Official PP OT "Who are you?" Thread (Happy Make Nice Thread)

[cantdrv55]

Name: Chris
Age: 42
Location: NorCal
Job: Medical Sales, stock/options trader and part-time product developer
Family: Happily married for 22 years, 1 amazing son - 15 y/o
Hobbies: I'm a car guy or, more correctly, a car addict. I also spend too much time in OT but I try to stay away from political and religious threads. I'm also a cyclist (you should see me in my green spandex get-up; buldges in all the wrong places). I hate working on honey-do-lists so I cram my family's weekends with all sorts of activities. I end up paying someone else to do all that domestic stuff for us. Money well spent, IMO.

I've met quite a few Pelicans, all are very cool and have become good friends. I know they'll come to my rescue if I need help with my P-cars. They know I will reciprocate. I'm a moderator for our local Yahoo group, BAP, and we have over 70 members.

[gassy]

Christian N.
A young 36
Elmhurst Il.
VP of a commercial photo studio in Chi-town
Married to my 2nd wife for almost 5 years
3 kids, 9.5, 8, 3.5--Annie, Erik, and Fen
'70 911 Targa, '01 Volvo s60 2.4T, and Jeanette's '06 Subaru Forester.
Anytime any Pelican is in town, I'd love to chat and my modest house is always open.
Christian.

[Jared at Pelican Parts]

Name: Jared
Age: 28
Location: SE Portland, OR
Job: mechanical draftsman/EIT for an Intel subcontractor.
Family: Single
Hobbies: DIY, playing the guitar, tattoos and body modification, building tube amplifiers, reading, meditation, music, building stupid motorcycles and cars, architecture
Why PPOT?: previously worked for Pelican. Vast range of topics. The occasional entertainment. Made a few friends in normal life. Quite sure I could ask about anything and get an answer in a few hours.

[deathpunk dan]

Name: Dan
Age: 28
Location: Wakefield RI
Job: E Commerce Manager and freelance web marketing consultant
family: my gf of 3 yrs and our 2 border collies. No kids.
hobbies: bicycling, inline hockey, motorcycles especially old mx bikes and oddball/cult street bikes. Current project is a 1983 YZ100 that I hope to race AHRMA 125 ultima class mx with next year. I also play in a garage punk band out of providence RI. Our debut EP will be out late fall on a small label. I love me some guitars.
Vehicles: 1995 BMW 325is with bilstein/H&R, TMS chip, ECIS intake, M3 exhaust. Tis the daily driver, had for 4 years and closing in on 180k on the clock. Also 74 911 non-S. Bought from owner who gave up halfway through converting from CIS to carbs, major work in progress. Other vehicles include aforementioned YZ100 and my Specialized Allez bicycle. Recently sold 94 900SS/CR Ducati and 96 Honda VFR750. Plab on adding another bike soon, probably another Duc like a monster S2R.
Why PPOT? I wish I knew.

[jluetjen]

Hi. My name is John.

I'm 43 (!), Married with 2 kids (9 and 6). We've got one of each: Introvert (9) and extrovert (6). Both are girls BTW. My wife (life partner, best friend, girl-friend, etc) is a Software Engineer. I'm a Salesman of Semiconductor Assembly services for an off-shore manufacturer. We're both very concrete and logical, yet somehow we have a 6 year old who knows more about managing politics then my wife and I do combined.

I've always loved Porsches, but for many years the money went to race cars rather then Porsches. I went on "Family Leave Sabatical" from racing when my wife was pregnant with #1 daughter. I sold my ITB car and used the money for a 944. I loved the car, but jumped at the chance to buy my 911E for a reasonable price. Loved the challenge of picking which Porsche to drive to work in the morning. Eventually sold the 944 since there just wasn't enough room. I'm now collecting the pieces to convert my 911 over to being an SCCA E-Prod race car during the next few years. I'm no longer as wrapped up with "get it done for this weekend's race", but rather the tao of the project. If it get it done in 2 years or 3, that will be fine with me since I'm not the type of guy to make my family second-class citizians to support my racing.

I too got sucked in here after wondering over during a quite day on the technical forums. Being of German background, I can't turn away from a good debate. My wife's American-born Chinese, and in frustration I've stopped completing any sort of ethnic surveys when it became impossible to classify the kids since they are quite happy being half Chinese and half German descent. Now I always check the box labeled "other" and write in "Human". That's really all that counts for any of us.

[jyl]

Name: John L.
Age: 43
Where: Portland OR, recently moved from Berkeley CA
Job: analyst (stockpicker) in investment management company. Formerly lawyer at big LA firm.
Married: 16 yrs now, two kids
P-car: 1989 911, not being driven much lately (some fix-it stuff needs doing, as soon as we unpack and I find my workshop stuff)
Hobbies: Lately none (working so much, feels like my job is my hobby). Normally, fly-fishing, skiing, mild tinkering, lots of reading. Trying to find time to learn how to program archaic H-P calculators. Have traveled a lot, trying to find time to do more, esp in France (unabashed Francophile). But basically now its work and unpack and sleep.
Why OT: Interesting people and opinions, basically my digital watercooler.

[bryanthompson]

Name: Bryan
Age: 21
Location: Lincoln, NE
Job: software developer
family: Girlfriend of several years, a cat, three birds, some fish
Cars: 83 944, and a boring Stratus.
Why PPOT? No idea. I think it was fun once, but I guess I grew up.

[ledhedsymbols]

Name: Micah H
Age: 26
Location: Bremerton WA (an hour from Seattle towards the Olympic Peninsula)
Job: Watch Commander at a military prison, previously the Navy's greatest Fire Controlman (We don't put them out, we start them)
Marital Status: Two weeks left of freedom. I marry the love of my life and g/f of 3 years in August 13th.
Cars: 1993 968 Coupe
Hobbies: Wrenching on the Porsche, Fishing for anything that swims but particularly Salmon and Steelhead.

Why OT: I get in when I think I have something to say. I avoid the religion and politics threads, but enjoy hearing what the world has to say.
I would say that as a group, most of the people here are going to be fairly successful at what they do. With such a huge collection of different folks, the knowledge base here is astounding.

"If my wife is listening, I'll be coming home straight after the meeting. Otherwise, Keep your stick on the ice." -Red Green

[bryanthompson]

Originally posted by ledhedsymbols
"If my wife is listening, I'll be coming home straight after the meeting. Otherwise, Keep your stick on the ice." -Red Green

lol!! "I'm a man, but I can change... If I have to... I guess."

[Dennis Kalma]

Name: Dennis
Age: 50
Location: Calgary, Alberta
Nationality: Dual - Dutch and Canadian
Job: VP of IT at a midsized company
Marital Status: Married to my best friend for 28 years. We've never argued. When one of us gets upset, bent and twisted the other calmly waits for the storm to pass. She then says "that's all right dear" and I am back to normal.
Kids: 2, a son and a daughter (middle name "Princess"), both studying to be engineers at Queens, they are great kids, sensible, reasonable, have great senses of humour, I think they turned out OK as they appear to have mostly my wife's genes....both right wing capitalists it appears.
Cars: Kids cars, Nissan Pickup, '75 restored Porsche, '89 Carrera project car...gonna buy a sedan onece one of the kids leaves home and opens a spot in the garage.
Why OT? I just like people....my career has been as a "fixer", get to explore the darker side of organizations who need a lot of help...forum offers ability to be a voyeur on attitudes and perspectives without the need to contribute. Nice break from work....

Dennis

[ledhedsymbols]

"You can use bolts, epoxy or whatever attatchment method you prefer. I'm using the Handyman's Secret Weapon... Duct Tape."

[pwd72s]

Name: Paul D.

Age: 62

Location: A red dot in blue Oregon, Linn County, roughly 100 miles south of "Moscow by the Willamette", aka Portland.

occupation: retired self employed biz guy

Marital status: Since 1975 to my first wife Cindy. So far so good.

Children: One, age 37, a RN living in fly over country, working on her 2nd hubby.

Pets: 2 mongrel female (neutered) cats who are almost as neurotic as we are.

Hobbies? Lot's of "used tos" You know, used to hunt, fish, ride dirt bikes, sail, etc. These days, not much of anything. Just don't get out much anymore. Oh, if yard work could be considered a hobby, I do lots of that. Ahhh, the roar of an air cooled lawn-mower as it chews through 1/3 acre of turf.

P-Car: Possibly the best UN restored 1972 911S coupe left on the planet. No brag, just fact.

Other cars: '77 Dodge Power Wagon fixed up a bit, and '99 Ford Ranger XLT grocery hauler.

Why Pelican? Why not? Hell, if it weren't for this board, I'd have never picked up the phone to hear a NYC accent asking if I was set up for an oil change, because (RoninLB) was somewhere in Oregon. I'd mention others who have dropped by, but I wouldn't want to incriminate any of you other guys.

[trekkor]

Great thread!!

I'm Trekkor.

I live in Napa.

I'm 38.

I used to play a lot of jazz on my trombone. Toured europe and Japan in '84 and '85 in high school.
Played at Monterey, Montreux, North Sea, Reno, Sacramento and Santa Cruz jazz festivals.

I spent 8 years working as a chef in some amazing restaurants.

now I'm a tile contractor.

My wife and I will celebrate our 10 year wedding anniversary in September.

I'm overall a very happy person.


KT

the "K" stand for Kairos, my first name.

[Evans, Marv]

Name: Marv (you know the rest)
Age: 64
Locvation: So. Bay area San Diego
Occupation: Retired teacher & school district contract manager
Marital status: Married
Children: None
Pets: One mangy 19 year old cat & a tortoise (wifes classroom pet) that will eventually grow to 200 pounds.
Hobbies: Hiking & mountaineering (cutting back on the intensity of that), playing in the surf, kayaking, P-car.
P-car: '69 911E (sold my '67 912 & '72 911E some time back). In the process of resurrecting the '69 from a PO who was letting it rot in his driveway for 10 years.
Other cars: Toyota Camry (wife's), F-350 PSD
Why Pelican? Better than TV, magazines and newspapers.

[RPKESQ]

Name: Richard
Age: 50
Location: South of France or Southern California
Occupation: For the last 18 years an IT Consultant, previously I have made my living as an engineer, gunsmith, a PH in Africa, bush pilot, machinist, aircraft restorer, climbing and mountaineering instructor, etc.
Marital status: Married to a wonderful woman!
Children: 23 yr old daughter, who teaches me new things every day.
Pets: None right now, but have had dogs, cats, fish, birds, snakes, turtles, raccoon, hedgehog, deer, and an owl.
Hobbies: Porsches, bicycles, motorcycles, aircraft, history, books, firearms, antiques, computers, hiking, sailing, building, re-building and designing various tools or mechanisms, teaching navigation in the Coast Guard Auxiliary, art collecting, refurbishing clocks and watches, etc.
Vehicles: 1987 930, 2004 Honda Element, 1993 Toyota Pickup, Moots and Colanago road bikes, 1997 Suzuki DR350, 1972 Willard trawler

Why Pelican? I appreciate the wide range of knowledge here. I'm sure I have upset some with my posts, but after years of enjoying the European habit of debate as superb dinner entertainment, I cannot simply let things go by without a question or comment. Good conversation is rare in America.

[Willem Fick]

Name: Willem
Age: 33
Location: Johannesburg, South Africa
Occupation: Industrial Engineer masquerading as a banker (Divisional CIO)
Marital status: Getting married April next year
Children: None I'm aware of
Hobbies: Apart from hating my job, I am an avid cyclist, design and build audio equipment, and in general love all things mechanical.
Vehicles: '70 911T undergoing a major rebuild, and a 1999 Audi A3 Coupe.

Why Pelican:
Great bunch of people, interesting threads, and often a sense that I am more normal than I give myself credit for!

[VINMAN]

Name: Vinny L
Age: 41

Location: Howell, NJ. Born and raised in NYC

Occupation: Electrical engineer for Verizon 22 yrs. Volunteer Firefighter for 15, 10 yrs as Line officer. 4 yrs as Fire Chief. Former Army reserve Huey crew chief

Second occupation: Own business Home Improvement contractor

Marital status: Currently married 3 yrs. Widower from first marriage.

Children: 3 from first marriage 2 sons 22 ,27. Daught 24.
Step kids from current 25yo daught, 22yo son.

Pets: Siberian Husky, African Grey Parrot. lots of fish. Daughters cats.

Hobbies: Boating, fishing, kayaking. hiking, mountaineering and ice climbing. scuba, trains and railroading.Model building.

Vehicles: 86 944, '01 Dodge ram diesel dually, '93 Ford Bronco.
Wifes 96 Camry. '91 Harley Sportster. Also a 67 Ford Fairlane underging resto.
32' Velocity offshore race boat. 29' Fiberform sport fisherman.

Why Pelican: Discovered the 944 forum, found the info on there to be usefull. found the offtopic by accident and started to enjoy some of the topics. Found loads of info to be benificial. Have met a number of Pelicans in person, all seem to be great people.

[Big Ed]

Name: Mike
Age: 38
Location: Central Massachusetts
Family: Married 13 years, no kids. 3 cats.
Occupation: Real estate broker.
Cars: '05 Audi S4 cabriolet, '01 BMW 325ix
Hobbies: Avid (2 handicap) golfer.

Why PPOT? Former owner of a 911 and a 930, used Pelican and the BBS to help keep them in fine working order. Discovered OT following a thread that got moved from technical, found many threads to be interesting. Stuck around for entertainment and knowledge after Porsches sold last year.

[aap1966]

Name: Andrew
Age: 40 (as of 4 days ago)

Location: Brisbane, Queensland, Australia

Occupation: Cardiothoracic Intensive Care doctor
(Obsession: Applying safety lessons from aviation to medicine)

Family: Wife (past 14 years-best thing that ever happened), 2 kids. Brother in the airforce, sister in banking

Hobbies: Birds (aviculture), poultry, Bristols http://www.bristolcars.co.uk/index2.htm

Vehicles: Subaru Forester XT, BMW 635Csi (Can't afford a Bristol)

Midlife crisis: Selling the motorcycle (BMW R1100S), joining a political party.

Why Pelican: Came with the 1100S, figure I can stay with the 635. Engaging discussions with intelligent people with a variety of backgrounds and viewpoints

[Rodeo]

Name: Steve
Age: 48

Location: Providence, RI, USA

Occupation: Attorney, principal in small business-oriented firm.

Family: A beautiful and kind woman, 2 great little girls (3 and 7), yellow lab, and a hamster (whose name is "Phil," go figure)

Hobbies: cars, motorsports, track days, biking, snowboarding, art, good food and wine, hacker golf

Vehicles: 89 Carrera (daily driver), 05 Lotus Elise, 04 Honda Pilot

Midlife crisis: Done with that ... had mine from ages 20 to 40

Why Pelican: OT is a digital version of high school. You can learn an awful lot, make friendships with good people, gain some unique perspectives from other parts of the country and the world, but mostly its just hangin' out and acting stupid.