User:Amarand

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Userboxes

Status

This user contributes to Wikimedia Commons.

This user has created a global account.

This user's time zone is EDT.

This user has been on Wikipedia for 18 years, 1 month and 17 days.

This editor is a Signator and is entitled to display this Scroll of Signatures.

Activities

tyop
typo

This user is a member of the
Wikipedia Typo Team.

USage decline

This user uses American English, but is appalled at its rapid and continuing deterioration.

nws-5

This user newspeaks doubleplusgoodwise.

This user is an autodidact in a wide range of subjects that they never took in school or college.

Languages

en

This user is a native speaker of the English language.

This user thinks good grammar is sexy.

;

This user's favorite punctuation is semicolons; he likes using them a lot.

1337-X

This user has a good grasp of 1337 but prefers to contribute using proper words to bridge the gap between 1337 speakers and normal computer users.

Computery

This user is a Computer System Administrator.

bash-2

This user is an intermediate Bash programmer.

C-2

This user is an intermediate C programmer.

C++-2

This user is an intermediate C++ programmer.

Perl-2

This user is an intermediate Perl programmer.

Miscellanea

This user is or was a U.S. Army Specialist.

ubx-5

This user uses entirely too many userboxes.

This user owns one or more
Shih Tzus.

This user cares about animals

7+1

This user's favourite colour is octarine.

^Nº6

You won't get it.

asymetry/asymetric symetry/symetric

After completing an edit today, I decided that I should probably create a user page. Two and a half years later, I decided to take the The Wikipedia Adventure and I've been here almost ten years now!

First and foremost, I'm a computer guy, located in Galloway, Ohio, USA. Originally from the Berkshires in Western Massachusetts, I have also lived in New Jersey, Pennsylvania and Giebelstadt, Germany.

I've been working with computers for around 46 years. As a child, I first worked on an Atari 400 learning LOGO, which made me extremely popular during recess. I owned the Commodore SuperPET, VIC-20 and C-64 in the years they were released, and was fluent in 6502 and 6509 assembly language. In high school, I worked with the PDP-11/70, teletypes, line printers and terminal displays; punch cards, paper tape and magnetic tape. In the mid-1980's, I tried to enjoy COBOL, Fortran, flowcharts and coding sheets; I failed. I was successful at learning various forms of BASIC, C, C++ and also entering pages of seemingly random strings of mind-numbing digits in 8-bit hexadecimal from the then-popular computer magazines of the day.

As a child, I successfully built a Heathkit alarm clock and other exciting projects. I know how to solder correctly, can tell which way the current flows in a diode and have intentionally blown the metal cap off of a capacitor without losing an eye.

At the age of 13, I saved all that I earned for a year, purchased a used SLR camera, and expended roll after roll of film until, years later, the camera was lost during a military deployment in the Middle East during Operation Provide Comfort.

Through my passion for computers and photography, I have progressively developed a love of graphic design, all forms of parody and typography - including an innate hatred for the Papyrus and Comic Sans typefaces.

Over the years, I have worked primarily as a UNIX and Linux systems administrator, focusing on keeping computers and people happy.

To quote Winston Wolf in Pulp Fiction: I solve problems.

In addition to my primary line of work, I have also functioned as an executive administrative assistant, a non-commissioned solider of the U.S. Army deployed during war and peacetime, and an amateur photographer.

I enjoy proper spelling and grammar, and have a love for the Oxford comma.

Although I don't generally include this in my list of top three favorite things (computers, photography and psychology), I very much enjoy computer security, networking, communications and teaching people how to fish (metaphorically).

I have been a vegan for 15 years, although I view this as a personal ethical choice, and will not look at you funny while you eat a steak. One of my major lifetime goals is to learn how to make high-quality analogue foods that are vegan, but are really hard to differentiate from the "real thing."

Oh, and I make fun of people who use air quotes too frequently.

Last but certainly not least, I am a Technician Class licensed Amateur Radio Operator ("Ham") who learned Morse Code back when it was required, and have held a valid FCC-issued Restricted Radiotelephone Operator Permit since 1988.