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by jimwilk, as told to Smileeb
How old are you?
74 years old.
Married, single or what?
Married to my life's companion for 48 years, and we are still together.
Children, grandchildren?
We have two children (now both in their 40's) who are each married and have provided us with four lovely grandchildren. Their ages range from 12 to 9. We refer to them as the "Awesome Foursome."
Retired or working and for how long and at what?
Although I studied geology at Victoria University in Wellington, New Zealand, I had a fair bit of mathematics, physics and chemistry in my degree. Thus, in 1966, I switched from working as a hydrologist to teaching high school mathematics in various locations around New Zealand. I retired at the end of 2004, but continued as a relief teacher (supply teacher) until the end of 2011.
What is the area you live in like? Weather, Quietness, Scenery?
My wife and I live in the city of Palmerston North, which is situated about two hours by road north of the country's capital city Wellington, in the southern North Island. The area is on the banks of the Manawatu River, which flows between two mountain ranges through the Manawatu Gorge. The climate is temperate, seldom reaching temperatures above 30 C or below 7 C. The Manawatu area is quite windy, with fairly frequent northwest winds of up to 90 km/hour.
Manawatu Gorge
Are you handy with your hands and have any hobbies?
I enjoy spending time in my workshop, keeping a reasonable vegetable garden going, and also working as a volunteer driver on the Palmerston North Esplanade miniature railway.
Jim riding his train.
What is your education level?
BSc with Honours in Geology
Do you like to travel, go camping?
We don't now travel as much as we used to. Our grandchildren are all close by, and we don't need to drive for more than an hour to go visit them. We have never been interested in camping.
What caused you to try Linux and join this forum?
After I retired from teaching, I realized that I was no longer entitled to retain the school supplied copy of Windows XP Pro. So I decided to learn to use Linux as a retirement project. After using Mandrake and then Xandros, I was introduced to PCLinuxOS by a fellow Kiwi. I started with version 0.93 and, apart from short term dabbling with Mepis and Klikit, have been with PCLinuxOS ever since.
PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight is an exclusive, monthly column by smileeb, featuring PCLinuxOS forum members. This column will allow "the rest of us" to get to know our forum family members better, and will give those featured an opportunity to share their PCLinuxOS story with the rest of the world.
If you would like to be featured in PCLinuxOS Family Member Spotlight, please send a private message to smileeb in the PCLinuxOS forum expressing your interest.
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