It can be a tricky job to describe me to one who hasn't met me, or even to one that has met me but wants to learn more. This page, with all of its information, has been the method by which I tried to do so since about 1993. It's still an interesting page, and I hope you can get something useful out of it.

How do you expect to fight for someone else when you don't even know who you are?

- Sebastian, Comes the Inquisitor

We are all Kosh.

- Ulkesh, Walkabout

Who is Skirv?

*For those of you that don't get the schtick, Tim bases his web page off of the questions from Babylon 5*
/"Who are you?" is a tough question for Tim. He's lots of things. He's not really what he appears. And he's not sure that answering it is really a good idea/
*Everybody deals with these questions; Tim just agonizes over it more than the average person*

Physical Appearance

Most of the stuff that needs to be listed off about my physical appearance can go onto a simple table.

Trait Statistic Description
Sex Male There's not much to say about it.
Skin White Caucasian, of indeterminate/varied country. I'm sure there's a more descriptive color, too, but I don't claim to understand this whole fleshtones thing.
Age 30.482 Birthdate: 11/17/77 (I suppose there should be a 4-letter year there, but it looks better this way). I look younger, and don't particularly mind that.
Height 5'10" Average amongst men, taller than most women.
Weight ~15 Stone A bit overweight, but mostly just out of shape.
Hair Brown My hair has a tendency to be somewhat unkempt, but not nearly as bad as it was in past years; I still like how it looks when it dries on its own. I have a fairly prominent brown beard, which I trim every month or so, so it varies between "a bit thin" (1-3 days) to "scruffy" (6 weeks and beyond). In between, it just looks like a full beard. It suits me, and makes me look my age.
Eyes Blue Glasses are necessary, and since they're slowly getting worse, eye surgery will probably be necessary in the future - assuming they're willing to knock me out for the duration. My lashes historically make women jealous (not that this is very useful).
Clothing Cargo Pants and a T-Shirt The t-shirt is standard year-round, and almost always has a strange slogan on it that few understand. The cargo pants become cargo shorts in the summer; I like pockets. If it's at all cold I wear a Pendleton shirt (not flannel!) or a Land's End jacket; I have a wide variety of both. Otherwise, unremarkable.
Piercings None I've been cut into enough in my life; I'm not planning on doing it to myself voluntarily.
Distinguishing
Characteristics		 Lanyard w/Buttons It carries a collection of keys, 6-12 buttons, a watch, a flashlight, and a small pocket knife; it's also the most distinctive visual aspect of me. I'm rarely without it, even when sitting around the house. Flying with it sucks, though.
Footware Historically, when I could get away with it, I've gone without. This has become less common in recent times, thanks to the dangers of work (well, the *rules* of work anyway), and wasn't always all that possible anyway due to bad weather, travelling, etc. It's sad to give up that infamous attitude, but that's how things are.

There are, of course, more things that could be put on here, but I'm not sure I could describe them properly. The web does have its limits. Still, this ought to be more than enough to recognize me, or even spot me in a crowd.

/The buttons may be enough to spot him in a crowd, but arguably they are also the the only sufficient visual cue/

*Yeah, Tim's not as distinctive looking anymore now that he's in the real world*

/That's not what I said. Tim is still distinctive looking, it just doesn't translate well to text/

*Really? How do you know?*

/I've been doing my research.../

Mental Appearance

In some places, physical appearance isn't apparent, or even relevant. So a quick map of my mental layout may help...

Trait Statistic Description
Sexuality Heterosexual I appreciate will, intelligence, and morality; I'm single; and there's not much to say about it that won't make this all sound like a really lame dating site.
Politics Libertarian Social liberal and economic conservative, less government and more personal freedoms. I'm not much of a fan of the party, but my general stance of "freedom for everything and everybody" is still a guiding principle in my life. I would *love* to join a Libertarian-Lite party, where people with leanings in our direction could show up and not be total twits. I tend towards the democratic and liberal more than the republican and conservative, slightly.
Education BS, CompEng., UIUC UIUC is one of the world's best Computer Engineering schools, and I got a whole lot out of it. I couldn't imagine having gone anywhere else. Of course, what I mostly got out of college was a social life and an idea of my place in the universe... but that's really what college is about anyway.
Eating Habits Omnivore I do have strong carnivore leanings - I really like meat - but I still like a good salad every now and then. Not as much as a good steak, mind you.
Personality Type INTJ/ENTJ Intuitive, Thinking, and Judging, those parts are consistent. Introverted vs Extroverted? That's a bit more up to debate...
Religion Atheist/Agnostic I don't mind the idea of there being a higher being out there; I just don't think it influences me all that much.

Note that the above information, while interesting and perhaps vaguely descriptive, is of as little use in actually explaining me as my physical appearance. But it may still help you.

/In general, anything he puts in a table is worthless/

*I'm not sure I'd go that far; there's some useful stuff below, isn't there?*

/Go check!/

*Alright... checks You're right. Heh*

First Impressions

*Tim's not necessarily all that hot at these*

/Though he's been getting better over the years, he just hasn't got the will to actually let himself try to influence others in their perceptions...well, at least not on purpose/

There are really two types of first impression one can get of me, based on setting and mood. The first, which manifests itself mostly at work, in email, and in general Usenet threads, is as a quiet, efficient person that knows his stuff but generally wants to stay out of the way; I am, however, direct and to the point, and very good at figuring out your problems and helping with them. This may just be because I want you out of my way, though. Still, there seems to be something more there, but it's not immediately obvious what that something is without digging a little bit.

The second type of impression, which manifests itself more in social circles, is a much more gregarious one. I seem to be a quirky and extremely opinionated, with a penchant for telling stories and informing everybody exactly what I think of them and my surroundings. At the very least, I seem to be extremely assertive either actively confusing or just thinking along completely different lines than everyone else. To top it off, I display a definite tendency to obsess over minutiae. But at least I'm not mean or hurtful...

Note that I consider one of the greatest joys in life to be teaching others that first impressions are lies.

*He really likes explaining about lies*

/It's good for him/

Later Impressions

/While Tim is quite bad at first impressions, his later impressions are generally much, much better/

*Which means that if you can survive the first round, Tim is a great person to know; if you can't, well...*

This is where things get tricky, because I'm not either of the above things, nor am I just a combination of those two personalities. There's at least one more tossed in there, which virtually never comes off on a first impression. And if you deal with me for any real length of time, they all combine fairly seamlessly.

Once you've gotten to know me a bit better, one of the first things you'll notice is a sense of obscure morality and righteousness - I do the right thing, no matter what, but the right thing is something that's difficult or impossible to understand. I do right by my friends, I never tell a lie if there's a chance that someone will believe me, I won't hurt anyone unless they've hurt me first. My sense of obligation is strong, perhaps too strong. And this oddly serious side of me is incredibly obvious after a little while.

The quiet, unassuming worker aspect of my personality merges into the above fairly cleanly, actually. As long as you let me just sit back and do my job, I will just sit back and do my job. If, however, things start falling apart, and what I'm doing is threatened in some way, then the chances are that I'll start trying to take it over, in order to save it and what I'm doing. Also, if someone tries to interfere with my work, then I will do what I have to do to get them off my back. Until then, though, I'll just stay out of the way and fulfill my obligations - hard work and mild detachment.

Finally, there's the social personality. I'm impulsive, oddly conniving, and generally an open book - I either like those around me and act accordingly, or ignore those around me in annoyance. I cheerfully and constantly take charge of things because the social groups sometimes need a leader. My sense of humor is twisted but not all that sick; I never bother with tact, but my friends forgive me for it. I'm confident, assertive, and probably a bit dangerous if you're on my bad side.

That's the three. None of them are the real full personality, of course; I'd argue that they aren't even a large portion of it. And I doubt I can really explain the rest of the personality. But let's try.

/Tim would love it if someone else did this for him/

*And if you want to truly understand him, beyond those Later Impressions, you have to understand just how much he wants someone else to do it for him...*

/...and that he would never ask/

/Tim would love it if someone else did this for him/

*And if you want to truly understand him, beyond those Later Impressions, you have to understand just how much he wants someone else to do it for him...*

/...and that he would never ask/

Real Personality

While I'm not a huge fan of the system, a quirk in the Briggs-Myers personality typing system sums me up pretty well: I vary between 'INTJ' and 'ENTJ' - Introverted and Extroverted. Most of the world thinks I'm extroverted, and has ever since I started college; those that know me for very long begin to easily recognize the introverted side of me, though...

On the one side, I live on the approval of those around me; I spend a lot of my life hanging out with friends chosen to keep me feeling needed. I love competition, because it gives me a chance to play with a few others. I find nothing more fun than bringing dozens of people together for some random event. Making new friends is one of my favorite pastimes. People help me deal.

On the other side, I long ago figured out how to deal with life alone. I read, I code, I write web pages that I don't really expect anybody to see. I talk to myself incessantly. I horde enough material to ensure that I can spend months at a time without seeing another living being and still have something to do. I honesty feel confused when somebody asks a question about me, because I'm not used to people actually caring.

Even more confusing, there's a third side to it all - I tend to go out of my way to annoy people, in an apparently attention-seeking way. Nothing is quite as satisfying as finding that somebody out there has taken a dislike towards me because of something good that I've done. Without the occasional foil, I get lonely and depressed. If there's a pattern to it all, I've never found it - and I'm not expecting to any time in the near future.

The tests don't lie. I'm both, combined with a sick desire to torture the evil. Bleah.

/Of course, he's never believed in these tests before/

*I think the Empire Records test pegged him better. He's Lucas!*

There are parts of my personality that are easier to quantify, though. I'm ridiculously assertive, stubborn to a fault but capable of winning just about any battle of will thrown at me. I'm both egotistical and incredibly loyal to those I consider worthy. I'm intensely moralistic, although I rarely apply it to others (there's just no point, it won't help me anyway...) I have been described as both intensely fatalistic and a starry-eyed romantic, and firmly believe that the two aren't necessarily contradictory. And I'm sure there's a million other ways that I'm a mess of contradictions, which I love...

*Much as Tim likes to complain that he's blind to his own personality, he's really pretty decent at describing himself*

/It's just that he's really direct about it - he doesn't mind that mind telling people where he's flawed and not planning on changing it. It's an interesting strength. It's also dangerous, as he'll one day find out/

*He's also not willing to do it anymore, which is sad*

/Maybe some day he'll try it again, but not yet/

World View

Most of my world view comes down to my belief in two things: the Golden Rule ("Do unto others as you would have them do unto you") and my own abilities to do whatever I need to do. After spending a few years trying to reconcile these, the reality that I'm nothing in this Universe, and the basic human need to have somebody out there more powerful than you to take the fall when you mess up, I finally found a way of combining them. That combination has set my life on its path, and is fairly easy to summarize. I egotistically refer to it as Skirvin's Law:

Do unto the Universe as you would have It do unto you.

Or, for the more religious of us: Do unto God as you would have Him do unto you.

Honestly, it makes sense, if you just think of the Universe as a being in some way similar to ourselves (a basic tenet of most religions anyway [s/Universe/$DEITY/g], and not that tough to comprehend for even for a die-hard agnostic like me) and believe that the Golden Rule is right. The point of the Rule is that our own lives are made better when we treat others better - it doesn't matter whether they're above us, below us, or at the same level, cooperation makes things better. Why should God be exempt? Why should any of us be exempt? Why shouldn't the Universe follow the same rules as the rest of us?

This does, of course, lead to some more interesting conclusions. Stupidity becomes hilarious when you think of it as the world's way of playing with your mind, and it allows/encourages you to return the favor. With an understanding that your actions change the world, there's a strange sense of responsibility for everything, leading to an intense desire to make it better. Authority is looked upon as dangerous and evil, simply because it's not treating everybody as equal. Paranoia is washed away as irrelevant, because as long as you're not plotting to destroy the Universe, you aren't encouraging the Universe to do it to you. And your sense of morality becomes all the more important, because if you start violating your own rules you never know what rules the Universe will start changing in response...

Of course, I may be wrong - hell, almost certainly so. Oh well; my outlook accepts this and moves on without much more than shrug. Yes, I know that it's just a variation on Pascal's Wager, but, honestly, what *have* I lost if I'm wrong? The only thing I'm missing out on with this lifestyle is the joy of screwing over others, and that doesn't cut into my ability to screw around with them. And while there's always a chance that this will condemn me to Eternal Hell(tm), well, I'm not sure there's anything that could rightfully offer me a guarantee that I wasn't so condemned. Regardless - I've rolled my dice, found an interesting way to live, and I'm running with it. Being right would be nice, but really doesn't matter that much; I had fun after all. And if I'm wrong, well, I'm wrong, them's the breaks, at least I tried.

Oh, and by the way: I am willing to discuss this. I know that a lot of this philosophy is rooted in a lot of other religions and ideas, and some day I want to be able to quantify and attribute it all. The only way I'm going to get there is to talk about it a lot; as such, I'm willing to open myself up to millions of religious attacks if it means that I might just be right. So bring it on. It may even be interesting.

*For the record, this is the first and only time in his life that Tim has ever quantified his beliefs so succintly*

/It's why he redid his page a couple of times ago, too - it's an important concept that really didn't fit into the old design. Notice that he put it fairly far into the page, too, where only those that actually cared about him would notice it; it's worked, I guess, since not too many people have harassed him about it/

Quirks

There's a lot of stuff that needs to be understood to know who I am that really doesn't get categorized very well. Here's some of it.

*Yeah, a small taste*

*See? Tim can still be vague when he wants to be*

/And often when he doesn't want to, but we won't get into that right now. Anyway, he is right, you should see his Vorlon imitation, and he acts like a Shadow most of the time.../

Last Modified: Wed, Jul 25 2007

Do what you need to, and do it now.

- Unknown

Damn the Man! Rave on! Rave on!.

- Empire Records

I don't know how or where you get them, but I believe there are robots for this.

- Lt. Dangle, Reno 911

What Does Skirv Want?

/whistle hoot bang Do not ask that question! ring buzz ding/

*You love saying that, don't you?*

/Yup/

*This is, of course, the section of Skirv's interests and goals. It's not as abstract as he'd like, but that's okay*

Interests

*Tim is quite bad at defining them*

/He's got dozens, he only acknowledges 2-3 at any given time... This has historically made it difficult to describe himself in a personal-ad-type thing/

I'm tempted to just say "they're many and varied". It's certainly true, and may even be more accurate than any list I may try to codify. But it would be cheating, so I won't...

Photography

Since I first got a decent digital camera in 2002, I've taken about 20,000 photos, and put most of them online. The whole process just fascinates me. I tend to just use the semi-automatic modes, so I still don't think I'd call myself a *proper* photographer, but I'm doing a lot better in recent months. The part that I'm remarkable at is that I'm willing to show up, take lots of shots, and get them up and labelled fairly quickly. I don't go in much for post-processing, either, besides rotating and, of course, the labels.

Computers

I've been using computers for most of my work since I was five, and I've been fascinated with large-scale computer networks since I started using them in 1991. This fascination has been quite useful to me, in as much as I've based my career off of it; and even out of work, I enjoy little quite as much as a good technology discussion (especially when you mix in some politics).

Within the general category, I'm fairly broad-based. I write code, I administer systems, and I have interest and can discuss architecture and theory and a wide variety of other such topics. Most interestingly to me, I love to understand the social complexities behind the networks, both with the people actually on them and those that aren't.

Books and Comics

In a given year, I read between 50 and 150 books and graphic novels. Most of them are science fiction and fantasy, varying from current pulp crap (Battletech/Mechwarrior novels are my personal guilty favorite) to grand-master masterworks (Dune, LotR, Hyperion, etc). The graphic novels tend towards the Vertigo and other "mature readers" lines (no, that's not porn!) instead of mainstream superheros. I also follow about 20 different comics at any given time. This takes up a lot of time, but it's worth it...

TV and Movies

I love long stories, and TV and movies can bring it to me occasionally. I own hundreds (thousands?) of DVDs, split fairly evenly between movies and television shows; and I spend a lot of time every week just keeping up with my favorite shows on my TiVo (well, DirecTiVo). I love going to see movies with friends whenever possible. I'm especially fond of cartoons, for whatever reason (I guess it's easier to ignore the faults).

Gaming

My friends and I spend a lot of time (2 evenings a week or so) playing board games, such as The Settlers of Catan, Carcassone, Acquire, Puerto Rico, Railroad Tycoon, and many others. I'm not really sure what got us so interested in the games, but it's something that we can do together and feel like we're thinking. A lot more information on my personal tastes can be found at Board Game Geek.

I used to play RPGs a lot, and still keep up with several games both out of habit and fascination (Battletech, Shadowrun, Paranoia). I'd love to get back into actually playing these some time, but I never seem to have the time...

And, of course, there's video and computer games. I tend towards the strategy and RPG games over first-person shooters, and think that the SNES era brought us the best console games; but that's about all I can offer.

Politics

I'm always a fan of politics, though not as much as I once was. I have, historically, spent a large amount of time fighting authority (officially and otherwise), looking for ways to obviate the need for government, and arguing about what things we need to keep because only a large political body can truly do them well. I believe in legalizing almost everything under the sun, giving everyone the freedom to choose their own destiny, informing everybody about everything, and keeping the rights of everyone to defend themselves and to be left alone.

As I have grown older, I have grown ever-further alienated from the mainstream Libertarian Party, and pushed towards... well, nothing in particular. I hate what the current administrations are doing at the state and federal level, and don't mind so much at the local level; but I haven't committed enough to do anything about it (except voting, of course). I expect that something will eventually make me stand up and do something aobut it.

Usenet

My online hobby of choice has long been Usenet, a collection of thousands of newsgroups for discussing anything and everything using a consistent and well-designed interface. I've been using it since 1993 or so; and I'm currently the Chair of the Big-8 Management Board, which is in charge of the oldest and most well-respected section of Usenet. At this point, we're just trying to keep the network alive... but I love it, and I'm obsessed with it, and I hope that some day it will flourish again.

Music

I don't go out and dance often, but I am a great fan of dance music (the techno varieties, anyway), specifically Happy Hardcore, Trance, and Eurodance (though a few other genres make their way in every now and then). My collection is fairly large and esoteric, and I spend many of my waking hours listening to di.fm. Nobody is quite sure where this near-obsession came from, and I like it that way.

Other and Misc

I'm a TransFan (a collector of Transformers). I quite enjoy playing with Legos. I spent 50 months in an improvisational comedy troupe, just so I could make stuff up in front of an audience; if the opportunity opens itself up again, I'm sure I'll take it. I garage sale as a hobby during the proper seasons. I tend to be a major gossipmonger amongst my friends. I like seeing the occasional play or show. And I'm sure there's plenty more things that I just can't think of right now...

/Usenet finally got its own section?/

*It should have been there decades ago*

Prized Possessions

/Yes, Tim is a fairly materialistic kind of guy/

*Is he? I just thought he was trying to share*

I own a lot of stuff that I'm truly proud of. Most of it isn't what you'd expect, though - my computers really don't fit on that list, because anybody can have those, and neither does my stereo, and so forth. No, I'm thinking more of my toys, my cool electronics, my books, my music, and so forth...

If you hadn't guessed, I probably want more of the same. If you've got cool books, comics, video games, toys, or something else similar that you think I specifically might want to buy, give me a mail... (Note, this is not an invitation for spam mail - you'd better want me to buy it...)

/Besides, the spam would be filtered/

*You know, we should just be happy that he didn't list us as a possession*

/Oh, come on, Tim doesn't practice slavery.../

Favorites

*Favorites?*

/Favorites/

*Favorites!*

I certainly have favorites in a lot of things, but those favorites change fairly regularly and I'm no good at actually looking back to figure out what they might be. So look at this not so much as a snapshot of what I like at the time of writing, but of a list of items that I've been interested in in the past. So, in no particular order:

Books Titles Cryptonomicon; The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy; the Illuminatus! trilogy; Snow Crash; Foundation; Hyperion (and sequels); a wide variety of Discworld books; Guns, Germs, and Steel; The Amazing Adventures of Kavalier and Clay; Jonathon Strange & Mr. Norrel; Surrender Your Dreams (Mechwarrior); The Atrocity Archives; Dune; World War Z; The Curse of Chalion; the Uplift novels;
Authors Steven Brust, Neal Stephenson, Dan Simmons, Charles Stross, Lois McMaster Bujold, Isaac Asimov, Robert Heinlein, Frank Herbert, Terry Pratchett, Michael Stackpole, David Weber, Douglas Adams, JRR Tolkein, David Weber, Michael Chabon, David Brin
Ongoing Series Battletech, Shadowrun, Discworld, Dresden Files, Honor Harrington, Kushiel
RPGs Shadowrun, Battletech, Earthdawn, Paranoia, Delta Green
Comics Graphic Novels / Miniseries Watchmen, The Dark Knight Returns, Midnight Nation, Maus, Batman: Year One, Box Office Poison, Sin City, Scene of the Crime: A Little Piece of Goodnight, Death: the Time of Your Life
Series Ongoing: Fables, Y: The Last Man, Walking Dead, She-Hulk, Runaways, All-Star Superman
Complete: Sandman, Transmetropolitan, Starman, Hitman, Books of Magic, The Invisibles, most of the defunct Eye of the Storm imprint.
Writers Neil Gaiman, Frank Miller, Warren Ellis, Grant Morrison, Garth Ennis, Mike Carey, Brian Michael Bendis, Ed Brubaker
Artists Alex Ross, Peter Gross, Steve Dillon, Darick Robertson, Jhonen Vasquez, Jacen Burrows. (You know what? I like a lot of artists, but I'm still quite bad at identifying them from memory. I'll get back to this one.)
Toys Transformers The Classics line had the best toys in recent memory, the Binaltech/Alternators and Masterpiece lines are glorious, and the G1 toys had fun toys and nostalgia, but it's the Beast Wars line that impressed me most thanks to an incredible storyline. How many kid TV shows do know of that include major characters contemplating suicide at the start of the episode? Wonderful stuff.
LEGO What can really be said about them? They rule. They stack. You can make dinosaurs out of them. And the Star Wars line has been expensive but incredibly cool. Next up: the 5,000-piece Millenium Falcon.
Video Games Strategy I'm a great fan of both turn-based (Civilization/Alpha Centauri, Master of Orion, X-Com) style games and the real-time genre (Starcraft/Warcraft, Command and Conquer). My favorites are still SMAC and Starcraft.
Role-Playing Final Fantasy games (especially II/IV, VII, III/VI, and Tactics), Fallout I+II, and the old GoldBox series are my favorite RPGs of all time. Truth be told, I haven't played that many beyond them...
Infocom Infocom made the best games of all time. They were good text-based adventures, with real puzzles and plots that were interesting. Sure, they went out of business years ago, but their legacy remains. A few of their best: The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy, Wishbringer, Zork I-III and Beyond Zork, the Enchanter series, Planetfall, A Mind Forever Voyaging, and the graphical Battletech Crescent Hawk's Inception and Crescent Hawk's Revenge.
Other Star Control II (the absolute best game ever made), Smash Bros Melee, Blast Corps, Killer Instinct Gold, Mario Kart series, Advance Wars series
Board/Card Games Puerto Rico, Caylus, Settlers of Catan, Twilight Imperium (3rd Edition), Vegas Showdown), Acquire, Ra, Arkham Horror, Fairy Tale, Betrayal at House on the Hill, Power Grid, RoboRally, San Juan, Ticket to Ride, Railroad Tycoon
Buttons Don't Panic, Support Your Right to Arm Bears, Do it NOW, Programming Republic of Perl, Beware: I know Judo, Karate, Kung Fu, and 15 other Japanese Words, Beth & Tim / May 19, 2007, <FISH><, and a few hundred more.
Food Indian Mostly curries and vendaloos, not *too* insanely spicy. Favorite location: Bombay Grill
Thai Pad Thai, Curry, Pad See You (probably misspelled). Favorite locations: Thai at the Y (Pad Thai), Basil Thai (comfort food), Thara Thai, Siam Terrace
Japanese (Sushi) Unagi, Hamachi, and a variety of the trappings around them. Favorite locations: Kamakura for pieces, Miko for the teppan table, Sushi Kame (rolls)
Skyline Chili I've been eating Skyline Chili since I was less than a year old, if the stories my parents tell me are true. It's the premeire Cincinatti Chili, served over spaghetti and spicy in a really strange way. It's just good stuff, that few people know about.
Music Genres While I'm most into techno in its various forms (trance, rave, eurodance, etc; try here for some constant MP3 streams that I listen to, especially the Trance channels), I also enjoy listening to what I affectionately refer to as "meta-music" (music that makes fun of other music) and, oddly, Australian Folk Music. Don't ask me to explain that last one.
Bands Scooter (german hardcore), Juno Reactor (good, strong techno), Moby (techno that follows every single style out there), Blümchen/Blossom (happy bouncy German pop), E-Type (techno with good lyrics), Christopher Franke (B5 music), RMB (very interesting techno; it's hard to explain), and "Weird Al" Yankovic. And I won't bother to explain why, beyond "they're in my favorite genres".
Albums Excess All Areas (Scooter), This World Is Yours (RMB), Happy 2B Hardcore Chapters 1-7 (Various), Life Goes On (Sash!), Herzfrequenz (Blumchen), Vegas (The Crystal Method), Everything is Wrong (Moby), Expedicion (Dune), Last Man Standing (E-Type), Beyond the Infinite (Juno Reactor), Firestarter Single (The Prodigy)
Songs Rise (Yoko Kanno), Nessaja (Scooter), Inner Universe (Yoko Kanno), Good To Be Back (Scooter), Hey Man, Nice Shot (Filter), Messages From Earth (Christopher Franke), I'm Feeling So Real (Moby), Fable (Robert Miles), Here I Go Again (E-Type), High Energy Protons (Juno Reactor), Starchild (Starchild), Firestarter (Prodigy; especially the Empirion Mix), Boomerang (Blumchen)
Computer Programs Editor vi, and vim in specific. I really have a hard time working without it; the hjkl movement keys are ingrained in my brain.
Newsreader nn, the "No News is Good News" newsreader. It lets me actually get through the hundreds of groups I'm subscribed to with a minimum of effort. I wish it was really maintained.
Operating System Unix in general, and probably Solaris in particular. I try to avoid Windows except for gaming and compatibility. But I do have a firm belief that all operating systems suck.
Web Browser lynx. I suppose I could get used to w3m or links, but I haven't yet. I tend towards Mozilla for graphical browsing.
TV Sci-Fi/Drama Babylon 5 (the best TV sci-fi ever), Battlestar Galactica, The Shield, The Office, Arrested Development, Twin Peaks (such an interesting, strange story!), Law & Order (original only; fast-paced, lots of content), Farscape, Buffy the Vampire Slayer
Cartoons Beast Wars (the show that prompted me to start watching cartoons again), Space Ghost: Coast to Coast (the single most surreal show on television), Cartoon Planet (the old title-holder of most-surreal), Cartoon Network's Adult Swim block (Aqua Teen Hunger Force, Harvey Birdman: Attorney at Law, and Sealab 2021 are the likely successors for most-surreal), Invader Zim, Ghost in the Shell: Stand Alone Complex, The Simpsons and Futurama (Yay Matt Groening!) Robotech (the show that brought anime to the USA, and killed everyone on earth to boot), Escaflowne, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles, Robot Chicken
Other The Daily Show, TV Nation/The Awful Truth (the best parody show(s) the world has ever seen), Iron Chef
Movies Fellowship of the Rings, Bad Boys, Empire Records, Run Lola Run, South Park: Bigger, Longer, and Uncut, Cane Toads: an Unnatural History, Sin City, Shaun of the Dead, Hot Fuzz, Freaked, Mortal Kombat, The Matrix, Election, The Big Lebowski, Die Hard
Actors Zooey Deschenel, Sandra Oh, Steve Carrel, Ed Helms, Bruce Campbell, Michael O'Hare, Wayne Alexander, Angela Bassett, Neve Campbell, Clint Eastwood, Madeline Kahn, Andreas Katsulas, Claudia Black.
Heroes Jenny Holzer Jenny Holzer is an artist that puts small messages in odd places and is widely renowned for it. I was awed when I saw a silly LCD scrolling sign in Arnhem (in the Netherlands), and I've been impressed ever since. But it's...hard to explain.
J. Michael Straczynski JMS made Babylon 5 and kept it alive for 5 years against all odds. And he enjoyed doing it, because it made waves all the way through life. If nothing else, this was my best lesson of "you can do anything you put your mind to if you're willing to sacrifice everything", something I did need to know... Plus, he stayed on Usenet and offered a back-channels commentary for the duration. I really appreciated that.
James "Kibo" Parry Kibo was the first of the real net.legends, the first guy that figured out how to search for his name and reply to everything that mentioned him. He's also irreverant as hell, and a good example of what Usenet should be. Besides, he likes me.
Michael Moore While I can't even pretend to agree with his politics, Michael Moore just gives me warm-fuzzies because he's so damned fearless in the face of authority, and goes out of his way to prove it. Maybe some day.
Animals Cats It's probably just that I'm not a dog person, but...hey, they're fun, they fight with you, and they're probably more intelligent than all of us. It's nice dealing with somebody smarter than me that actually likes me.
Australian Animals Wombats rule. Kangaroos rule. Most of their birds rule. Hell, even their snakes rule, even if I should be scared to death of them (I like reptiles too much for that, though).
Lizards Lizards are just so...odd. They're usually boring as hell, just sitting around sunning themselves, but then they decide they want to move... It helps that I've owned a few in my day, of course.
Gods Mambatu He's the God of Turnips. No, I don't particularly like turnips; but I like Mambatu.
Eris The Goddess of Discord. I came damned close to deciding to officially worship Her after reading the Illumninatus! Trilogy, and while it's probably a good thing I didn't, I'm still impressed...
Athena The Goddess of Technology and Patron of Geeks. It took me a while to finally decide that this was true, but Cryptonimocon convinced me. Yay.

*We never did decide who his favorite Daemon was, did we?*

/We'd better just shut up and hope it's not his ModBots, Nik.../

Last Modified: Thu, Jun 28 2007

Guard your honor. Let your reputation fall where it will. And outlive the bastards.

- Lord Aral Vorkosigan, A Civil Campaign

Being weird isn't enough.

- Pump up the Volume

This is the cooperative nursery school, and you've got to cooperate with me!

- Tim Skirvin, age 3

Why Is Skirv Here?

/Aah, for the section of tables/
*You know, I wouldn't put it past him anymore to make himself a page with frames. That'd be odd*
/Anyway, the question of why you are here concerns how you got where you are, so this is Skirv's past, in all its glory/
*And we're going to refrain from comment on this section. It's never really gone well in the past, and I doubt it would now...*

Living

While I did spend most of my life living in the same place, those moves that I have made have been rather large. It's certainly enough to have to explain where I've been and why...

Years Location Description
1977 - 1995,
Summer 1997		 Champaign, IL If you hadn't guessed from the dates, this is where I grew up. It's an odd house, filled with more oddities than anybody can really understand without seeing it; there are entire rooms filled with books, walls covered in buttons, stuffed animals everywhere, disembodied legs hanging over the railing, and just more stuff than I can legitimately explain here. My room is upstairs, an old closet from the larger room I shared with my brother; it's still a great place to sleep, and has a lot of my stuff in it. I still consider it all a home. And luckily, my parents have far too much stuff to ever consider moving.
Fall 1985 - Spring 1986 Lincoln, New Zealand One day when I was eight, my parents came in and showed us New Zealand on a globe and told us we were going there. I was far too young to understand. It was an interesting sabbatacal, if mildly traumatic for a kid who was in the process of finding friends; our house there was nice, at least, even if the TV left something to be desired and we weren't there all that often because Mom and Dad would drag us on trips all the time. But I enjoyed it, which is more than I can say for the Australia trip. And by reports, I was changed by it too.
Fall 1991 - Spring 1992 Melbourne, Australia When my parents told us that we were going to Australia, this time I had enough experience to know that it might not be in my best interests. This, combined with my age (rebellious teenager!), was enough to make me hate every minute of my time in Australia. Sure, it was neat seeing uncensored movies on TV, I got a whole lot of books read, the animals ruled, I had a cool lizard, and I actually got my own room, but it wasn't enough to keep me happy. Of course, because I went I'm sane today, but that wasn't much comfort at the time - although, again, the animals were.
Fall 1995 - Spring 1996 Allen Hall 2 Center When I first moved to Allen, I lived with some friends from high school, Andy and George. It was a good living experience, and also gave me plenty of chances to go downstairs and play with others - certainly enough to begin my reign in Allen. And at the time I didn't even mind the floor, even though it was mostly frat wannabes...
Summer 1996 Fallon, NV While working for CERL, I spent a lot of time stationed at the Navy base in Fallon. I had a security clearance, I lived in an military hotel, I ate less than $2/day on food... And I won't do that again.
Fall 1996 - Spring 1997 Allen Hall 4 North Before I lived on 4N, it was the Gay Floor - which is what drew me in (there's certain value in having everybody assume the wrong thing about you). Unforunately, it seems like everybody else had the same idea, because it became a rehash of 2C... I jumped from room to room during the year, disliking most of it, and eventually ended up living in a room that I didn't even have a key to. All in all, a bad experience, if interesting.
February 1997 Allen Hall Commons After a particularly bad fight with my roommates that ended with my bed being filled with crap after returning from a long roadtrip, I moved into the Commons for a couple of days. It was a strange experience, just sleeping down there and watching over the few things I'd brought along. I really didn't mind it all that much, though. If nothing else, it cemented my position as "strange" in Allen, and I'm still happy that Mike eventually gave me a real place to sleep.
Fall 1997 - Spring 1999 Allen Hall Ground South Ground South was, in my mind, the pinnacle of what Allen Hall was about - a place where everybody had their own strange ideas about how things should go and didn't mind making them happen. I was elected President of the floor as soon as I joined up, and spent my time promoting their interests and doing stuff for my new friends; it was a wonderful experience, and one that I wish I could continue indefinitely. May the Ground South Empire live forever. RAs Tsuck! Damn the Man! And his Doors!
Summer 1998 & 1999 h0l The h0l, originally the House of Leet, is a house full of computer geeks and other odd people. I lived both summers on the third floor, away from anybody that would try to bother me when I didn't want to be; I learned to get along with a lot of people that I would have never dealt with otherwise, too. And I finally got accepted as part of the local geek Real Life culture as a result of it. All in all, it was a worthy experience. Besides, they're still hosting one of my machines...
Fall 1999 - Summer 2000 Brak's Apartment of Sunshine and Light Finally done with Allen, my first instinct was to move into h0l to finish off my college career. Then, one day, I realized that this would probably be a bad idea, thanks to a lot of fights brewing (a few of which I got reluctantly but directly involved in - *shiver*). Instead, I decided to live with Caitte (my recently adopted sister) and James (one of the first people I met my freshman year) - a combination that was almost guaranteed to kill us all. But, through mockery and a good sense of self-preservation, we survived. It wasn't even that bad - well, not most of the time. Sometimes it was downright unlivable. But I got along so well with James, and managed to keep Caitte out of most trouble... It was good. And I even got to put Brak on the door...
Fall 2000 - Summer 2001 Brak's Dungeon of Doom (and Tim + Darren) By the time I realized I was staying in C-U, it was too late to stay in BASL - which would have been my first choice, even without any roommates to keep me company. Instead, I got ahold of Darren, one of my successors in Allen, and talked him into sharing a place with me. Sadly, we chose a place in Champaign. It looked like it was going to work, we had a good landlord and everything... But we had racial slurs directed our way, our apartment vandalized, the ceiling of the bathroom fall in, and our landlord sell the place to CPM, the worst landlords on campus. Dammit.
Fall 2001 - Summer 2002 Brak's Tower of De-Light! Escaping BDOD was a good idea, especially since I didn't have to lose Darren as a roommate. BTOD was in a nice location in Urbana, across from a church; it was much larger than the last place, in better shape, and just felt nicer in general. The best part was that it was within walking distance of work and all of my friends (particularly useful the first half of the year, but still nice the second). We left, though, because Darren bought his own place and asked me to live with him. Fair enough.
Fall 2002 - Spring 2005 Darren's House Darren took posession of his new place (a condo by name, it looks closer to a townhouse) on May 15 2002, and we moved in in late July/early August. It's a nice place in deep Urbana, much larger than anything else we'd lived in before but also way off the beaten path; on the other hand, it's also right across the street from groceries and plenty of other stores, and is on several major bus routes. I lived here for two-and-a-half years, before finally going out and buying my own place... and I move out in a few weeks now. I'm going to miss living here.
Spring 2005 - Winter 2007 Skirv's House I really miss owning a house.
Winter 2007 - Birch Creek Apartments I'm not used to the rent, but it's a nice 1100sqf apartment in Mountain View, CA. I have nice furniture, there's fish ponds, and I'm well off the street. It's... adult. So odd!

Education

My formal education is finished. I still can't really believe it. There may be something more eventually, like grad school, after I work up the urge to do more school and the nerve to apply. But then again, there may not. You never know.

Years School Notes
1979-1982 Co-Op Nursery School
Urbana, Illinois		 I don't remember too much of Co-Op, except what's been told to me by my parents - I was a terror, I learned a whole lot, and I gained a lot of my personality from interacting with all of those kids and, more importantly, their parents. Overall, it gave me a basis for the rest of my life. Yay.
1982-1985 Westview Elementary
Champaign, Illinois		 I spent most of my time here skipping between classes, because my Kindergarten teacher figured out that I already knew my letters when I started, and it snowballed from there. The teachers were good, and I met Sean here, but that's about all that I remember.
1985-1986 Lincoln Elementary
Lincoln, New Zealand		 I was here for six months total, 3 of which were summer and therefore didn't have any school. We had to wear uniforms, all of my friend kept on moving away, and my teachers tried to make me write in cursive. It was odd.
1986-1988 Dr. Howard Elementary
Champaign, Illinois		 Both years here were with Mr Elrick, probably the best teacher I've ever had. I learned, I got picked on, I began to carve myself out a niche, and then I had to leave grade school. At least I learned some Latin on the way.
1988-1989 Edison Middle School
Champaign, Illinois		 Mom claims it's gotten better since I went here; I believe her, since it couldn't get that much worse. The classes were pathetically easy, my classmates were cruel and unreined, my teachers usually knew less than I did, and I just plain hated the entire year; the only thing I really learned was how to type. Luckily, I escaped, and only slightly scarred.
1989-1991 University High School
Urbana, Illinois		 Uni is a "gifted" school, half-public and half-private. I ran here from Edison partially because I was good enough to get in, but mostly because I couldn't stand Edison anymore. I started at Uni alone and friendless, but a good student; while I was still picked on, the taunts were a lot more friendly and I felt that I could respond in kind. As a result, at the end of these two years, I'd reversed myself - I had some friends, but was losing out on my grades. And then I got taken to Australia and held back for a year...
1991-1992 Kingswood College
Melbourne, Australia		 This was my oddest school experience of my life. The entire school was divided into four teams (I was on Brunning), decided when you or your family started in the school, which always competed in everything; oddly, it was kindof entertaining. Besides, I was a good luck charm. I didn't learn much, especially since they tried to toss me into French III when I'd barely heard the language before. Aah, well. At least it was tolerable, unlike most of my experiences there (going away from home when you're a teenager isn't much fun), and it got me back on track...
1992-1995 University High School
Urbana, Illinois		 When I came back to Uni, I quickly lost my old friends and began caring about grades again. This time, to be interesting, I also immersed myself in computers - or at least BBS's. But by the end of high school, I was back in the thick of things - riling up trouble, making lots of friends, meeting all of the lower classmen just because I could, and still doing pretty well in my classes. I'd have to say that this was the beginning of my actual life...
1995-1999 University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, ECE
Urbana, Illinois		 When I applied for UIUC, it was just because it was local (and because we'd been forced to apply in English class); I essentially chose my major randomly. I turned out to enjoy it, though, and spent the next 4.5 years stumbling through it as I did far too many extracurricular activities, made more friends than I knew what to do with, and generally learned to be me. And, of course, I learned Electrical and Computer Engineering, like I was supposed to. And I liked it.

Work

I haven't had that many different jobs in my life, but I've held down those I've had for a long time, they've all made an impact, and I've even been pretty good at most of them.

Time Title Location Description
Summer 1994 Mowing Lawns Around Champaign Doesn't everybody need a job like this once in their lives? I made some money, learned that physical labor sucks, and got myself a whole bunch of books with the proceeds. It wasn't fun, but it was work.
Summer 1995 Playtester Parallax Software When I saw the signs around DCL advertising for playtesters, I never figured that the company would actually do well, or that I'd actually work for them. When I eventually started, though, I realized that their game was good; now, I can look out at the world and say that my name is in the credits of Descent, one of the pioneer first-person games (not quite at Wolf3D/Doom/Quake level, but close). And it was fun. Yay. (Look, proof!)
Summer 1995 Web Surfer Luke Nosek For the summer of 1995, my real job was sitting infront of a computer and doing web browsing. A couple of friends of mine had come up with the concept of web advertising, you see, slightly before there was a chance of it actually working; unfortunately, it didn't work. But that's okay, I still got some money, and realized that there were non- manual-labor jobs I disliked more than anything else. Advertising is evil. But I was there, at the dawn of the new age of the web...
October 1995 - May 1999 Computer Consultant Math Department @ UIUC When I was applying for this, my first real job, I got the impression that their standards were ridiculously high for what looked to be a basic labsitter job. After I got the job, I began to figure out why - the Math Department's labs depended on us, because they didn't have enough staff to take care of everything. I spent the next few years here, writing webpages and doing stuff on my own while making sure the lab didn't fall apart; eventually I stopped, and, as far as I can tell, their final decline is in progress as I type this. Aah, well.
Summer 1996 Research Assistant United States Army - Construction Engineering Research Labs (USA-CERL) When I signed up to work for CERL, I thought that I was going to be a programmer. Unfortunately, my interview hadn't put my programming skills at the forefront; instead, I was a research assistant/ lackey that just followed my boss (Paul Schomer) around and tried to fix things. This forced me to travel to Fallon, NV, where I spent the summer recording and analyzing explosion noises. It wasn't that bad, but it was enough to keep me from sticking around during the next year, and gave me a healthy distrust for Corporate America.
February 1999 to March 20, 2000 News Administrator Center for Reliable and High-Performance Computing @ UIUC While still working for the Math Department, one of my friends (Tom) walked up to me one day and said "want to actually be a news admin?" I gladly said yes, and thereby got the best job of my life... I was actually more of a general system administrator, maintaining a few hundred machines of various platforms with my neurotic but friendly boss and co-workers; still, I got the title, and I learned a lot more about how news works. It was a nice little base of operations, and most certainly the best job that a college student that wanted to be an admin (read: me) could have. Plus, it led directly to my next one...
March 21, 2000 - Systems Administrator (3/2000 - 10/2001),
Senior Systems Administrator (11/2001 - 11/2007) 		Theoretical and Computational Biophysics Group @ UIUC Now that I'm five years into this job, I finally feel a bit qualified to say just what I'm doing here. My official role is 'sysadmin' - the guy in charge of taking care of all of the 250 machines, and the people (50-100, depending on your count) that need to use them. My unofficial role is 'living memory'; I know as much about what's going on in this group as anybody, and I'm pretty good at using that information to keep things running in the background. I've got a couple of assistants, and can call upon the help of the staff and 5-10 grad students at any given time if I need it. The place runs about as smoothly, computer-wise, as any place I've ever seen; and I feel like I've integrated myself into it as tightly as anybody could hope. Now if I only had a clear chain of command above me...
Systems Software Developer (12/2007 - present) Stanford University, Information Technology Systems, Unix Team (I'll write this up later.)
Feb-Aug 2004 Volunteer Computer Guy Center for Women in Trasition My brother's friend John started asking a few months ago whether I would like to make a few extra bucks doing some basic computer support for the CWT, a local women's shelter. I didn't want the money, but I did want to just do some volunteer work, so I worked on it for a while. Sadly, my time started to drop off and I just wasn't able to get much done, so I gave up after a few months; but it was nice while it lasted, and gave me a better impression of what working with a Windows environment is like...

Accomplishments

Outside of work and school, I've still done a hell of a lot in my life. While I can't say that I know which are the most prominent, at least I know that all of this stuff has been important, and that it doesn't really fit into any other categories.

Accomplishment Meaning
Founding the Big-8 Management Board This was my first real work put in to try to build something that would outlast me. It's been painful, and has taken far more of my time and energy than I ever really expected that it would, but I'm proud of what we've done, and what we continue to do. Newsgroups are still being created thanks to us , and there would have been no removal process without our support. We did good.
Buying a House It was a nice rite of passage! And now maintaining it is a pain in the butt, but it still induces pride whenever I think of it.
Saving Usenet @ UIUC Yes, that probably overstates my position a bit, but the idea is still there. A few months ago (as of Nov 2003), the local computing organization decided that supporting Usenet on campus was no longer viable, for financial reasons. Considering this foolish, I created a student organization to run our own news server, donating my own hardware (and a large amount of my time) to continue a campus news service. And the thing works. I even wrote a few software packages to help out with this... To me, this is community service. I am oh-so-proud of it.
Being Caitte's Bridesmaid Yeah, it's a bit silly, but I really was honored to be actually in my sister's wedding. I caught the bouquet and all, which was nice, but...well, consider it the other side of the being-adopted-by-Mel thing. I had to adopt Caitte myself, but she truly accepted it and believed in it, and I will always love her for that if nothing else.
Surviving the Breakup In September 2000, a girl threw a fork at me, and we fell in love shortly thereafter. Then, in January 2002 when I was about to follow her to grad school, she decided that she was no longer happy and dumped me without warning. The whole experience was certainly up there in the most important and traumatic events in my life, but what came of it is that I came out of it alive, sane, only mildly bitter, and much more appreciative of modern music and drama. I faced my fears and survived with my scruples and, surprisingly, virtually all of my friends.
Being adopted by Mel Really, it's the series of events that led up to the adoption that's truly an accomplishment; being Mel's brother is nice, too, but it's knowing that I affected her life so much that she'd want me as her sibling that truly made it glorious. It was one of the early days in the school year my Junior year at Allen; I was cheerfully and obnoxiously bringing people into a group of people chatting in the Commons by spotting freshmen and shouting "Hey, you! Get over here, sit down, and talk with us! What's your name?". It was always fun...but in Mel's case, I brought her into a permanent social group out of the deal. She considers that event one of the pivotal moments in her life. And now, I have one of my best friends because of a good deed. How could I *not* be proud of that?
Talking down Jim Cowling Jim Cowling is an old-school Usenet user, focusing on rec.arts.comics.*; he's well-respected and, to some extent, feared, because he tends to go off on strange ideas and rants with little provocation. One day, his strange ideas involved going on a mass cancelling spree, and he started talking about it in news.admin.*. And somehow I, having never met the guy before, managed to talk him out of it. It's not so much that I helped Usenet, it's that I *negotiated*, and it *worked*. I didn't think I had it in me.
Becoming 'Senior' after 18 months There's something extremely satisfying about having a job title with 'Senior' in it before you're 24. It's especially satisfying to think that you actually deserve it.
Getting South Park on the air One day, right after Thanksgiving break, my friend Jesse brought me a tape containing a wondefully hilarious five-minute short, The Spirit of Christmas. After showing it to everybody in my dorm, I decided that more of the world had to see it, and so with the help of a few other friends (DB and Tom) we got it digitized and put it up on the web. I proceeded to spend the next several months making sure it stayed up (it was big, and the University didn't like it). Eventually, it all paid off when I found out that Comedy Central had picked the series up, and decided to call it South Park... Nowadays, I'm kindof embarrassed of the show, having seen what kind of terrible cultural scourge it has become, but it's still funny.
PEPSI, Groundlings of the Quad, Campus Crusade for Cthulhu, New Sci-Fi Assocation Throughout college, I knew it was fun to make and run organizations that looked silly but actually had a strange social opinion to express. As such, I did it. PEPSI is/was "People Enjoying Pop Sold Indepently", an organization dedicated to breaking the Coke monopoly that the University inflicted upon us. The Groundlings are there to mock Quad Preachers in a fair and semi-sanctioned way. The Crusade wasn't really my idea, but still was a fun alternative to being in one of the Christian groups on campus. And the NSA was there because there needed to be somebody reading the campus' Science Fiction.
Net.Legend Status Thanks to all of my FAQs, newsgroups, pieces of software, offered opinions, posting habits, and mail from Kibo, one day I was awarded Net.Legend status by those that can do so - namely, ones own self. I firmly believe that I've done good. Of course, I also believe that others would agree, and if the net.legends FAQ were updated I'd be in it...
Creating free.* free.* is Usenet's one true anarchy. Most people hate it; I certainly don't use it very often, and my server only subscribes to a few groups, but I still consider it a useful thing. Why? Well, it shows that while rules do make things better, that still doesn't make them absolutely necessary. This is something that's good for my sensibilities. And besides, I did it myself, in the face of dozens of people telling me that I was evil for even considering it.
Program Advisor in Exile For more than a year, I put on more programs (let alone successful ones) than any of the real PAs were doing while living at Allen. It got kindof ridiculous when I was putting on barbeques with little actual planning and doing better than anybody had done for years... but it's certainly something I'm proud of.
Ground Center RA, 1998-1999 Ground Center consists of the Commons, the Cafeteria, the Computer Lab, and the Library. I was given the title by Jessi, the old GC RA, and took it fairly seriously for the year that I claimed the title; the Commons were my ward. For all that it was worth.
Allen19 While I can't be credited with creating Allen19, I did keep its legacy alive for a long time. I led it through wars, brought it many new freshmen, kept its sprit alive as I fought with University officials and other students. I brought it things to go after and play with, and I organized it into a unified fighting force. Of course, most people will tell you that all of that is bunk. But hey, I believe it, and that's what counts...
Keeping Like Disco... Alive As an Engineer, I should have no idea how to keep a theatre troupe alive. The role was forced upon me, though, as all of the people that actually knew anything about it left - and so I kept a bunch of people together and recruited more at a decent pace for the year and a half that I was in charge of LDBNR. And I even had a good time doing it. It's still alive now, years later, perhaps holding on by a thread but that's okay...
Graduating on MY Terms It may not seem like much, but after 4.5 years of attacks, threats, challenges, and everything else that the University and all of its bureacrats could throw at me, I have made it out alive. Never during any of it did I break my own rules, give into the system, or even let the University go unchallenged. Additionally, during this time I made an incredible amount out of myself, and did more work for what I believed in than any five other students could do if they spent all of their time on it. And I did this in one of the hardest programs in the University. In retrospect, this was clearly impossible. Luckily, I didn't know that at the time.
Being a news admin Being a real honest-to-Gods news admin was such a wonderful thing... I put the server up on my own, and ran it for months with a *real* news feed - and did a better job of it than the UIUC admins. That's what I wanted, and that's what I got. Of course, it went away eventually, but so goes life; maybe some day I'll get to do it again. Beyond my personal server, of course...

Other than that, there's my FAQs, my newsgroups, my Damnings from Quad Preachers, my membership in the National Residence Hall Honorary, my published articles, my old Hall Council title of Internal Vice President and Ground South President, my piles of newsgroups about me, my software, and a whole pile of other things that I don't really want to deal with right now. I've done a lot. Really.

Last Modified: Wed, Jul 25 2007

Samurai fool, your efforts are in vain again, this gateway into the past is once more beyond your rea...you can fly?!
No, jump good!

- Aku and Jack, Samurai Jack

We're told every day, beaten down with the notion that we're powerless, that we can't win, you can't fight city hall... and of course it's not true. You can fight. And sometimes, you can even win.

- JMS, on The Coming of Shadows

Where Is Skirv Going?

*I'd say 'Hell', except that he'd enjoy it far too much*

/I'm voting on 'anyplace but California'/

*Regardless - this is Skirv's future*

Goals

As always, I can divide these up into three categories: short-term, medium-term, and long-term.

Short-Term

Release News::Verimod the rest of the way. Push the rest of my newsgroups into it.

Figure out a good next step career-wise.

Re-gather friends, and become like I once was. Make sure I'm still in touch with the closest friends.

Medium-Term

Another large-scale web update would be nice.

House repair stuff - fix that gutter, make the fireplace work, re-do the electricity. Most of this is really "get the savings to pay for it".

Get back to doing some more volunteer work. Don't stagnate where I am, or with the projects I'm currently working on...

Put together a public large-scale newsgroup moderation service.

Long-Term

I want to get into politics and save the entire damned world. I'm pretty sure I won't really be able to do that, sure, but it's possible - and I know where to start, if nothing else.

Beyond that...well, I don't know. I wouldn't mind having kids someday, I suppose. I'm sure my career path will take all sorts of strange turns that I'll enjoy, but there's no specific place I want to be in five years. But overall... I think I want to survive, be happy, and find myself some specific and realistic goals. If I can do that, then I'll be content with life.

(You know your goals are long-term when they don't change from year to year.)

Goals last modified: Thu, Jun 28 2007

*He's really not being very specific, is he?*

/Umm...just go on to the next section to understand why, Nik.../

The Future

Let me let you in on a little secret: I haven't a clue what the future is going to bring.

No, really. I mean it. I don't know what's going to happen next. I've graduated from college and gotten a job, but now what? Am I going to keep this job and just stick around here forever? My instincts are telling me to stay here, but I consciously know that I should get out of here some day. Grad school, perhaps? Or how about just heading off to California, or New York, or even just Chicago?

And that's only the first step. What happens when I decide I need to get married? Have kids? What about a career? Am I really going to go into politics, like I've thought and feared all along? Where am I really going to end up? What am I going to do?

The truth of the matter is, I really have no idea where I'm going. I'm beginning to understand one possible shape that the next few years could take, yes; that's about it, though. But that shape would just work... Well, we'll find out as we get there, won't we?

/He's cheering up/

*That's just because he got a job*

/No, it's more than that - I don't think he's kidding about beginning to see his life take shape. That's gotta be helping him out a lot/

*So why doesn't he say anything about it?*

/On a guess, he doesn't want to jinx it.../

Last Modified: Thu, Jun 28 2007

...by God I *KNOW* what this network is for, and you can't have it.

- Russ Allbery, <m3n2e76mkx.fsf_-_@windlord.Stanford.EDU>

Live forever, apes.

- Lieutenant Razack, Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles

What does Skirv Get When He Multiplies Six By Nine?

*He gets 42*

/Tim has made friends in the past by people answering that question successfully.../

*And it's that kind of obscurity that this section is about - explaining who he is and what he wants is nice, but some things need to be spelled out to understand*

Warnings

Over the years, I've watched lots of people get hurt trying to figure me out, and I've been personally burned by the fallout. Therefore, I offer a few warnings about me and my personality - things you should watch out for, if you plan to actually get to know me.

/And, as always: "Beware of the Daemons"/

*We are subtle and quick to anger...*

Last Modified: Wed, Mar 19 2003

Disclaimers

/It amuses me that Tim needs this/

*It's just a fact of like in the human world, Kile...*

/That doesn't make it less amusing/

This page is written and maintained by Tim Skirvin. All opinions expressed on these pages are mine and mine alone, even if I don't believe them - don't try attributing them to any "higher power", because it won't work. In case you don't understand copright law, you can just assume that everything I write includes "Copyright 1995-2008, Tim Skirvin" at the bottom. If you want to use my writings, ask me first. I make no guarantees about the accuracy of anything I write, nor the appropriateness, or anything else that you'd probably like out of me. All rights reserved. Void where prohibited. Fish, fnord, furrfu.

*While the above disclaimers do include our works, it's probably best if you address concerns to us instead of him. Tim gets sick of forwarding it along*

Last Modified: Thu, Nov 13 2003

Credits

As with all things, some thanks are necessary. To Nik and Kile, thank you for taking care of my killfile, my pages, and me, for the last nine years. To JMS and many others, thank you for just enough quotes to organize a page around. To all of my friends, thank you for keeping me sane. To all of those that have hated and persecuted me, thank you for giving me a sense of purpose. And to those people that have believed in me for me, well, if you haven't figured out that I'm thankful by now, I'm really impressed that you gave me that belief in the first place.

/It's good to feel appreciated/

*Innit, though?*

Last Modified: Wed, Mar 19 2003

Final Thoughts

Well, that just about sums it up. It may not be a comprehensive picture of me, true, but I'm pretty sure I've never seen anything better. It's still no substitute for actually meeting me, of course, but the same can be said of Cliffs Notes, and I got by on those a lot in high school...

Still, I can think of one more point important enough to relate now: I am a real person. I really am. I've got goals and desires, loves and hates, friends and enemies, talents and blind spots, ups and downs, and so forth, just like your average human being. Yeah, I'm a bit strange, with weird habits and weirder ideas, but I'm not just a few electrons on your monitor - and if you think about that when dealing with me, you're a lot more likely to understand me.

And if you really want to know more, give me a mail. I'm sure I can accomodate something.

*And from our side, know that he's a good guy, and treat him right, or you will face our wrath*

/And that wrath will come because he notices that you're being evil, mind you - we can't touch you without his permission. At least, not legitimately/

*Be good to our boss. He's fun*

*Anyway, this has been Nik and Kile*

/Signing off.../

Last Modified: Fri, Apr 22 2005

Tell my tale to those that ask... tell it truly, the evil deeds along with the good, and let me be judged accordingly. The rest... is silence.

- Dinobot, Code of Hero

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