ChristianSource Free Software and Linux Users Group
  Members' Bios




Leon Brooks
LOCATION: Perth, West Oz (+/- 10km)

WEB SITE: http://www.cyberknights.com.au/

BLOG: no time for one

DISTRO: Mandrake (mainly, Debian on some servers)

LANGUAGES: English only (about 40 words each of Italian, Greek, Indonesian, Spanish)

PROGRAM: C, C++, Python, Ruby, PERL, many BASICs, many assemblers, PHP, bash, gawk, sed, TCL (or TCL/Tk fame), ForTran (and RatFor), some macro languages, smatterings of LISP, Focal, Forth, TECO.

ETHNICITY: Caucasian (1/4 Austrian (not Australian), 3/4 British, all grandparents and below born in Oz)

CHURCH: Seventh-day Adventist

BORN: August 1962

FAMILY: Married (take 2, 1st wife cheated and shot through in that order), 3x children 13yog, 3.5yob, 2yog.

HOBBIES: Rock climbing, electronics, reading, pushing Creationism.

PETS: Cat (Katisha), rat (Kix), part interest in 2 more rats (Kisses and Cuddles, guess who named those).

LOVES: Expensive icecream, jungle/forest/waterfalls/mountains, weird stuff (OOPArts and the like), family, the most wonderful God.

HATES: Prejudice, helplessness, fear, snobbery, repetition, secret agendas, people poling around tonnes of steel at speed without the faintest idea how dangerous it is and how little control they really have, being near a smoker.

What else would you like to know? (-:



Timothy (Tim) R. Butler
LOCATION: St. Peters, Missouri
WEB SITE: http://asisaid.com
BLOG: http://asisaid.com/journal/


[Note this bio was originally posted here last March, although it is somewhat revised where absolutely necessary -Tim]

I'm Tim Butler. I live in St. Peters, Missouri, which is in the St. Louis Metro area. Probably my two favorite hobbies would be computing and reading on a variety of topics, including philosophy, theology/eschateology/apologetics, business, politics, computers, etc. More on that at my web site.

I currently operate Universal Networks, which beyond hosting this list, offers web and other IT consulting services, Free Software for web development (including a content management system), the FaithTree.com Christian portal, and OfB.biz, the journal of enterprise Free Software/Open Source.

I started out with Linux and *nix on the server in 1997 and have run some variant of Linux on my desktop for nearly four years (I successfully moved away from Windows for all major tasks two years ago next week). I started out with RedHat 5.1, switched to SuSE 6.1 in May 1999 (then 6.4 and 7.1), and then moved to Mandrake Linux in November 2001 (I also used Debian on the desktop from Feb-March 2002). Presently I am running MDK 9.0 and 9.1 RC1.

Finally, in case anyone is interested, I attend St. Paul's Evangelical Church (www.stpaulsefree.org), which is a member of the Evangelical Free Church of America. I've run into a lot of people who have known my pastor, so I'll through his name out to see if anyone here knows him - Pastor Mark Friz.

At A Glance...

Languages: English, very little Japanese, basic working knowledge of Koine Greek

Programming: Rusty knowledge on Visual Basic 3.x/4.x, Perl, PHP, Shell, and WebDev stuff.

Reborn: October 1997, after hearing the first clear explaination of the Gospel ever and with the urging of the Holy Spirit. I lot of it wasn't so much a lack of people telling me the Gospel so much as my closed mind refusing to understand it.

Ethnicity: Caucasian: Austrian, English, German, French.

Church: Something. I'm a member of the Evangelical Free Church, but I originated in the United Church of Christ (UCC). My church was active in the reform movement there (BWF), but the congregation left the UCC to join the EFCA in 1999. My positions most closely mirror a fusion between the old E&R denomination that was part of the UCC before the UCC liberalized and the PCA. I'm a "moderate" Calvinist and pre-millenial/pre-tribulation kinda guy.

Family: Unmarried.

Pets: 2 cats (Spot and Be), 1 loud parakeet (Peepers), and a bunch of Koi and Comet goldfish in a pond outside.

Likes: God :-), Fellowship with Christians and Family, Free (as in Freedom) Software, a good debate, politics, committees, Contemporary Christian Music and Christian Rock (softer stuff, not hard rock), Public Relations work.

Dislikes: Liberalism/Humanism, Liberal Theology, non-Free software, a bad debate, rap/hard rock/R&B music, the entertainment industry...



Brian Derr
LOCATION: Hartford, CT, USA
WEB SITE: www.brianandkellyderr.com
BLOG: n/a

I am 20 (21 in May) and have been happily married for 8 months to my beautiful bride Kelly. I am a shipper/receiver at Williams-Sonoma in Farmington, CT. While this isn't my dream job it does pay the rent so I can't complain.

Hopefully I'll be able to do my dream job of sys admin or programmer. However, with no college degree and zilch on the resume I don't see that happening anytime soon. I have given thought to opening my own computer repair shop though as I am quite talented at repairing PCs.

I attend a Christian Missionary Alliance church in S. Windsor, CT called New River Community Church (www.newriverchurch.org). The site is going to be re-vamped here sooner or later and I'm on the team to do that as well as keep our church network running.



Gabe Ginorio
I am a native of Yuba City, California
I recently spent 5 years in San Diego and just returned from 3 years in San Antonio, Tx.
I am working on a home page right now.
I am trying to form a Linux users group here with the 1 other user in this town (ha ha).
The end.



James Edward Hurst nobody that knows me uses my first name.

DISTRO: Debian Linux from Knoppix 3.1. Have used Linux off and one since RedHat 5.1. Tried RH 5.2, 6.1; SuSE 6.1, 7.1; 7.3 and 8.1; Mandrake 8.0. Still have most of the CD sets from those.

WEB: No websites, no blogs, just lots of email addresses: [SPAM-PROOFED]. So far I like GMX.net best, but you have to know German to open an account.

LOCATION: Rural Madison County, Texas -- about 25 miles West of Interstate Highway 45, half-way between Dallas and Houston. Semi-tropical climate and rather swampy in places.

LANGUAGE: Obviously English is my native; I learned German at a college level and still use it some, Dutch enough to get by; read a bit of NT Greek, and Hebrew very poorly; some Latin because I taught History and studied Church History. I'm trying to learn sign language. It surprises me how many languages I can recognize by ear without knowing them.

PROFESSIONAL: Have worked in so many fields, it's hard to remember them all. Many flunky jobs: counter top pre-fab, truck freight handling, boiler-plate fabrication, urban taxi driving, plastic molding, janitorial, auto maintenance, and all sorts of casual labor. I am ordained the ministry (Southern Baptist) since 1983, was certified to teach secondary Social Studies (history, geography, political science, economics) since 1996 but letting it lapse because I despise the public school system in the US, and have served a good bit in the US Army as an enlisted man -- mostly as a Military Policeman. I'm now pretty much retired, but my church pays me as their Music Director.

INTERESTS: Too numerous and diverse to list, but I spend the most time on learning to write, and I am advocating excellence in plain text and xhtml documentation. I love to sing, teach, and research theology and Bible History. I am not politically active, but follow politics closely, and find conspiracy theories very entertaining. I also promote Southern and Confederate Heritage. When I'm able, I love doing landscaping and yardwork. I love to cook, and I take children seriously.

BIO: Born 18 September 1956 in Seminole, OK. My father is part "Romachill" (nobody knows how to spell it) which is basically American Oilfield Gypsies, first appearing around the 1920s. We moved every six months or less until I was 12, so I've seen most of the western 2/3 of the US. We ended up in Anchorage, AK, staying 6 years; this is more or less my "hometown" if I have one. We left there my senior year in high school and returned to OK. While my family did reach middle class income levels, we never actually became middle class.

I was reborn at age 9, out near Purcell, OK. At age 16, in Alaska, I surrendered to the ministry.

I went to Oklahoma Baptist University back when US federal and state governments gave out lots of free college grants, and earned a BA in Religion. I married out of college to my one and only -- now coming up on our silver anniversary -- Veloyce. I proudly proclaim that marrying her was the smartest thing I ever did (after coming to Christ). We have a daughter, Lola 23, who lives somewhere in Oklahoma City, and is somewhat wayward. My son, Alwyn 21, lives south of Ft.Worth with his wife, Amanda.

After our wedding and some moving around, I joined the US Army the first time, and was stationed at Ft. Lewis, WA, and then in Bamberg, Germany. I was sent home a bit early because she didn't handle the separation well (neither did I), and I returned to do a great deal of volunteer work in churches. I was too much of a maverick to ever be called as pastor anywhere, because I felt uncomfortable playing church politics.

After a break of 6 years, I re-enlisted in the Army and went to the Netherlands. This time, my family joined me for a long assignment of 6 years. While there, it was discovered I had a serious birth defect in both knees, too late to stop the serious damage to the cartilage underlying the kneecaps. I had been a distance runner for years. I've had surgery, but it only slowed the deterioration by a decade or so. I have good days and bad, use a cane often, and a wheelchair for all-day shopping, because I can't stay on my feet much more than 30 minutes at a time. About once or twice a year, I can't get out of bed for at least a day.

Upon release from service, the US Veterans Affairs sent me to teacher's college. I had one good year at a private Catholic school, but they wanted a Catholic for the job and let me go when they found one. From there I substituted a great deal but grew increasingly disillusioned with the public education. I heartily support home-schooling these days.

Though I was never afforded the opportunity to attend seminary, I've never ceased using the tools I gained in ministerial training at college. I write articles on request for fellow-believers around the world, and I find that I learn most from really good questions. There is a strong burden on me to minister from my keyboard. I am currently serving Grace Baptist Church, where attendance seldom tops 30 on Sunday morning. Three years ago it was just 4. I've never found a church more relaxed and sensible, nor a congregation so pleasant to serve. They paid for most of my computer hardware.



David Lee McGlone
LOCATION: Columbus, Ohio
WEB SITE: Still under construction @ http://www.edificationweb.com/dmcglone
BLOG: None yet but, I am very eager to start it.

I'm David McGlone. I live in Columbus, Ohio. I am a Father of 3. Kyle who is 3, Heather who is 2 and Amy who is 1 and I've been married for 11 years. My favorite hobbies are, Computing, Piano, guitar and occasionally woodworking. I've also been known to write about some interesting topics such as Affirmative Action, the Death Penalty, and some other smaller papers. And have won national recognition for a speech I wrote for the National optomist Speech contest for the Hearing Impaired.

The best thing I ever received in my life was a Cochlear Implant, which has restored my hearing to 99.9% if not, more. (http://www.cochlear.com for more information.)

I am also a "stay at home father" and operate Edification Web Solutions, to try and help support my family.

I started out with linux with Red Hat 6.1 somewhere around 3 or 4 years ago. Upgraded to Red Hat 6.2 and then made a switch to SuSE 7.1. Soon after I switched back to Red Hat 7.1 and upgraded to 7.3. I am now currently running Mandrake 9.1 RC1.

Finally, I attended Cannon Land Baptist church for about 5 years and was an active member in the youth group, I seized to attend this church after I was treated very unfairly when I chose to have my wedding at this church. I have not set foot in a church since then. (7-11-1992)



Fred A. Miller
Distro: SuSE. 'Tried others, and NONE "fit" as well.
Languages: English only.
Program: None. I've made an avocation of not having to. :)
Ethnicity: Caucasian; German, English, Dutch, American Indian.
Church: Baptist.
BORN: Quite awhile ago.....older than dirt.
Family: Married - only once and still. 2 children and 2 grandchildren.
Hobbies: 3-D bow competition, hunting, fishing, Creationism.
Pets: 2 dogs.
Likes: Being in the woods, not just to hunt but to be with God, family, replacing anything MickySoft with SuSE Linux.

Dislikes: Most politicions, the entertainment industry, "bean counters," and others who exemplify dishonesty.



John-Thomas Richards
i am a geek. i even passed the one-question-geek-test:

http://www.gull.us/humor/geek.html
i find computers fascinating. however, i am mystified by mechanical wonders. i recently visited chicago's museum of science and industry. they have an exquisite clock/watch exhibit. i can (vaguely) understand how computers operate (even at the processor level). i am at a loss to understand the engineering marvel that is a clock built *500* years ago that is accurate to a few seconds.

i truly love learning. as a child i often read my family's set of 1973 colliers encyclopedias. no, really. i love watching animal shows (remember mutual of omaha's wide world of animals?). i watch very little television but when i do it is to watch the discovery channel, the history channel, animal planet, or a celtics game. speaking of the celtics, i am a *true* fan. i cheer for the celtics whether they win or lose, whether they have a good season or not. where are all the bulls jackets one used to see but a few short years ago? feh. such fans are fickle.

i delight in spoken and written language. i speak english fluently. (this may not seem a large boast until one truly listens to the average american mangle the language.) i am irritating (truly; i just asked my wife to describe the following in one word) in my penchant for insisting upon the proper grammar in writing and speech. i despise the misuse of common, ordinary words. for example, on gasoline pumps in my home state is the following printed on a sticker, "State law requires you to stay in clear view of the nozzle." huh? the nozzle can see me? i can keep it in *my* view, but i can *never* be in the view of the nozzle! i have similar disdain for misuse of other words such as taste and smell. (which part of one's body smells the most? one's nose!)

i have been using linux for over six years as my primary (read "only") desktop at home. i am not a hacker, cracker, coder, programmer, scripter, or anything resembling a professional in the field of computing. i use linux because it works. it worked yesterday and it worked this morning and it is working now. i could not say the same about the last operating system i used. i run debian testing on my dual-celeron box. i use xfce as my primary window manager. when kde 3.x reaches debian testing i will use it long enough to determine that xfce is still better. ;-) i have recently (in the past few months) converted to mozilla from konqueror. i use mutt for email (all email clients stink; mutt stinks less). i use zinf for music. i love openoffice.org. i have too much (per my wife) computer treasure ('junk', she says) in my basement. how can i possibly get rid of an ooold hp-ux box with a matching magneto-optical jukebox?! i would be a fool to throw away my old dual-486-33 sco box! sco was my introduction to the *nix world. i...uh...'maintained' a sco box for years at a former employer. the truth is i added new users as necessary and backed up the informix database. the system ran itself...for years (literally). i use vi for text editing (i will not use emacs; i already *have* an operating system...)

i enjoy the use of paranthetical elements (so my composition professor in college called them).

i love opera music. i also enjoy classical (generically) and jazz (real jazz...from the 1940's and early 1950's). i also own every album the band 'king's x' has produced. i cannot sing well. i once sang in a church choir, though. the choir director underlined all the words with my note...

i have one wife. at my best i do not deserve her; at her worst she does not deserve me. i mean this truly. i also have a wonderful son and a beautiful daughter. my wife and i are unexpectedly expecting in may.

i love aquaria. i have a 60-gallon tank and a 29-gallon tank (and some smaller though unused tanks). some day i will own a home with a wall tank (the tank will *be* the wall). if ed mcmahon ever stops lying about my having won 10,000,000USD i will purchase the tank of my dreams. it is 10'x4'x5'. the tank *alone* (not counting cover, filters, lighting, etc.) costs $11,000. heh. i would not need a swimming pool, though.

i enjoy (crave?) public speaking. give me a crowd and a subject and i am quite pleased. i have the gift of teaching. along with learning i truly enjoy teaching. in particular, i enjoy teaching junior high students at my church (12-13 years old). i write my own curricula. i am fascinated with the history of israel (i teach it every second year).

i often (though less often than before my wife tamed me somewhat) speak before thinking through what i say. i am brutally honest and very transparent. i am flawed and unafraid to admit it. conversely, i am intelligent and unafraid to admit it. some find me opinionated and arrogant. i simply remind such people that, as far as i know, my opionions are correct.

i am not a republican, nor am i a democrat. i am rather conservative both fiscally and socially. theologically i am a modern puritan. i am a strong calvinist (or as one of my favorite professors in college like to say, 'a biblicist'. /me ducks.) however, i shun reformed eschatology. israel is not the church and the church is not israel. God's promise to abraham was unconditional. God's covenant with israel to be the recipients of abraham's blessings was conditional. God *will* fulfill the literal promises he made to abraham that have yet to be fulfilled - primarily more land; from the river of egypt to the great river in...iraq. i truly fear the day america forsakes israel. much of america's material wealth has been gained since 1948 - the year God began anew in fulfilling his promises to abraham. one of the promises was to bless those who bless abraham. no other nation has supported israel as has the united states. no other nation has experienced the same prosperity as the united states. God is at work.

incidentally, the puritans have a bad name that is undeserved. think of this; a puritan man would have been shunned for failing to adequately please his wife in the act of marriage. this is hardly expected given the modern understanding (read "revisionism") of puritanism.

i love science fiction and fantasy. i am an aspiring fantasy author, preparing to write my first three books (a trilogy). i have the general outline for all three books and am working on the detailed outline for the first volume.

my top five movies of all time are (in no certain order):
the matrix
waterworld
the fellowship of the ring
the two towers
all three naked gun movies
battlefield earth
tombstone
the postman
the simpsons (okay...not a movie, but a classic!)
tommy boy (yeah, yeah. it should not be.)

i cannot count, though i can type ~60wpm. i must stop now.



Josiah Ritchie
AKA: flickerfly, jritchie, josiahr
LOCATION: Lanham, MD (outside DC)
WEB SITE: http://josiah.ritchietribe.net/
BLOG: http://josiah.ritchietribe.net/blog/
DISTRO: Gentoo (for everything, except my new converts)
LANGUAGES: English only
PROGRAM: well... Does couple simple bash scripts count? (Someday)
ETHNICITY: American, Caucasian (Irish, Scottish ancestry)
CHURCH: Indy Bible-believing (some would say non-conformist I guess, that's ok by me)
BORN: Jan. 25, 1982 (21yr old at the moment)
FAMILY: Married (8 mon. now)
HOBBIES: Time w/ my wife, studying for LPIC Lv. 1 (No time for the rest)
LOVES: My wife and my Lord, Jesus Christ
HATES: filling out forms
EDUCATION: 2 years of Bible College (heading toward 4 yrs. until God changed the plans so I'm finishing up a couple to meet AA requirements.)

FUTURE GOALS: God has given me a heart for missions and a thirst for understanding technology enough to make it do what I want. I see God taking my wife and I into some full-time missionary related field. Not sure if this is in a support or direct ministry position, but I'm thinking support.

EMPLOYER: Washington Bible College/Capital Bible Seminary as a System Admin. and also Network Admin. for "CougarNet" the student network (built entirely on Linux).



I'm highly involved in a process to move the aging NT 4 based network over to a Linux network using entirely Gentoo. I am also a supporter of LTSP.org who I envision as a large part of the future of Linux. (Why do we pay so much to have individual computers on every desktop doing the exact same things anyway?) At my website you will find that I'm working on documentation for Gentoo concerning a PDC-Killer (read: Linux in place of NT Primary Domain Controller) and LTSP. I'm really enjoying studying for the LPI Certifications. I decided to do this as a start for rounding out my knowledge and second as an addition to my resume.



César Eduardo Sánchez Gauto
César Eduardo (first names) Sánchez Gauto (last names)
AFAIK Hispanic names don't have middle names :)


Just call me Eduardo Sánchez in formal settings or just plain ol' Eduardo in informal ones.

LOCATION: Formerly in Grand Rapids, MI, USA
Now in my homeland: Asunción, Paraguay (South America)

WEB SITE: http://www.sombragris.org (under perpetual construction)

BLOG: none yet

I was born in Sept. 18, 1970 in a Roman Catholic in an usual Roman Catholic in Asunción, Paraguay. Studied in a Roman Catholic (Franciscan nuns) school. Went to the military; I am a Navy Ensign in the reserve forces (Paraguay has no sea shore --it is landlocked-- but has a strong Navy. Go figure). Was a numerary member of the Opus Dei for two years. I left the Opus in good terms.

Studied Biochemistry and began teaching Biochem at the univ. I began to learn English in 1984 at age 13 and been progressing ever since. I dropped the university because of several problems --did not graduate. The LORD grabbed me by the ears and called me to a new life in 1994 at age 23. Began to study theology in 1998 but theology and philosophy were always a passion. I graduated as B.Th. (Bachelor of Theology). Went to study at Calvin Theological Seminary (Grand Rapids, MI) in the area of Philosophical Theology (a natural fit for me) but the Th.M. program there was too hectic and difficult for a philosopher used to long and quiet reflection. However, it was and still is an enormous blessing and I would do it again one hundred times. I only need to finish my thesis in order to graduate, but it is put in the backburner due to many, many rea$on$ or the lack thereof (Got it?).

Began using computers since age 7, with an Apple II; after that I moved to a Timex-Sinclair 1000 (a copy of a Sinclair ZX-81), and then to a Commodore 64, and for a short time a Commodore 128. I also had some experience doing APL and other chores with an IBM 4331 using modified and regular 3270s (ahhh, the good ole times... though I barely remember anything of these).

Got a 386sx in 1991 with Windows 3.0 and Word for Windows 1.1a. Progressed steadily till Win98SE and Office 97/2000. However, I met GNU/Linux back in 2000; I already met Free Software in 1999 when I was looking for free C/C++ compilers.

My first GNU/Linux distro was Red Hat 6.2 that I bought from the States (I was in Paraguay at the time) acting on the advice of a friend who insisted that I should buy my first distro at the very least. Wise counsel, btw... I then progressed through RH 7.1 and 7.2; but on March 2002 I decided to switch to Mandrake 8.2 because RH was increasingly buggy and KDE-unfriendly.

I used KDE 1.x in RH 6.2 and I wasn't impressed so much; however, some charitable soul decided to make a set of RPMs of KDE 2.1 for RH 6.2 and boy, I was hooked. That same day I ceased almost entirely any former usage of Windows systems and, from my installation of Mandrake 9.0, I am a 100% Free Software user. I formatted ALL of my windows partitions.

I like to read, especially philosophy and theology. Favorite authors are Wolfhart Pannenberg, Aquinas, Jorge Luis Borges, Tom Clancy, Abraham Kuyper, and J.I. Packer. I love listening to music: pop, rock, jazz, folk (South American folk --especially Argentinian and Paraguayan folk), and especially, classical mussic (Baroque and pre-Baroque) and most especially even, 16th century sacred polyphony. Duarte Lôbo and Tomás Luis de Victoria are my music hit-stars ;).

I was baptized in Feb. 1994 (one month after my conversion) in an Assemblies of God mega-church; but after a six-month long clinical depression I left the Assemblies for my life (I was not, by any means, a Pentecostal). Found Villa Morra Baptist Church 8 blocks away from home and they're my church family since Jan. 1995. While I was in the States I was a member of LaGrave Avenue Christian Reformed Church (http://www.lagrave.org). While at LaGrave I felt like a kid in a candy store. I crave liturgical worship and LaGrave had a beautiful sanctuary with stained glass windows, robed clergy and choir, excellent organ music, structured liturgy, and so on. I am increasingly bothered by the contemporary worship movement, though I admit that it is mostly because some subjective preference.

Right now I am teaching the Apostles' Creed in the Sunday School of Villa Morra Baptist.

I work as a seminary professor (I teach Dogmatics) and since this year, as an English teacher at Grace Educational Center in Asunción.



Ron Thompson
WEB SITE: http://home.thezone.net/~rlthomps

Personal:

Canadian, born in 1955

Come from a non-Christian home, but grandparents on both sides had a strong evangelical background.

Lived abroad in: Redland's California, and Saint Pierre et Miquelon

Occupation: Aircraft Maintenance Engineer - Avionics

Currently employed by the province of Newfoundland, as a college instructor (avionics)

Goal: Use my avionics skills in Christian aviation ministries.

Languages: Canadian English, some continental French

Married (23 years), with three children, the oldest is 20 this year

Currently attending the Congregational Church (Penticostal orientation)

Christian walk: - 6 (24 hr) day Creationist (non-voting member of the Creation Research Society)
  • enjoy reading John Bunyan, C.H. Spurgeon, A.W. Tozer
  • did a university course on Introductory Mennonite History
  • have a great respect for Calvinist thought


Hobbies:
  • photography (astrophotography, and black & white)
  • astronomy (very limited skills)
  • amateur radio (inactive), electronics
  • various sciences
  • occasional - bicycling, snow shoeing


Much of my personal life had been put on hold the last couple of years due to the demands of my current job.

Computer skills:
Introductory level to Turbo Pascal (DOS)

Very little experience, hoping to (find time to) learn



Jerry Van Brimmer
LOCATION: Politically correct California
WEB SITE: None
BLOG: None


Life:
I was born in Delaware, Ohio and reared in a rural lifestyle. It's about 20 miles north of Columbus. Working for farmers during the summer months. After high school I went to a two year electronics college, hoping to graduate and go on to a four year school to get an EE degree. Well, that never happened. After six months in college I dropped out of college and joined the US Air Force. I got into an electronics field in the AF so my plans were still on track. I got the rest of my electronics education in the AF, so I was happy with that. I spent 12 years in the AF, then got out and got a job with my present employer (23 years)... in an electronics field. I am currently a radar site supervisor. I manage two radar sites and have five technicians working for me.

I have a lovely wife named Yvonne, and we have reared seven children. We have two grandchildren, both girls, Ashleigh, 11, and Brittany, 4.

I first got into computing when a friend gave me a speedy 20MHZ 286 IBM clone. I don't even remember now how big the hard drive was, something around 20 MB I think. It had all DOS based software on it. Some games, one of the games I remember was called Alley Cat. Anybody ever heard of that game? It was fun. And it had a DOS based file manager. Well, it didn't take me long to grow out of that machine. I started going to the computer shows that we have here in sothern Cal, buying components and building my own PCs. I don't even know how many I've built, but right now there are five in my home that I've built. My current machine is a 450MHZ Pentium III. Not the fastest, but it's reliable. To me, it's more important to have stability and reliability than to have the latest and greatest.

I first got into Linux about three years ago. My first Windows was version 3.1. I thought it was the greatest thing since sliced bread. But then Windows 95 came out, $90 upgrade. I balked, waited as long as I could, then finally broke down a purchased a Win95 upgrade. Then Win95 SR2 came out, in OEMs only. I thought, "What kind of deal is this, I have to buy a new computer just to have the latest Windows?" I balked again. Then, Win 98 came out, another $90 upgrade. This time I refused to buy it and stayed with my Win 95. Then, WinMe came out! Another $90 upgrade! Finally, I'm beginning to see the light (yes, I know, I'm a little slow), "These guys aren't interested in bettering "my" computing experience, they just want to keep me on the $$ leash. I got sick and tired of shelling out almost 100 clams every time Bill's bank account got a little low. So, I had heard about Linux, it scared me, but I decided to look into it; I had to do something to escape the M$ leash. So, the first Linux package I bought was Mandrake 6.1 for $25. I brought it home, read the manuals, didn't understand a thing of what I read. But, determined to learn Linux, I saved my important data, and flailed away at my hard drive. If I remember correctly MDK 6.1 had a problem with the install CD. It just wouldn't install. At that point I didn't know if it was my fault or Linuxes fault. Finally I found the answer on the Mandrake web site and got it installed. It's a good thing Bill was pushing me so hard or I would have given up on Linux with that first Mandrake box. Anyway, then I bought MDK 6.2. I was getting not a little perturbed with MDKs bugginess, so I tried RedHat 6.0 and 6.1. Not any better so then I tried SuSE 6.4. I thought I was in Linux Heaven! SuSE 6.4 was supurb! No bugs, everything worked, out of the box! I stayed with SuSE through 7.3 (I think). Then SuSE began raising their prices, and it was just like M$ all over again. Not that I'm cheap, but come on, every three of four months! So, off I went to find a distribution I could afford and was not buggy. Well, here I am with Debian Woody 3.0r1. I've been using Debian now for about six months and I love it. Whenewver there's an upgrade or a security patch, I just connect to the web, fire up xterm, type in 'apt-get update', then 'apt-get upgrade', Voila, my upgrades are done! And, if your the adventerous type, you can always upgrade individual packages, ie KDE, to the versions in the unstable or testing branches of Debian. It's a good feeling, knowing that I'm now settled in 'my' Linux distribution. No more wondering if there's a better one; this is it, I'm sticking with Debian.

Well, somewhere in the middle of all that, about 23 years ago, Jesus found me, upside down and inside out. My first marriage had fallen apart and I was a mess, living in sin up to my eyeballs. To make a long story short, the Holy Spirit showed me that I was a sinner, guilty, unworthy, condemned, sentenced, and on my way to Hell. Then, almost immediately, Jesus showed Himself to me as the Savior that I needed. How that he died on the Cross to purchae the pardon that I so desparately needed. Immediately I threw myself at the foot of Jesus, asked for forgiveness for my sins and told Him that I believed that His Blood was more powerful than any sin I have ever commited. Instantly I felt the loving forgiveness of Jesus, and I felt like a two-ton weight had been lifted off of my shoulders. The next day I felt clean and fresh, like I had been made brand new! Like I had been, "born-again". Why Jesus ever wanted me, I'll have to wait 'till Heaven to find out. Yea, I know the Bible says "For God so loved the world", but somehow I don't even see myself worthy of His unconditional love. Don't get me wrong, I know who I am, a blood bought, born-again beleiver in Jesus, it's just that if I were God, I would have overlooked Jerry Van Brimmer.



Robert Wohlfarth
LOCATION: Anderson, Indiana
WEB SITE: none
BLOG: none


I have been married for 8.5 years. We have two little girls: 5 years, and 1 year. My wife home-schools our 5 year old. I work as a programmer/systems analyst.

My hobbies include reading and computer programming. I read mostly fiction or science fiction. Reading substitues for a TV in our house.

Our family attends a PCA (Presbyterian Church of America) church.

I first used Linux when a friend gave me an old Acer computer. He accidently left a RedHat 5.1 CD in the drive. I was instantly hooked on all of the different ways to write applications and utilities. Switched over to SuSE Linux for a while. And recently switched again to Mandrake.

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