Thanks to Rob Allen, I’ve been tagged in this chained blog posting phenomenon so here’s my 7×7 to preserve my good fortunes for this coming year and stave off bankruptcy or whatever could happen if I don’t ;) .

Seven random/weird things about me:

- I don’t have a formal Computer Science degree, in fact I studied Commerce originally (Honors!) and Computer Science as a sideline.
- My first programming experience was copying BASIC code from adventure books typed into a Commodore 64k a few centuries ago. I still have the Commodore – and it’s still operational!
- My first frequent activity on a real PC was playing Duke Nukem 3D.
- My most recent physical defect is a scarcity of hair which started during 2008. I blame Dad. I hear he blames his Dad. Pretty sure that goes back a ways ;) .
- I write sci-fi/fantasy short stories in some of my free time.
- Contrary to the Irish stereotype, I am not frequently intoxicated as some have suggested. That’s just a vile rumour with absolutely no concrete evidence anyone who wishes to continue living can produce.
- I first learned PHP to contribute to a game called Solar Empire in 1998.

To avenge my own tagging, I’m taking out my ire on the following victims:

- Travis Swicegood since he wrote the first published GIT book and made me pay cash to read it
- Jurrien Stutterheim for volunteering to assist developing Zend_Feed_Reader (no good deed goes unpunished!)
- Tobias Gies for smugly pointing out spelling errors on my new online book!
- Bill Karwin whose contributions to Phing power the Docbook automation of the book
- Thomas Weidner who lets me safely use Gaelic characters in my ZF applications and insulate us all from the Anglic hordes.
- Jani Hartikainen since he said nice things on Twitter, and that surely can’t pass without punishment!
- D.J. Capelis who I just reconnected with over Twitter – been years since we were active members of the old Solar Empire browser game developer community.

The rules according to Mr. Allen:

* Link your original tagger(s), and list these rules on your blog.
* Share seven facts about yourself in the post – some random, some wierd.
* Tag seven people at the end of your post by leaving their names and the links to their blogs.
* Let them know they’ve been tagged by leaving a comment on their blogs and/or Twitter.