My Opera is closing 3rd of March

Neill Conroy

Neill Conroy

Neill Conroy

  • Sex: Male
  • Occupation: Geekasaur
  • Member since: Dec 2006
  • Login status: Offline

About me

I am a Newfoundlander and a geekasaur, two unique qualifications that shaped my career and my life. I am very happily married to a saint - she has to be to put up with me! - and we have two very bright children; our son is working on his Master's degree in plant biology and our daughter is following along behind working on hers in bio-medicine.

After a very successful professional life, I became very ill, with Reflex Sympathetic Dystrophy, a horrible condition that is extremely painful and virtually untreatable. I ended up retiring and now maintain my technical chops helping others with their problems in our complicated technical world. Beyond other things, it distracts me from the pain.

If anyone has an alternative, I am more than happy to hear about it!

My work

I began life as a Ship's Officer, but illness forced me ashore for a while, and when I was healthy enough to go back to sea, my career had advanced to the point where I was better employed (and better paid!) ashore in management. After several years as a planning advisor, which invlolved obscene amounts of travel, I took over managing a small fleet of ships for several years, and ultimately moved into the IT side of the house, taking over the IT management for the entire fleet and found my home in life.

I managed the IT for the Fleet, including the lifecycle management, ultimately obtaining qualifications as a Chartered Ship Manager, based on my Lifecycle Management Model.

Subsequently, I was appointed to head up a team developing ISO-9002 plans for the Fleet, and I was an ISO-9001 auditor as well, but my illness ended that effort and I had to retire under difficult circumstances.

Fast facts

  • At the movies I like to see:comedies and mysteries
  • Music I listen to:Oldies, tenors, Andean instrumentals and country music (Now that's variety!)
  • Best album right now:Awake, with John Groban
  • Favorite author:Kathy Reichs
  • Last book read:Monday Mourning, by Kathy Reichs
  • Best game right now:Techoballz (Linux, please!)
  • Favorite sports team:Pittsburgh Steelers
  • I'm passionate about:Disabled Rights
  • I wish I could:Eliminate tribal conflict in Africa (might as well dream big!)
  • Favorite travel destination:Costa Rica
  • On my vacation I..:relax!
  • If I won 1 million dollars, I would:Fix my horrid body!
  • If I were a super hero I would:Eliminate malware 'artists'
  • Food I like:Barbeque
  • I don't like:salt fish
  • Software I use:Linux, OpenOffice, Gimp, GoogleEarth, Gambas
  • Hardware I use:Hoembuilt, Asus Motherboard, AMD 4200 processor, SATA 320GB, Wireless, NVidia 7600 Video known as BigBertha. I also have an ASUS laptop, called TOM my Totally Obedient Moron.