G'Day Mate MkII

So here goes:

• Where?
  1. I was born on the 17th of April at Nepean Hospital (in Penrith on the western outskirts of Sydney)
  
  
  2. My first home was in the Blue Mountains
  
  
  3. Later I lived in the rural-urban fringe on five acres
  
  
  4. I tried living in residential college at university and ended up with glandular fever
  
  
  5. When I recovered, I lived in a theological college (Anglican)
  
  
  6. Then I shared a flat with some other students until I got married
  
  
  7. We tried living at Strathfield for six months but we missed the Eastern suburbs
  
  
  8. We have lived within walking distance of UNSW ever since
  
  
  9. Also within walking distance of Randwick Racecourse
  
  
  10. Despite living two minutes from the beach, we almost never go there


• Relations
  1. I have only one (younger) sister
  
  
  2. I have four (younger) brothers
  
  
  3. I have three sisters-in-law (all married to my brothers)
  
  
  4. I have one ex-sister-in-law and one ex-brother-in-law
  
  
  5. I have two children - one boy, one girl
  
  
  6. My father died (or cancer) two days before my daughter was born
  
  
  7. She was not expected to live but did
  
  
  8. My mother is still living
  
  
  9. None of my grandparents is still alive
  
  
  10. Two great-aunts and one great-uncle are


• Study
  1. I was at university for a very long time
  
  
  2. A lot of my study was part time
  
  
  3. I managed to accumulate four degrees and a teaching certificate
  
  
  4. The most interesting subject area was Cognitive Science
  
  
  5. The least interesting was Accounting
  
  
  6. I dropped out of my doctorate after two years (part-time) to spend more time with my family
  
  
  7. That was ten years ago
  
  
  8. I have now enrolled in a Theology certificate at ACU
  
  
  9. I hope to become an Acolyte this year
  
  
  10. Down the track I would like to become a Deacon


• Career
  1. I always wanted to be a pilot so I could fly
  
  
  2. I am colour-blind (blue-green) - which ruled out that career
  
  
  3. My second choice was to be a teacher
  
  
  4. I have tutored at university
  
  
  5. I have taught at TAFE
  
  
  6. Both were fun but the pay was pitiful
  
  
  7. While at uni I concentrated on Computer Science
  
  
  8. With minors in Geography and Maths (both teaching subjects)
  
  
  9. I got involved in UNIX administration, I am still doing UNIX support
  
  
  10. My first UNIX support job was in East Chatswood
  
  
  11. My current job is just across the storm drain from that building
  
  
  12. I have worked in a defence-related job
  
  
  13. I have worked in the finance industry
  
  
  14. I have worked in the public service
  
  
  15. I am too old to be on-call 24x7 for UNIX support


• Travel
  1. I have been to all the Australian states except WA
  
  
  2. I have not been to the Northern Territory either, but that is not a state
  
  
  3. I have been to New Zealand a number of times (including my honeymoon)
  
  
  4. I have been to the UK once
  
  
  5. The British were not as friendly as I expected
  
  
  6. I have been to parts of Western Europe
  
  
  7. Europeans are friendlier than I expected
  
  
  8. I have been to California twice
  
  
  9. I have been to New York once
  
  
  10. Americans are much nicer in person than the media suggests*


• Religion
  1. My grandpa was a Baptist minister
  
  
  2. I started off Baptist
  
  
  3. When we moved to the rural-urban fringe, there was no Baptist church within coo-ee
  
  
  4. We became Anglicans
  
  
  5. I went to a Baptist High School
  
  
  6. I was baptised there
  
  
  7. And then confirmed in the Anglican church
  
  
  8. My girlfriend (later wife) was a Catholic convert
  
  
  9. I tried to talk her out of it (and failed)
  
  
  10. In the process of trying, I also became a Catholic (and was re-baptised and re-confirmed)


• Animals
  1. We have no pets at the moment (unless children count)
  
  
  2. I would like to have a pet bird (Budgie or Cockatiel)
  
  
  3. My kids would like to have a dog
  
  
  4. I used to breed ducks
  
  
  5. I used to milk a cow every day


• Hobbies
  1. I like blogging (most of the time)
  
  
  2. I have been doing it since February 2003
  
  
  3. My biggest problem is my spelling
  
  
  4. And the fact that I can't type as fast as I can think
  
  
  5. This could be because I have no feeling in the end of my right index finger
  
  
  6. I enjoy playing strategy/empire-building games
  
  
  7. After I win, I then work out how to cheat so I can play it again faster
  
  
  8. Sometimes my cheats get published :-)
  
  
  9. I enjoy difficult logic puzzles (like Sudoku)
  
  
  10. I usually solve them by writing a program to do it for me


• Reading
  1. I am a very fast reader
  
  
  2. I used to have almost photographic recall
  
  
  3. My favourite author is Terry Pratchett
  
  
  4. I think I have all of his books
  
  
  5. I like books that have more than one level in them
  
  
  6. I also like Anne McCaffery
  
  
  7. And Heinlein
  
  
  8. StarTroopers (the movie) was an abomination (because it ignored the second level in the book)
  
  
  9. When I travel, I usually read something like Grisham
  
  
  10. I would prefer to read the book than see the movie...


• Things I am good at
  1. I am good at Unix (after more than 20 years I ought to be)
  
  
  2. My best computer language is Perl
  
  
  3. I can also code in C (with more effort and lots of swearing about strings)
  
  
  4. I have written commercial quality code in Perl, C, Pascal, and Cobol
  
  
  5. I usually don't admit to the Cobol in polite company
  
  
  6. I have more than a passing acquaintance with at least another dozen computer languages
  
  
  7. I think I am a reasonable teacher (and I enjoy it)
  
  
  8. I used to be a reasonable hacker (in the old sense)
  
  
  9. I am a reasonable gardener (except when there is a drought)
  
  
  10. I am lousy at human languages - despite intense coaching

[* One American suggested that this was because they export all the bad ones overseas which makes the rest of the world think all Americans are like that...]