David Real Name:  David Age:  26 Resides:  Idaho Occupation:  Resident Linux Desktop God at a manufacturing company by day, part-time sysad for hire by night.

Favorite website(s):
www.bloglines.com (cheating, I know), /. (been reading since it was hosted on an alpha, now I just skim the headlines), and (cheating again) the 30-odd online comics I read.

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
I'm a huge fan of the "Discworld" series, the LOTR (both books and movies) almost goes without saying, "The Daily Show", anything by Joss Whedon, and anything by Kurosawa (though Ikiru is probably my all-time favorite of his).

Favorite game, application, or program of all time:
vim.  Not to start a flamewar or anything, it's just obvious that vim is superior.  I mean, look at the high profile geeks who use (x)emacs: JWZ and Stallman, right?  Now, who are the high profile geeks with serious hand and wrist problems?  JWZ and Stallman!  Too many long nights hitting escape-meta-alt-ctrl...

What are you playing and working on right now:
Trying to sell my house.  Anyone want to buy it? I'll throw in some cat5 for free...

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
I currently have the default KDE wallpaper set.  I recently reset my ~/.kde, and haven't gotten around to doing anything about that.  However, I normally have something from digitalblasphemy.com (I've been a member for four years now).

What's so special about your computer room:
It's 1/2 of a smallish walk-in closet (I can touch all four walls without straightening my arms).  Yet I still fit in two computers, a large monitor, desk, full bookshelf, 'executive' chain, 5.1 speakers, and various networking bits (dsl modem, switch, etc).

How many computers do you have:
4. An old G3 PowerMac, a colored fish-bowl G3 iMac, a 2.4Ghz PIV (for my  server), and a PII 400Mhz for the kids.

What was your first computer:
A C64, way back in '83 (or '84?).  About a year later, we got an 8088 with a monochrome screen.  For some reason, us kids kept playing with the 64...

Do you remember the first program you ran on it (or the first game you played):
I don't, actually.  But I can tell you our *favorite* game: Alice In Wonderland!  It took us literally *years* to finally beat that game.  In fact, we went through multiple C64s before we ever completed the game.  It was the only video game that my mother would actively play with us.  We spent a lot of time, huddled around the screen, trying to figure out what to do next.  See?  Gaming was social event even *before* MMORGs!  As long as you define 'social' as 'consisting entirely of your own family members'.

Geekiest moment of your life:
When I was showing someone how nice and intuitive bash is for new users, and unthinkingly typed something like: !gr $! | !!  At first, I didn't get why he was laughing...

When did you first realize you were a geek:
It may have been when I was sitting under a tree in elementary school, trying to read a book while some other kids were using straws to blow pins at me. Or it may have been when I took the motorcycle (because the clothes wouldn't fit me! *rimshot*).

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
If you ask my wife, I hardly ever *stop* doing that.  However, I think one of the worst examples was a voice-mail that I was leaving myself, which my wife happened to overhear: "Hey, check smtp-auth, imap, and pop3 on s1. Also, nagios isn't ACKing, check iptables."  She made fun of my geek-speak for a while after that.

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
Well, the first time I 'fixed' someone's broken computer by turning it on  (the screen is blank! it's broken! aaaahhhhh!), I thought it was hilarious. The last ten times I've had to hit the power button for someone, though,  it's lost it's savor.

What is your favourite quote:
There are two kinds of fool. One says,"This is old, and therefore good." And one says, "This is new, and therefore better." - Anon

If you were a computer program, you would be: why:
Bloated. Because I'm in serious need of some diet and exercise...

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
Lately?  Try and make my house look like it's worth more than it really is. Normally, I lay around reading and watching a lot of t.v. (see answer to 'if you were a computer program...".  Of course, the t.v. I watch is almost all being displayed by a computer onto my television, so I don't know if that counts in the context of the question.

You have a time machine that can only be used once. If you use it you will not come back. What date would you set it to, and what ONE thing would you take with you (not a computer):
Ten years into the future, and a folder full of as many Google stock certificates as I could afford.

David, whose only on-line presence is at http://www.gnuconsulting.com/blog/, (which is very aptly titled), is a very good system administrator, and a very poor programmer. David is searching for that one perfect programming language that will allow him to just will programs into existence, without logic errors, horrendously bad algorithms, and good UIs.

If David was to be given a platform to promote something, he would probably promote his favorite overlooked webcomics, like Narbonic, Digger, or Count Your Sheep.