Óscar Miguel Lopes Sarabando@etoscar

I'm a computer geek ever since I was 4. My father got me a Timex Computer 2068 (yes, the portuguese version of the Sinclair) and he never thought about the repercussions of that act. Not only did it get me some nice glasses (having a low-tech TV as your display for over a decade is not gentle on your organic imaging input devices), he also got me hooked on computer engineering, electronics and basically technology.

Then I met the Amiga, with it the Internet (ok, the BBSs first), and the World was our stage. And we could change it! Computing was FUN! (And I'm not only talking Sensible Soccer, Lionheart, Worlds of Legend, Dynablaster and Lotus here. But that, too.)

I underwent Electronics and Telecommunications Engineering at Universidade de Aveiro with pleasure and became an official geek. And a somewhat rebel, countercurrent one. Or so I've been told. More than once. I went back to Uni for a Distributed Information Systems post-graduation course. By then, the techs I evangelized had become the next best thing. I was happy.

Nowadays I develop industrial supervison/control/process software (mostly in Java) (that's my job) on the Mac, deployed on Linux, Mac and Windows. And some other cool stuff, like telemetry and industrial automation systems (using really bizarre languages and symbols if you came from a programming background, and really simple stuff if you're an oldschool industrial electrician). If you get to drink really good portuguese wine, chances are it was made with my software. The same goes for yogurt, the best olive oil and some other substances you really don't want to (or can't) know anything about.

Being born in Portugal, I eventually learned portuguese (to understand my parents and sister, wich did not always work…). I also learned english (to understand my Timex Computer, wich always worked), french (to get me a french girl and hey, it worked!) and some spanish/castellano (just because I like to tread new ground). Japanese will probably be next in line.

I think technology should be fun, and used daily to boost our confort, understanding, and security.