Describe what you do in a typical day.

During a typical day, I'll write code, think, write more code, read manuals, write code, read even more manuals, go to meetings, read manuals, write code ... lunch, read e-mails and write code.

What is the most interesting/rewarding thing about your job?

The most interesting thing about my job is the constant learning of new skills, constant change and the never-ending list of interesting projects. The most rewarding thing about my job is knowing that I can understand, implement and maintain complex systems and applications.

What magazines do you subscribe to?

Sys Admin, Dr. Dobb's Journal, Paddler and American Whitewater.

Of whom does your family consist?

My wife and I along with two cats and a snake that lives in the attic called Bob.

Is Bob a pet?

No, we just ran across him. I wasn't going to go after him and neither was my wife. Besides, he keeps the mice down.

Who is the person who makes you see in a way you have not been able to see before?

My wife. She keeps me on track and reminds me to be open to other views.

Describe your proudest moment -- personally and/or professionally.

The second proudest moment was when my wife did her first kayak roll in whitewater. Professionally, when I could understand a command like the following:

egrep 'msgid' all_sorted | perl -lne '$_ =~ /(syslog\.\d+_\d+):.*msgid=<(.*)(>|, proto|, bodytype)/;print "egrep " . chr(39) . $2 . chr(39) . " " . $1' 2>&1 | tee output.txt.

What words do you try to live by?

"... a vital ingredient of success is not knowing that what you're attempting can't be done." -- Terry Pratchett, Equal Rites.

What future discovery do you anticipate the most?

Adaptable augmented reality through wearable computers built on a foundation of evolutionary programming. I anticipate in the short term (10 years) that there will be new and enhanced visual/aural display interfaces to computers that will allow us to leave the point and click desktop metaphor behind. This will allow us to explore new ways to interact with computers and allow us to further use computers to augment reality.

What's your life ambition?

My life ambition is to kayak as much as possible, enjoy my time with my wife and play as hard as I can.

-- Whitney Weeks

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