[CS-FSLUG] OT: Re-introductions.

[Timothy Butler]

On Jan 2, 2006, at 9:33 PM, Nathan T. wrote:
>
> It seems people in this list have gotten around a fair bit, but I'm
> sorry to say I've forgotten a lot of you. I was wondering if some
> people might be interested in re-introducing themselves.
>

Sorry to respond so slowly.

I'm Tim Butler (I go by Timothy R. Butler in bylines). I'm the guy  
that nags people to move on when its time to close a discussion. (As  
a side note, CS is about ready to celebrate its fourth anniversary!)

I first tried Linux to any real extent in July of 1998, with Red Hat  
5.1. I moved the next year to SuSE, where I remained from 6.1 through  
7.1, I believe it was. In early 2001, I jumped ship from Windows 2000  
and made SuSE with KDE my primary desktop. I remained with that  
configuration for a long time.

In June of 2003 I purchased my first modern Macintosh (a used Ruby  
iMac G3) and started dabbling in that "other system," first with the  
included Mac OS 9.0.4, then with Mac OS X 10.2 (Jaguar). In November  
of 2002 I got tired of SuSE's sometimes sloppy arrangement and  
switched to Mandrake Linux 8.2 and continued with Mandrake for some  
time. In September of 2003 I made what is now clearly the first step  
away from my original *nix desktop by switching from KDE's KMail to  
Ximian Evolution for my e-mail; by January of 2004 I was running  
GNOME 2.x on Fedora Core.

Fedora Core wasn't as well configured, at least at the time, as  
Mandrake, and by the end of April, my system was seriously messed up  
and I didn't have time to reinstall a different distro. I had  
acquired a PowerMac G5 for testing purposes a back in November of  
2003, so I switched to that on an interim basis at that time. Much  
like Steve Jobs became Apple's CEO on an interim basis at first and  
then dropped the interim part, I too gave up the idea of coming back  
to GNU/Linux by July or August of 2004 -- by then I had fallen in  
love with the simplicity and elegance of the Aqua interface and "just  
works" functionality of the system in general. To me Mac OS X is  
exactly what I had spent years arguing KDE, and then GNOME ought to  
be. GNOME is closer, but not there yet.

I still believe that the FOSS development model is superior and use  
RHEL for my company's web hosting server. I actually worked on a  
freelance basis for the KDE League for about six months back in 2002.  
I do some light Perl FOSS development.

I wear a number of hats. I'm a the editor-in-chief for Open for  
Business (www.ofb.biz) commenting on and reviewing items of interest  
in both the *nix and Mac worlds. I also have done some freelance  
writing for the local paper, the St. Louis Post-Dispatch. I primarily  
actually make money from computer consulting work -- repair, training  
and web design. I do web hosting on the aforementioned server.

I'm also a full time student finishing up a BA in English and  
Religion (with a minor in Philosophy and half of what I'd need for a  
minor in business) -- I'll complete that in December of this year,  
with a total of 144-147 hours under my belt. 2007 will be a year of  
change for me as I'm looking to start at a seminary and hopefully  
earn my M.Div; working up to that, I may drop the consulting work.  
I've talked briefly with my pastor about taking on some kind of  
position at the church, which might work better with my studies than  
my current job. My eventual goal is to quit the IT industry (other  
than as a hobby) and find a position as a professor of religion.

I live in a suburb of St. Louis, Missouri (St. Charles) and attend  
St. Paul's Evangelical Church (EFCA) in another suburb (Creve Couer).  
I'm a Presbyterian-in-exile, you might say. I actually grew up at St.  
Paul's, but have found myself drifting towards Presbyterian positions  
on theology and polity. I lean towards Neo-Orthodoxy and hold Karl  
Barth, C.S. Lewis, Thomas Aquinas, John Calvin and the Apostle Paul  
(not necessarily in that order) as my favorite theologians.

Hobby-wise, I love digital photography (with almost 13,000 photos in  
my iPhoto database) and I'm generally a sucker for new gadgets. I  
enjoy reading various stuff, though I am almost always behind on my  
reading list. My favorites would include Shakespeare, Aeschylus and  
Dante on the classical side; Dostoyevsky and Jules Verne in the  
middle; Lewis, Jerry Jenkins and Philip Yancy on the modern side.

I've been blogging since February of 2002 at the site now known as  
asisaid.com. Asisaid.com also serves as my testbed for the SAFARI CMS  
program I've been slowly writing since 1999.

	-Tim

---
Timothy R. Butler | "Every ant  knows the  formula of its ant-hill,
Editor, OfB.biz   | every  bee knows  the formula  of its  beehive.
tbutler at ofb.biz   | They know it  in their own way, not in our way.
timothybutler.us  | Only humankind does not know its own formula."
                                               -- Fyodor Dostoyevsky