz/rock fusion music. Married with 3 (now adult) kids; I'm older than anyone else who's stated their age on this thread so far, let's leave it at that. :wink:
Nostalgia isn't what it used to be.
 
DPete27
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
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Joined: Wed Jan 26, 2011 12:50 pm
Location: Wisconsin, USA

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:09 pm

27 year old male Structural Engineer. I design railroad bridges. That's right, I have no formal IT schooling, I'm a self taught computer geek. Master's degree in Civil Engineering from the University of Wisconsin - Milwaukee.

First computer was an Apple IIe. In high school, I helped set up a computer lab for the tech-ed department. We later got around the school's firewall to have multiple class-wide LAN parties of Unreal Tournament 3 during classtime. (our teacher was pretty laid back) Bought my first computer (desktop from IBuyPower) for college which sparked my interest in computer components and system building. Got to watch my neighbor in the dorms freshman year build a computer from scratch. From there on it was baby steps in my system, replaced case fans, hard drive, graphics card, PSU. Shortly after discovering TR, I built one completely from scratch.

Stumbled upon Tech Report 6(ish) years ago which really catapulted my computer knowledge and interest. Today, I'm a TR addict (Anandtech and Fudzilla are tied for 2nd, I check all three sites daily). I read other tech sites, but I rarely miss a TR article. I would say I've developed a fairly strong understanding of consumer tech, but one thing I dont' feel comfortable with yet is networking :-? Constantly following component pricing on newegg isn't good for my wallet (says the wife).

Unfortunately, very few of my friends/family are interested in PC gaming which is the only real reason left to buy a desktop IMO. This leaves me with a constant itch to build desktops and no way to scratch. I've explored the possibility of part-time at a local computer shop but HATE reformatting hard drives and running virus scans. Not having IT schooling leaves me SOL in switching careers (not sure if I'd want to anyway). What I'm left with is being the go-to person for miscellanious computer problems/builds/upgrades/modifications to my family and friends. It's better than nothing, but not as much as I'd like.

Other than that, I like fishing, hunting, bicycling, tennis, and golf and I'm in the process of buying my first home. Thatt'l do for now.
Main: i5-3570K, ASRock Z77 Pro4-M, MSI RX480 8G, 500GB Crucial BX100, 2 TB Samsung EcoGreen F4, 16GB 1600MHz G.Skill @1.25V, EVGA 550-G2, Silverstone PS07B
HTPC: A8-5600K, MSI FM2-A75IA-E53, 4TB Seagate SSHD, 8GB 1866MHz G.Skill, Crosley D-25 Case Mod
 
JohnC
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1924
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:08 pm
Location: NY/NJ/FL

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 1:23 pm

Interesting thread :wink:
I am a male of 30-something years old, non-smoking, do not drink alcohol, like long walks on the beach, cute animals, French cuisine, cuddling and not afraid of experimenting with different sexuality :wink:
I also work, own several houses in different states and multiple new European cars and speak 2 languages (used to know a little bit of third language during my time of growing up in a little country bordering the Afghanistan but kinda forgot all of it after moving out of it). Oh, and yes, I happen to have a little hobby of playing PC games (mostly FPS ones - used to play A LOT of original UT (with $GB$ dudes and others), RtCW, RtCW:ET, TF2 and so on) and messing with PC hardware. Sooo... Yea, that's basically it.
Gifter of Nvidia Titans and countless Twitch donation extraordinaire, nothing makes me more happy in life than randomly helping random people
 
PenGun
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Location: BC Canada
Contact:

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 2:30 pm

This inspired me to take that test. I'm an INTP apparently. Older than flip-mode, and in the way.
Fuji X-E1 Leica Elmar 135 4 XF60mm 2.4 Macro | Zeiss FE 35mm 2.8
http://carnagepro.com
"Everything ... they eat everything, and fear is their bacon bits."
 
Flatland_Spider
Graphmaster Gerbil
Posts: 1324
Joined: Mon Sep 13, 2004 8:33 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 4:01 pm

I'm an ISTP (Artisan Crafter), apparently.
 
Captain Ned
Global Moderator
Posts: 28704
Joined: Wed Jan 16, 2002 7:00 pm
Location: Vermont, USA

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 18, 2013 5:49 pm

Oh, what the hell. I've spit most of it out in dribs 'n' drabs over 11.5 years of posting here anyways.

A/S/L? 49/Male/English

Wife, 1 daughter, eligible to drive. Had grey hair, driving training removing same. Last 17 years financial regulator for Vermont, banker for 10 years before that. Career change forced by previous employer, happy with results. First computing experience 9th grade, typing BASIC programs on ASR-33 hooked to PDP-8. Homework on punch tape. Later school acquisition of DECWriter godsend, ASR-33 I/O challenged. Dad ran systems at family insurance agency. Bought new/first box, tossed me manuals, told me to break system. Did. Wrote routine to collect roundings past 2 decimals. Dad astounded at $$ in hidden G/L. Got pat on back, never saw dime. First home PC Trash80 with 300 baud acoustic coupler. Graduated to IBM 5150 just before college with 1200 baud. Computing in college limited to account on PDP-11. Only personal computers in private hands Apple; not impressed even then. Graduated 1985, Colgate University.

Real world. Not ready. Still not ready.

Used work laptops for Net until XP and loss of admin. First personal box Athlon XP, ran for 5 years. Second box P35/Conroe, is today's box. Found TR from Ars, enlisted 1st month. No memory of when made mod/supermod.

OK, now that that's done I'll apologize. I just reread (for the umpteenth time) my single favorite SF novel, Emergence by David Palmer. The clipped tone is the novel's narrative style and it's always stuck with me. To get a much better taste than my poor attempt, here's a review in the style of the book:

http://www.eyrie.org/~eagle/reviews/boo ... 501-5.html

EDIT: Since we're all about the Myers-Briggs, put me in the INTJ column.
What we have today is way too much pluribus and not enough unum.
 
bhtooefr
Lord High Gerbil
Posts: 8198
Joined: Mon Feb 16, 2004 11:20 am
Location: Newark, OH
Contact:

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Mon Jul 22, 2013 1:50 am

25/M/Ohio

First computer was an Apple //c, ROM 255. 1 MHz 65C02, 128 kiB RAM, 140 kiB floppy drive, and it was outdated when I first touched it. And I still play with outdated computers that are older than I am...

My parents let me at that machine when I was 3, and I've never looked back.

Doing desktop support for Dell now.

I also play with cars, bicycles, typewriters, and various other random things that make no sense.

Let's do another M-B test... INTJ this time. But very VERY weakly on the T (1%). I've come up INTP, INFP, INTJ, and INFJ, so...
Image
 
GeForce6200
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 981
Joined: Tue Mar 14, 2006 5:08 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Mon Jul 22, 2013 7:09 am

First, thank you all current and prior military for your service. It is a path I have wanted to go and will pursue after college. I also live with two AF guardsmen so I get some of their hilarious stories.

I am 21 and live in Ohio. I am a senior at BGSU majoring in International Studies with minor in Economics. I am currently studying abroad in Salzburg, Austria until the end of August. Was a lurker of TR before I joined many years ago. I have learned what I know through the friendly and knowledgeable community that TR has.

I got into computers around the age of six. I was more interested in taking it apart than anything else. When we first got our computer, Dell Pentium 3 with Windows 98 if I remember correctly, I would constantly be messing around with it. Parents decided that it was time to get an old one for me to tinker with. My first computer was a Compaq P1 200Mhz with 32MB ram. It was bulky and white. But I learned a lot from it, moved up to a Pentium 2 with an Elsa Era Razor 2 graphics card that I put it. After that my first on I bought was a local store, S478 celeron 2.4Ghz. That was the last store bought one until I made my own. I moved into AMD's X2 3800 with GeForce 6200 (hence my unoriginal name) that unlocked into a 6600. :D I slowly improved, asking TR's advice on what to get. I recently sold my gaming desktop for school money and dearly miss it. I am piecing together a decent system in my sig, to play some older games. Tech wise I enjoy reading reviews but don't always need the newest hardware.

Out of the tech world I a senior at a state university. From the classes to social life I am kept very busy. I enjoy good/craft beers and always like to try new brews. It is very nice to be able to buy inexpensive yet good beer here in Salzburg, where the alternative would be Natural Light, Bud Light. (FYI, if any members/mods would like me to pick something up in particular PM me) Sport wise I enjoy and appreciate most all sports. I personally enjoy snowboarding, water skiing, running/lifting, cycling (road and mountain), and occasional AutoX. I enjoy board games and plan on joining a few clubs on campus.

I like staying up to date on current events internationally and in the business world. I messed around with stocks and investment funds in high school but had to cash them in for college expenses. I enjoy reading both fiction and nonfiction books. If anyone's ever in northwest OH and wants to chill let a fellow gerbil know. Wish I would be back in the states for the TR BBQ.
AMD FX8350|Gigabyte GA78LMT Modded (Rev 5.0)|EVGA 980Ti FTW|16GB Corsair DDR3|840 EVO|Raijentek STYX|Enermax TriathlorEco 650|M-Audio BX8a Deluxe
 
derFunkenstein
Gerbil God
Posts: 25427
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2003 9:13 pm
Location: Comin' to you directly from the Mothership

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Thu Jul 25, 2013 8:31 pm

I am me. According to a couple different online tests (nothing serious) I am a Briggs and Stratton ISTJ, which I guess thinking back on my life makes sense. My favorite activity is stress eating. If I'm worried about something then, yes, I will eat all the Wheat Thins or Pop Tarts and hate myself later. Loud, argumentative, and opinionated on the internet. Less loud but still argumentative and opinionated in person. Married 11 years (and reading the first part of this post, she really is amazing. Or dumb. But I'll go with amazing), got a 5-year-old daughter starting Kindergarten in the fall. Telecommuter working in software QA, do a bit of SQL work and documentation writing, and I like my work. Aaaaaaaaaand that's it.
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Twittering away the day at @TVsBen
 
JohnC
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1924
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:08 pm
Location: NY/NJ/FL

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 8:28 am

derFunkenstein wrote:
My favorite activity is stress eating. If I'm worried about something then, yes, I will eat all the Wheat Thins or Pop Tarts and hate myself later.

OMG, me too! :o Of course for me it was just a "natural" and somewhat more healthy "replacement" for using cigarettes (and lots of alcohol - luckily I used to strictly rely on public transportation at that time) in the past to achieve the same "goal". :-?
Gifter of Nvidia Titans and countless Twitch donation extraordinaire, nothing makes me more happy in life than randomly helping random people
 
steelcity_ballin
Gerbilus Supremus
Posts: 12072
Joined: Mon May 26, 2003 5:55 am
Location: Pittsburgh PA

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:06 am

29/m/PA s2r huehuehue.

I'm into bodybuilding, computer hardware/software, and gaming . Applications/Web developer by trade.
 
derFunkenstein
Gerbil God
Posts: 25427
Joined: Fri Feb 21, 2003 9:13 pm
Location: Comin' to you directly from the Mothership

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:10 am

JohnC wrote:
derFunkenstein wrote:
My favorite activity is stress eating. If I'm worried about something then, yes, I will eat all the Wheat Thins or Pop Tarts and hate myself later.

OMG, me too! :o Of course for me it was just a "natural" and somewhat more healthy "replacement" for using cigarettes (and lots of alcohol - luckily I used to strictly rely on public transportation at that time) in the past to achieve the same "goal". :-?

Yeah, it used to be alcohol, but now it's food. It needs to be something else. If I could just stress-run instead of stress-eat. :lol:
I do not understand what I do. For what I want to do I do not do, but what I hate I do.
Twittering away the day at @TVsBen
 
Sargent Duck
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3220
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2003 8:05 pm
Location: In my secret cave that has bats

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:40 am

I just turned 30 a few months back and currently live in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada.

Upon graduating from university with my BBA (major in accounting), minor in political science, I got a job with IBM doing technical support for enterprise level financial software. Not exactly my cup of tea, I've been trying to get out and more into business. Currently taking my project manager certification and thinking about a masters in business in the coming years (big issue would be money. Having a house is nice, but it is a money drain).

I spent pretty much all my 20's in front of a computer playing games (which I highly regret now) but am trying to make up for that now by getting out as much as possible. I am an absolutely huge skiing nut (got out 40+ last year) and have just started playing ice hockey (I used to play a lot of pond hockey, but this is the first time in full gear). I am also trying to get out and do more biking. Currently doing road with my mountain bike and I'd like to eventually start moving to mountain biking.

Although I have no formal computer training, I did start building my own computer systems back in the Pentium II days. I was always upgrading/overclocking, but now I keep a system for years before touching it. Due to time constraints (I'm single, but read above), I'm pretty choosy with the games I play. I only play single player, no multiplayer and the campaign has to be engaging. Borderlands 2 = win, BF3/CoD = fail.
Last edited by Sargent Duck on Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:35 pm, edited 1 time in total.
No matter how bad the new homepage sucks or how bungled the new management is...

To all the original writers/contributors and volunteers, please know that I have nothing but the deepest love for you and the work you've done.
 
duke_nukem_3D
Gerbil
Posts: 52
Joined: Sun Dec 19, 2010 2:00 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 9:00 pm

I guess my user name gives me away as having had a 90s childhood. I mastered the super nintendo controller before I learned to hold a pen - so I'm told :wink: Been a tech nut for as long as I can remember. I blame the parents for influencing me to go into medicine instead of engineering or computer science. Just finished residency and started as a cardiac surgeon earlier this summer. Long before I was taking apart human organs, I was taking apart computers :lol: I built my first computer in 1999 as a kid. A Pentium III monster. Been building computers for family and friends ever since - just built one for a friend last month and used the forums here for advice on that build too.

Love reading the in-depth review articles on here. Great site, great forums, great techies!
Intel i7 950 @ 4.3GHz, EVGA X58 3x SLI, Corsair 12GB DDR3, Corsair 160GB SSD + 2TB WD 7200rpm HDD, EVGA GeForce GTX 570 Superclocked, Asus Xonar Essence audio, Sony Blu-ray writer, Corsair 700D case
 
JrdBeau
Gerbil First Class
Posts: 130
Joined: Thu Aug 08, 2002 6:27 pm
Location: Gilroy, Ca

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 10:13 pm

Hi, I'm Jared, 39, from Gilroy, California. Home of the Gilroy Garlic Festival. I've worked in IT for a Big Blue company for 19 years and have worked on everything from laptops and desktops all the way up to Mainframes. Our site does software development and writes some of IBM's most important products. My roles within the company have included Management, IT Architect and currently, Product Builds.

Most free time is spent with my wife and two kids. Big fan of music, movies, and photography and enjoy cycling, golf and softball. And of course, I'm a computer enthusiast like everyone else here!

I've been a reader and member of TR since 2002 and never miss a day visiting the site.

Nice to meet everyone!
My computer is... old.
 
Sargent Duck
Grand Gerbil Poohbah
Posts: 3220
Joined: Thu Mar 13, 2003 8:05 pm
Location: In my secret cave that has bats

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:38 pm

duke_nukem_3D wrote:
Just finished residency and started as a cardiac surgeon earlier this summer. Long before I was taking apart human organs, I was taking apart computers :lol: I built my first computer in 1999 as a kid. A Pentium III monster. Been building computers for family and friends ever since - just built one for a friend last month and used the forums here for advice on that build too.


Have you ever said "we have the technology, we can rebuild him" just before starting surgery?
No matter how bad the new homepage sucks or how bungled the new management is...

To all the original writers/contributors and volunteers, please know that I have nothing but the deepest love for you and the work you've done.
 
JohnC
Gerbil Jedi
Posts: 1924
Joined: Fri Jan 28, 2011 2:08 pm
Location: NY/NJ/FL

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Fri Jul 26, 2013 11:46 pm

duke_nukem_3D wrote:
I guess my user name gives me away as having had a 90s childhood. I mastered the super nintendo controller before I learned to hold a pen


Super Nintendo... You're such a spoiled kids - back in my country all we had is Taiwanese NES clones (named "Dendy" and other "localized" brands) with crappy build quality (their fragile cables for controllers gave me a lot of first soldering practice) and cartridges filled with dozens of unlicensed copies of NES games :wink:

Image
Gifter of Nvidia Titans and countless Twitch donation extraordinaire, nothing makes me more happy in life than randomly helping random people
 
uni-mitation
Gerbil XP
Posts: 308
Joined: Mon Feb 04, 2013 1:28 am

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:07 am

I am a 25 years-old cuban male from miami (surprise, surprise!). Got a A.A in Computer Science, then i decided to switch gears for the legal profession. Currently studying paralegal studies. I still hold a great interest in hardware, and software. In my spare time i like to play retro-games(oldies), hit the dance floor, read up history books(history buff), and i am learning my way into my new wheezy system, playing chess (long time since i participated in a tourney), ROTK nut.

Don't care for facebook, and all the new fads with social media. I am a private person, and i enjoy my privacy.

I was a long time lurker before joining in. I rarely join forums, but this is one of the nicest Hardware sites.

Nice to meet you all those that came before me. Some are truly colorful characters with fun posts to read, another plus for this site!
 
shaq_mobile
Gerbil Elite
Posts: 631
Joined: Wed Jul 16, 2008 2:33 pm

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Sat Jul 27, 2013 12:23 am

I'm a white male, ages 25-30. Height is roughly 6 foot. I'm on foot near 70th and Carlton. This subject has brown hair and blue possibly green eyes, considered unarmed and only somewhat dangerous.

IT guy from Oregon. I'm 26 years old. Been doing low end IT work for 5+ years now. I manage a team of student workers for a university.

I love this site because of the solid reviews, honest posters and forum rules. We've all posted and said some funky stuff, it's nice that we're in a community that knows that and only holds it against each other in the most humorous, unless its NeelyCam. Anyways, long live TR.
 
StrangeDay
Minister of Gerbil Affairs
Posts: 2175
Joined: Thu Oct 16, 2003 9:17 am
Location: IL

Re: Introduce Yourself!

Sat Aug 24, 2013 10:04 pm

38/m/Chicago 'burbs, and I'm INFP, and a dad of an 8yo girl.

I used to play a lot of rpgs, both tabletop & computer, and was even in the crowd of gerbils who played WoW together for a while. These days, I'm dealing with health stuff, spending time with my family, & looking to get back into martial arts. I know a few former & current TR members IRL. The two posts I made today are more than I've posted in months or years, but I sort of miss this place.

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