Wires Real Name:  Mike Age:  One year younger than unix epoch time Resides:  The not so geeky town of Crete Illinois Occupation:  Senior Everything, I run my own wireless ISP.  When I'm not working  I'm a full time student finishing up my Master Degree in Computer Science.

Favourite website:
Take one part slash and one part dot...stir and serve chilled.

Favorite book, movie, or TV show:
Babylon5 is the best sci-fi series of all time!  Anything by Isaac Asimov is great to read too.

Favourite application, game, or program of all time:
Inspired by Zork, I wasted years of my life developing and playing the old Abermud.  It's cheezy but it shows my age.  Also like Doom 3.
 
What are you playing and working on  right now:
Two current projects (no one ever works on one thing at a time...)
1) Writing a generic php driven test engine software to help me study for  whatever exam/cert I'm currently working towards and;
2) My final Masters degree project will be to write a data exchange interface for the proprietary hardware that comprises the sensor array for the super collider at Fermi Lab (which is a US Department of Energy research lab).  The current one is a windows app but the real physicists there demand that it runs under Linux and I will make it so.

What is your current screensaver, background, or wallpaper:
I couldn't tell you, I have too many windows open and I can't see it any...

What's so special about your computer room:
If everything is turned on in the winter, it can heat half the house.

How many computers do you have:
Couple of ultra sparcs, a handful of x86 and a Mac G4.  Also as a conversation piece I have the 534th Apple IIgs ever made personally signed by Steve Wozniak.

What was your first computer:
A wonderful Apple IIe

Do you remember the first program you ran on it:
Castle Wolfenstein

Geekiest moment of your life:
Realizing I had the power to influence people to become geeky too.

When did you first realize you were a geek:
In 8th grade when teachers pulled me out of class to solve their computer problems.

Have you ever said anything geeky that someone else did not understand:
Try to explain to someone what you learned in a formal languages class, that'll really make them think you aren't human.

What is the funniest/most bizarre computer/Internet/geeky experience you have ever had:
A memorable IRC party at the Swiss Hotel in Chicago during Comicon 1990.  It was a who's who at the party.  Yep IRC party, remember when there was only ONE IRC network?

If you were a computer program,  you would be: why:
Firefox, then I get to see everything and go everywhere...

What is your favourite quote:
"Those whom would trade security for freedom deserve neither security nor freedom" --Ben Franklin

What do you do when you are (heaven forbid) not at your computer(s):
All the other things I should have done instead of working on the "puter".

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):
I'd set it to some time during the Renaissance Period and bring with me the biggest, baddest thickest book on physical chemistry that I could find.  I'd probably live comfortably as an intellectual.

Mike, who has done volunteer work for FreeGeek, (because they are a worthy organization), is concerned about the learning and the environment http://www.freegeek.org. Mike, who has been a networking guru, app developer, musician, auto mechanic and pizza delivery driver, single-handledly prompted the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign to rewrite their acceptable use policies when he was a student there.