# Who the friq are you?



## 123bob (May 14, 2009)

*EDIT:* Updated this post since I moved back over to XS.  My best to all of you here.  You have a great team.. *: END EDIT*

I realized, by posting up in a recent thread on my home team at XS, that I have not shared with most of you who I am, what I'm about, and what motivates me to do what I do.  Sharing is what builds a strong team.  I will try to tell you who I am by sharing some of my XS threads that got me into this thing we call crunching....  Feel free to tell us who you are in this thread.  Let's get to really know each other....This provides the base for a strong team.  We can help each other out by this....

*The ground rules for posting in this thread*....No pretenses, no pretending, tell us who you really are, good or bad....

 For my recent TPU history, I came here with the outage of the XS forum.  

W1zz gave us the "Xtreme Refugee" title without the normal 5k post criteria.  (So that all of you know, W1zz has been an "XIP" for some time at Xtreme.  He has historical latitude there.  I would hope folks here realize that the most "Xtreme" of us over at XS, have been welcomed, in his house, here....Thanks again W1zz for hosting us, and putting up with us. :up: (XS, for thumbs up....)

For me in particular, I am a 47 year old Principal Staff Electrical Engineer for Motorola.  I have been with the company for 20 years.  Before that, I was a USAF member involved in many interesting things.  

OK, that's what I do for a living, who else am I?   More importantly, like Loonym, who was a pinch hitter here for the team, I am a single parent of a now 13 year old Daughter.  She is my light, my delight, my reason for living, and the source of my greatest angst sometimes.....

I will post a snapshot from my XS posts of this.  There's great nuggets of info here on technical details, but what I want this team to catch is the *PASSION* the XS folks bring to what we do.

Here's when I decided to commit to the team and crunch a farm.  HERE.

Here's what happened when the cooling problem came into place.  A pic of me is in here too..... HERE.

Everyone looks for success.  Here's one of that, and why we do this....HERE.

My Sister has cancer, need I say more?  HERE?

We also have fun at XS, as you should here....This was a contest to see who had the UGLIEST cruncher....SparkyJJO has won this two years in a row.  He folds here, I just ran him over yesterday on that......Sorry Sparky!!  I didn't realize you were folding here....I just started folding with 6 260-216s on the "exchange program".......  "Franky" thread HERE.

I would hope that you folks know me from these.  I would ask you, why do you do this?  It is an important question, and if you're dedicated, an important answer and commitment.

For me Crunching  and now folding is something I will do until I am finally dead.  I crunch/fold for my daughter and her kids....and for a few others I will name later...

 to those of you who are serious about this....


Respect and Regards,
Bob


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## MRCL (May 14, 2009)

I am a 21 year old working in Air Traffic Management. None of my relatives or no one I know personally has/had cancer or any life threatening desease that cannot be cured.
The reason I fold is because I want to do something good, contributing in something good. And personally, I let my hardware power doing the good rather than donate money (you don't always know where taht money ends up).

Don't know if I'm a pretender in your eyes tho.


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## 123bob (May 14, 2009)

MRCL said:


> I am a 21 year old working in Air Traffic Management. None of my relatives or no one I know personally has/had cancer or any life threatening desease that cannot be cured.
> The reason I fold is because I want to do something good, contributing in something good. And personally, I let my hardware power doing the good rather than donate money (you don't always know where taht money ends up).
> 
> Don't know if I'm a pretender in your eyes tho.



No, you're no pretender...You've got respectable stats...   (I'd rather have my XS :up: here though...)

Now I know a bit more about you.  This is good.  Do you need anything to help you go forward?  Hardware, software?  LMK.

Don't get me wrong on this folks, I look at those who put up numbers for the day.  Any amount is good.   Zeros don't count in my book.  Talking a big story without the numbers doesn't work......MRCL,* is the team.*....*Get it?*

We need to realize that the big share of projects are not solved by the big hitters.  It is by millions of single machines.  Crunch on!!!

Regards,
Bob


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## W1zzard (May 14, 2009)

123bob said:


> I was a USAF member involved in many interesting things.



does that stand for "if i tell you i have to kill you" ?


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## 123bob (May 14, 2009)

W1zzard said:


> does that stand for "if i tell you i have to kill you" ?



Yup.....

The Reagan years were, shall we say, interesting.....


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## MRCL (May 14, 2009)

Thank you. I let my main machine crunch using 100% CPU during the night and when I'm at work, otherwise 60%. So if BOINC manager isn't crashing or I lose connection somehow, I contribute 24/7. 

What I need is a miracle, my P4 rig refuses to connect to internet altho I KNOW its possible and I've done it a million times before. Gotta solve that. Would make another 24/7 rig.

Yeah, many many small numbers add up to a huge amount!


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## 123bob (May 14, 2009)

MRCL said:


> Thank you. I let my main machine crunch using 100% CPU during the night and when I'm at work, otherwise 60%. So if BOINC manager isn't crashing or I lose connection somehow, I contribute 24/7.
> 
> What I need is a miracle, my P4 rig refuses to connect to internet altho I KNOW its possible and I've done it a million times before. Gotta solve that. Would make another 24/7 rig.
> 
> Yeah, many many small numbers add up to a huge amount!



"ipconfig" says what on the p4 rig? DOS window stuff....Let's work this out.

Hehe,,,I have to have my nephew come over here in order to find out why the heck my only XP folder can't file share with the Vista 64 bit farm.  It's driving me nuts, and the only reason I'm up now!!

My Vista workbench rig can't find the XP folder rig....It does fine on the crunching side with the boinview port opened.....

I'll say this here, not on the folding team side....Folding is WAY behind us on crunching on the client, GUI, and monitoring side of things....

LMK, if you need some hardware chunks to keep going....:up:  (XS for this 
	

	
	
		
		

		
			





)

(@W1zz, please steal this one!!!)


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## MRCL (May 14, 2009)

123bob said:


> "ipconfig" says what on the p4 rig? DOS window stuff....Let's work this out.
> 
> Hehe,,,I have to have my nephew come over here in order to find out why the heck my only XP folder can't file share with the Vista 64 bit farm.  It's driving me nuts, and the only reason I'm up now!!
> 
> ...



It craps on the installation of the WLAN device. Says "connect device" and if I do that, nothing happens. Weird, because installation always worked before.

Actually I'm thinking about getting a PSU and some RAM, then I could use the spare CPU and Motherboard for a cruncher.


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## 123bob (May 14, 2009)

MRCL said:


> It craps on the installation of the WLAN device. Says "connect device" and if I do that, nothing happens. Weird, because installation always worked before.
> 
> Actually I'm thinking about getting a PSU and some RAM, then I could use the spare CPU and Motherboard for a cruncher.



Is it a situation where you are attempting to install a driver off an old CD with an op sys that doesn't know about it?  Downloaded USB stick drivers that are current would take care of this?


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## MRCL (May 14, 2009)

123bob said:


> Is it a situation where you are attempting to install a driver off an old CD with an op sys that doesn't know about it?  Downloaded USB stick drivers that are current would take care of this?



I had that thing working on that rig under Win2k, XP and even 98. I'm always using the latest drivers, so that is not the problem... (downloaded from internet and transferred to the P4 rig). Need to take care of this when I'm at home again in a couple hours.


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## RAMMIE (May 14, 2009)

Great thread idea Bob!

My name is Mike.I'm 50 years old.My lovely wife Donna and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last November 19th.We have two sons.
Ryan is in the US army and is in Kuwait.Goes to Iraq in 5 days.
Neil graduates from HS this Saturday and will be attending Missouri State University this fall.

 We live in the St. Louis area. I am a carpenter.My favorite thing to do is fishing.I will fish in any weather or conditions any time.If I could put crunchers on my boat I would.

I don't have a personal stake in crunching except for the hope that it will help my children and future grandchildren and all others have better lives in the future.

Mike


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## mike047 (May 14, 2009)

RAMMIE said:


> Great thread idea Bob!
> 
> My name is Mike.I'm 50 years old.My lovely wife Donna and I celebrated our 25th wedding anniversary last November 19th.We have two sons.
> Ryan is in the US army and is in Kuwait.Goes to Iraq in 5 days.
> ...



Bottom line, this what it is all about.

I won't bore this forum with my resume'


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## loonym (May 14, 2009)

I'm not gonna go into a whole lot of detail. Anyone really interested can go and dig around XS for all my dirt. My name's Jon and I live up on the coast of Maine. I'm 47 and a single dad of a beautiful 2yo daughter. Last year I was diagnosed with bladder cancer. It's stage 4, inoperable, and I'm currently undergoing my second round of chemo. Anything I do now is for my little one and her children and her children's children. Cancer will kill and it doesn't discriminate so get busy. :up:


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## DonInKansas (May 14, 2009)

Well, as you can tell from the handle, I'm Don, and I'm in Kansas.

I'm 30, a husband, a father to a 4 year old boy and 8 month old little girl, and I work as a dispatcher for a rural county Police/Fire/EMS.  I umpire high school, Legion, and Junior College baseball and ref high school basketball.  I just finished my Associate's Degree in Computer Information Systems.  As you can see, I don't have time to breathe.

I've had multiple family members and friends lost to cancer, and know several struggling with it.  Crunching is one of those things I've meant to do for a while and kept getting sidetracked.  Now that I'm in,  you can't get me out.


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## ChaoticAtmosphere (May 14, 2009)

Wow, what a great idea Bob! I always felt like doing something good with my first major build so when I heard about WCG I jumped right on it and getting to know my fellow team members just adds to the importance!! 

I'm glad to meet all of you and congrats on your 50th RAMMIE 

Sorry to hear about your cancer loonym...I hope it goes into remission for ya.

My name is Blair. I'm 43 years old and live in London, Canada. I'm a divorced father of a beautiful 14 year old who lives in Calgary with her mother. So I don't get to see her much but I try to keep in contact with her every chance I get.

I was gunning towards my first year of Engineering when my wife filed for divorce which kinda threw me into a downward spiral but now I do Internet support for a living and My rig is my my life and keeps me outta trouble.

I do crunching 24/7 for the benefit of all those I know who have battled or who have had family members who have battled cancer and for the benefit of humanity. I've been crunching for 2 weeks now and finally fine tuned my rig to put out consistent numbers.

I've been a member of TPU since I first sought opinions on my choice of build My first post and felt welcomed from the get go so this is where my home is!!


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## 123bob (May 14, 2009)

Thanks for your replies!   @Everyone else, keep them coming! 

@Mike047, I've crunched with you before at XS....Don't know if you remember me, but I know you a bit at least...    I had wondered where the "DC gypsy" went...

Regards,
Bob


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## mike047 (May 14, 2009)

123bob said:


> Thanks for your replies!   @Everyone else, keep them coming!
> 
> @Mike047, I've crunched with you before at XS....*Don't know if you remember me*, but I know you a bit at least...    I had wondered where the "DC gypsy" went...
> 
> ...




Sure I remember you

Just been staying at home[ team Zirconia] until I found this place.  I'm going to hang for awhile, I have a bunch of GPU cards


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## RAMMIE (May 14, 2009)

Bob,
Mike was my inspiration for a walk about.


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## 123bob (May 15, 2009)

RAMMIE said:


> Bob,
> Mike was my inspiration for a walk about.



....And you were my inspiration to do it.  I'm glad I did.  Kudos to both of you.


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## PaulieG (May 15, 2009)

Hey guys. Some of you here know me well already. Obviously, my name is Paul. I'm 38 (today in fact). I'm a Vocational Rehab counselor for the State of TN, and I'm currently finishing my Masters degree. I live in Greeneville TN with my wife (the shrink), my two daughters (6 and 8), and my black lab "Shadow". I'm really a misplaced Yankee, born and raised in NY. We've moved to VA, KY and now TN while my wife was finishing her Phd. She is finally done, and just opened her own practice. In addition to my work as a VR Counselor, I'm also a Certified Personal Trainer...though I don't do much of that these days, and I run a small mobile computer repair shop. 

I crunch because I want to give back. As I get older I search for more and more of the simple things that I can do to make the world a better place, and I make sure to do those things. One of my oldest and best friends had breast cancer too, so it gives me more motivation to crunch.

I'm dedicated to the cause. Actually, right now I'm feeling guilty that my i7 is down, and all I'm crunching with is a Q6600 and 5000+BE. I'll be making up for it soon though, since my i7 will be up early next week, and hopefully, I'll be adding a QX9650 to the mix. 

I'm proud to be part of this team, and truly appreciate all of its members. I hope we all crunch together for years to come.


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## ChaoticAtmosphere (May 15, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> I'm 38 (today in fact).



Happy Birthday Paul!!


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## MRCL (May 15, 2009)

Happy B-day from me too man! 

Your PSUs still working


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## A novice (May 15, 2009)

RAMMIE said:


> Bob,
> Mike was my inspiration for a walk about.



I think Mike is the DC gypsy leader he also started me on my travels

My name is Robert and *I am an addict *to crunching that is.  I am 58, married with two children.  My son is 30, and my daughter is 25. I am medically retired from work. my wife and I like to go away on weekends in our touring caravan with friends.  We are lucky that none of our family has died from cancer, the reason I crunch is because my wife is a manageress of a sheltered housing complex for the elderly, and we have seen quite a few die from cancer. I started crunching with UD in 2001, and then moved to find a drug, and then to Boinc


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## oily_17 (May 17, 2009)

Well I am Stephen, getting close to 37 (six weeks time), married, with no kids.

I worked in the textile industry (Irish Linen) for 14 years as a machine tech, but due to the decline of the linen industry, I now work for well known food manufacturer.

I started running the Folding@home project a couple of years ago on my single core AMD rig's(slow as hell) but now with the advance to GPU folding I thought I had better give those CPU's something better to do...so I joined the WCG team.

Why stress your computers ??    Well...I am a hoarder (I dont throw away old rigs) and I dont like to see things doing nothing...so I thought how best to put my spare/idle computer parts to good use and Folding/Crunching was the solution for me.

Why Folding/Crunching ??  The reasons need no explanation, to help find a cure to the biggest killer out there.
Also having a dear friend lose his father to cancer, at far too early an age.
I just think the world would be a better place with these people still in it...and if we can stop the loss of people like him/others in years to come...then I am all in.

EDIT: Yes this can be expensive in the day to day running of things....but you ain't taking it with you...so make the most of it now.


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## oily_17 (Jun 28, 2009)

I know this is an old..ish thread but goin to bump it anyway.

Will give new members a chance to introduce themselves and get to know all the rest of us (we are a family after all).

No details needed ...just pop in and say hello!!


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## HammerON (Jun 29, 2009)

Well my name is Heath McLeod (Highlander ). I am 39 years old and am still waiting to have kids of my own. I work for the State of Alaska as a Juvenile Justice Officer III, which means I work with kids (troubled kids). I have had people close to me including family that have died because of cancer and want to contribute anyway that I can to helping solve this disease. I could not resist when I saw that I could contribute to helping find a solution to cancer as well as other problems that face normal people every day


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## boomstik360 (Jun 29, 2009)

My name is Jess, my Grandmother recently died of cancer on November 2 of 2008 exactly 1 week from her 70th birthday. I did not know about crunching until I came across Techpowerup and when I read on what it was for and helped I joined as soon as I could. I do it because of the hope that it is or will help someone, somewhere, sometime. You guys are all great I and enjoy being apart of this team! I just with I could have started sooner 


- Jess


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## HammerON (Jun 29, 2009)

Shit ~ sorry to hear about your grandmother. I wish I could have started earlier as well...


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## oily_17 (Jun 29, 2009)

boomstik360, HammerON nice to have you guy's on board.

Sorry to hear about your grandmother boomstik.

Hopefully we can all make a difference together... keep on crunching


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## boomstik360 (Jun 29, 2009)

Thanks guys  I appreciate it. Yes keep on crunchin'!  I'm happy to be here!


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## PaulieG (Jun 29, 2009)

oily_17 said:


> I know this is an old..ish thread but goin to bump it anyway.
> 
> Will give new members a chance to introduce themselves and get to know all the rest of us (we are a family after all).
> 
> No details needed ...just pop in and say hello!!



Yup. It's a great idea to keep this open. Hopefully new members will drop by. I do appreciate Bob and all, but I wonder if it might be helpful to rename the thread  What do you guys think? Oh course I'd get Bob's permission first.


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## dhoshaw (Jun 29, 2009)

My name is Dave and I'm a 54 year old Software Architect. I'm married with two boys who will be 5 & 4 in August.

I have been fortunate in that I have not lost any family or friends to cancer. However, a day doesn't go by that I don't hear about someone else with cancer. The least I can do is to contribute some computing power to help in the search for a cure.

I crunch here (just passed 25K) and I fold for team HWC.


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## PaulieG (Jun 29, 2009)

dhoshaw said:


> My name is Dave and I'm a 54 year old Software Architect. I'm married with two boys who will be 5 & 4 in August.
> 
> I have been fortunate in that I have not lost any family or friends to cancer. However, a day doesn't go by that I don't hear about someone else with cancer. The least I can do is to contribute some computing power to help in the search for a cure.
> 
> I crunch here (just passed 25K) and I fold for team HWC.



Welcome!


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## 123bob (Jul 4, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Yup. It's a great idea to keep this open. Hopefully new members will drop by. I do appreciate Bob and all, but I wonder if it might be helpful to rename the thread  What do you guys think? Oh course I'd get Bob's permission first.



Rename away!   That probably would be appropriate.  Feel free to do whatever you folks want to the title of the thread.  

I am still stopping by once in a while.  Good to see the team is doing well.  

My best to all of you, and for those in the USA, Happy 4th of July! 

Regards,
Bob


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## mx500torid (Jul 4, 2009)

Hello all my name is Tom, 57, single parent of 2 teenage boys who are wayyyyy smarter than me just ask em, and 2 daughters and 1 son with 9 grandkids. I have been a diesel mechanic for over 30 years now working for a company that moves money. I live in Las Vegas been here since 89. Love motorcycles and computers. My first father in law died from cancer and i had to watch it which killed me inside, he was a great guy. I dont wanna see my kids go thru anything like that. I want to thank you all for doing this, you all have good hearts.


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## h3llb3nd4 (Jul 5, 2009)

I'm one of the young ones here in TPU
I'm 16 and still in high school, and TBH I immigrated to SA when I was 6/7 and haven't been able to talk to lots of Family members back in Taiwan, and up to now I'm still not sure how my grandma passed away but I'm sure that she had cancer...
so one family member of mine had died due to cancer.

and if you ask why I started crunching, my answer would be because of TPU I really wanted to do something great here...and I also started crunching because I really hate seeing people suffer with incurable diseases, just look at those with curable ones, they suffer alot, so I hate to see people with incurable diseases, their families often abandon them, and that to me is one of the worst sufferings to go throgh when you have a disease. 

so...
Crunch on TPUers and G/L to all Crunchers!!


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## p_o_s_pc (Jul 17, 2009)

Im 16 and i crunch to help find a cure for cancer and diseases because many friends and family members have died from cancer.I want to do my part to try to find a cure


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## freaksavior (Jul 17, 2009)

My name is freaksavior and both my aunts on my moms side had breast cancer. This is not only for them but also for my e-peen. i want to be #1


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## Duxx (Jul 17, 2009)

Well I figure it's time to share who I am

My name is Evan and I am a 21 year old currently living in Tacoma WA.  I attend the University of Washington and am majoring in Material Science Engineering.  I loveee the outdoors and am leaving tomorrow to climb Mt. Adams with my dad for the 3rd time, nice little hike to keep in shape!  I don't have any direct relatives who have died but helping out can never hurt.  I don't have millions of dollars but if I can crunch and still do everything I normally do.. why the hell not.  

Hoping to upgrade to an i7 still... in the making.


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## El Fiendo (Jul 17, 2009)

I fold for my friend whose been diagnosed with Vascular Ehlers-Danlose Syndrome where blood vessels can tear unpredictably, causing internal bleeding, stroke, and shock.

It currently has a 0% survivability rate. I suppose nothing's changed except that he pretty much knows what will kill him, the when is still up in the air though. His life expectancy has been shortened to about 5 years though, which is far too short for someone whose only 21.

So, 2 folding dedicated rigs built and a enslaved main PC later I'm reaching about the limit of my financial and physical capabilities. My house is older and without more financial to upgrade the electrical I can't throw too much more in. It won't stop me though, I'm going to cure that son of a bitch.


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## PaulieG (Jul 17, 2009)

Seems an appropriate time to mention that my father in law was just diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, and has 6-9 months to live. .


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## Flyordie (Jul 17, 2009)

I be beating the crap out my hardware for youuuuu and Stephanie den... Arghhh Matey!!


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## boomstik360 (Jul 17, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Seems an appropriate time to mention that my father in law was just diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, and has 6-9 months to live. .



Gosh Paulieg I am really sorry to hear that


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## Papahyooie (Jul 17, 2009)

My name is nick, i'm 21 years old, and I live in the USA. 

The reason I want to crunch/fold is of course just because its good to do. But to make it personal, my girlfriend (actually my ex as of a couple of days ago, but what will happen there is still up in the air) is only 20 years old and has run through 3 bouts of various cancers (brain, lung, and breast, mostly) already in her life, and her mother has several times as well. I dont have a single instance of cancer in my entire extended family, but the fact that i am lucky makes it more important to give to those that arent so lucky. 

I am not at the moment crunching or folding, but by tomorrow I will be again! I had a few older rigs running for a couple of weeks previously to test out the power consumption (i just started all this) but they were sucking down the power, and I live with 2 roommates, so they got a little freaked when our power bill nearly doubled (i personally think its the air conditioner since it finally got hot around here... waiting on this month's power bill to see if it goes back down or not, which will settle that argument) But now I have 4 8800's on the way (thanks Bogmali!!!), 3 of which will pair up with an E8500, and the last with a Celeron dual core for 24 hours folding/crunching, and if it turns out that they are not as power efficient as I hope, then I guess i'll be paying a larger share of the power bill than my roommates lol. I know its still not much, but like it has been said, all it takes is one machine processing the right work unit. If I lived alone I'd have over ten older and newer rigs crunching, but my roommates would kill me. I have dreams of a large farm, but it will have to wait for a later day. 

Thanks everyone for all they do, no matter what team, website, or how many points you put up, and thanks TPU for introducing me to folding/crunching!


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## hat (Jul 17, 2009)

Eh? I'm a guy who sits around playing pc games all the time. I know my grandfather had cancer and died from it. My aunt had cancer but recovered. I have another uncle with prostate cancer but I dunno how he's doing. I suspect my dad had cancer but I will never know.

Anyways I run F@H and WCG cause I can and it's putting my computer's idle time towards something useful that will hopefully benefit humanity. At the time I found out about F@H here I had an athlon64 x2 5200+ and an 8500gt. I started folding two single core clients when we I first found out about F@H, then SMP came out and I ran that. Then the GPU client came out and I ran it on my 8600gts for a very short while (one wu) and I quit running the gpu client after that cause I thought it wasn't worth it. When I got my 9800GT I started folding on the GPU again. Then I got a quad core and killed my motherboard, that quad core and my 9800gt when I tried running the cpu at 1.375v. I reverted back to my old 8600gts and grabbed a cheap am2+ board and Sempron cpu, as I gave my old parts to my uncle. Now I have a much better cpu and graphics card and I continue to fold on my GPU but I run WCG on my cpu now.


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## HammerON (Jul 17, 2009)

Paulieg said:


> Seems an appropriate time to mention that my father in law was just diagnosed with advanced pancreatic cancer, and has 6-9 months to live. .



Really sorry to hear that~


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## Solaris17 (Jul 17, 2009)

My name is David Im 21 and work at taco bell 45+ hours a week on 3rd shift. im a self taught computer nut and worked at bestbuy until i got tired of the money b4 help stratagy. Iv also been a violinist for ~12 years
I fold to cure alot of illness's alot of people have died in my family because of it 2 i was at the end of the bed for. this past month i told my doc about migrains iv been having since i was a kid next week i go in for an MRI because he said the severity and the years iv been having them may point to a brain tumor. and i will beat the shit out of every single system in my house and a couple at my friends places to make this all go away. Its for me for YOU and THEM and the people above me. the pain is real mentally and physically and i will try to cure w/e i can for who ever i can one clock cycle at a time.


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## rampage (Jul 17, 2009)

Hi all, I'm John 26 and Ive been lurking around for a long time but occasionally post, i am a security guard working permanent night shift (10 pm > 6am) at a local pharmaceutical plant in south west Victoria Australia. I was also in the army for a short time (basic training) to go into electronic warfare but got out due to medical problems and major family issues at the time i got out

I quite often work 12+ days a fortnight and TPU gives me something to do every night when i am at work so i don't have much time to get out and do things, but what i do i thoroughly enjoy. i have two main hobbies one obviously is computers in general and the other is target shooting and building and tuning rifles (im currently in the process of finishing off a 1000 yard .308 rifle)

The other fun fact of my life is for the last three years ive been living with my grandmother (YAY), i moved down here after a nasty break up and to get away from the world and just ended up staying and enjoying the freedom of a single lifestyle, having family all around me within walking distance on the farm (dairy) and being able to go to the beach on a weekend and rip it up on the bikes of walk a bit further and go hunting in the scrub in the sand dunes, what more could a single guy want  (besides the obvious).

Cancer has ripped through both sides of my family same with heart disease, i have lost both of my grandfathers and my mother has had breast cancer and off the top of my head a few more family member had had major problems with cancer and heart problems 

Also above all im Mussels big brother, but after all of these years he still doesn't listen to me


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## Solaris17 (Jul 17, 2009)

rampage said:


> Hi all, I'm John 26 and Ive been lurking around for a long time but occasionally post, i am a security guard working permanent night shift (10 pm > 6am) at a local pharmaceutical plant in south west Victoria Australia. I was also in the army for a short time (basic training) to go into electronic warfare but got out due to medical problems and major family issues at the time i got out
> 
> I quite often work 12+ days a fortnight and TPU gives me something to do every night when i am at work so i don't have much time to get out and do things, but what i do i thoroughly enjoy. i have two main hobbies one obviously is computers in general and the other is target shooting and building and tuning rifles (im currently in the process of finishing off a 1000 yard .308 rifle)
> 
> ...



damn sorry to hear that man nice hobbies though gotta stay busy im also sorry mussels is related to you...haha j/k love ya mussels


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## Mussels (Jul 17, 2009)

I'm mussels, i'm almost 25 and like to remain gender ambiguous on the internet, so that i can get laughs out of it when i feel like it.

I deliver pizzas for a living. awesome job, i start at 3-5PM at night so i can sleep in EVERY DAY. i also get FREE PIZZA.  my job.

Rampage is my older brother - i answer all of his phone calls with "what did you break?"
when i visit him, we get rifles and snipe fruit  fun times. (i think it annoys him that i'm a pretty good shot, despite firing a rifle about oh, once a year on average )

the latest pics mum sent me show that male baldness is also heavy on that side of the family, poor guys.

I have what is known as the jesus touch. my brother breaks things, he sends them to me, i touch them and they work fine. Quite often he's already bought new stuff so i get to keep it too. free upgrades, yay. (thanks for the OCZ ram, lol)

The rest many of you know, but heres a highlight.

Used to be a reviewer at 3dchipset.com, before it shut down. No idea what happened to the site.
After that went belly up, my secondary website became my primary and thus my lurking at TPU Turned into posting in every thread that caused me amusement.

Eventually w1zzard realised i'd been here for decades years and was never going to leave, so he gave me furniture Moderator status, and gave me a walking cane banstick.

Thanks to the reviewing days and being a mod here, my MSN list contains awesome people such as "bigtoe" tony at OCZ, ryan peterson (CEO of OCZ.. i know, that still gets to me), their head of marketing (alex), that guy who made ATI tool and GPU-Z, and a few other lesser known but equally awesome people.

and now, you all know me! yay!


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## GREASEMONKEY (Aug 6, 2009)

My name is stuart,I am 47 years of age,i live in a small town on the east side of the cascades in washington state.I have been married for 25 years and have two daughters.I work during the day as an auto tech,which i really hate,but i'm good at it and it "helps" pays the bill's.Just get's old after doing it for 30 years.
  I've been strung out on TPU for 3 year's now,and a lurker before that for a couple.
I would love to say that i started crunching for the right reason's,but that would be a lie.
To be honest,I just wanted to see how long it took me to get some pie(2 weeks btw).But now i have gotten a little addicted to the numbers game of it.So my next goal is a 
Million points.Or real pie if you will.
  It's cool that this is for a good thing and i would much rather contribute computer horsepower and increased electricity bill,than buy "light bulbs" or give to some obscure charity.Maybee some day it will help,But at least i can say that i did'nt not help.
  I would also like to add that i know i came into TPU's crunching team kind of under the radar.I hope you all don't mind that i'm here,but i am here for good.


And please don't give me any crap about my grammer or what ever,I skipped english in school and type with two fingers.


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## GREASEMONKEY (Oct 17, 2009)

Kind of surprised that Chicken Patty has never posted in on this one 
And who know's,maybee chomes will even chime in.


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## PaulieG (Oct 17, 2009)

GREASEMONKEY said:


> Kind of surprised that Chicken Patty has never posted in on this one
> And who know's,maybee chomes will even chime in.



Yeah CP. Who the friq are you?? And chomes, you really need to intro yourself, if you're gonna come in and still pie.


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## Soylent Joe (Oct 17, 2009)

My name's Alex, I'm 16 years old (b-day is in 2 weeks) and a Junior in high school. I'm somewhat noobish when it comes to really technical computer stuff, but I try to give people advice to the best of my ability. I don't have many friends in real life, so I try to find some type of solace in the interwebs. I'm kind of addicted to TPU, I refresh the new posts page constantly and I'm also addicted to spending all my money on Newegg. I think that sadly I have the most powerful PC in my county and am the only one out of the 1200 students at my school that's into rig building/tech. I don't have my drivers license, a job, or a girlfriend so it could be said that I have no life, but I can't say I want one. I make good grades in school and work hard, but I can't see myself going to a university or 4 year college. I get sick and tired of the guidance counselors and teachers at school harassing us about deciding what we're going to do in life and how we need to set goals. I don't want to grow up. Anyways, I don't think I'm weird or anything, I try to be nice to people. So that's some of my story, I'm like a pot of petunias.

Yay for honesty!

4 month later edit: I gots me a "life" now so things are going good. Also trying to get some experience in the video field to pursue a career in advertising.


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## crazyeyesreaper (Oct 17, 2009)

i am Ray everyone calls me crazyeyes Im 21 im 80k usd in debt lol  I build computers for others for fun on the cheap. Sadly there machines always last longer then my own :shadedshu . I work physical labor jobs usually 5-7 jobs a week on top of basic computer repair. Im a gamer and im all about the FUN not the hardcore. Im a graphic whore and as such ive learned to use Maya from 7 straight up through to 2010 along with mudbox. Im a Full Sail Real world Education flunkie 3 months of physics in 7 days crushed me.  My family has a history of many debilitating illnesses from brain tumors to cancer you name it we got it, Thats why i fold im not like Bucknasty or El Fiendo but i try to do my part. I dont "PLAN" on kids but ive got alot of friends that do and among maybe saving my own neck  maybe i can help ensure a brighter future for them as well.

in summary

Im a loser with no real job license or car im a crapload in debt cant make ends meet yet SOMEHOW i tend to get by go figure if u cant break through the wall headfirst  go around it. other then that im always willing to lend a hand

did i mention i drink WAY to much? ive got 1 hell of a fondness for the creature usually Whiskey from the bottle or cold sam adams on a hot day.

end garbled post


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## TheLaughingMan (Oct 17, 2009)

I am James.  I am a 25 year old College Student.  I currently work Full Time as a customer service rep. at CafePress.com.  I build computers for friends for free and others for a low fixed rate.  I have no children and no girlfriend at the moment.  I am a selective gamer, avid anime collector and watcher.  I am stuck at standstill due to letting girls get in the way of my education, but I will be returning to get my degree in Computer Science in the Spring.  I am a nearly a stereotype for the "Nice Guy".

I am out of shape, not fat.  That basically means, whatever it is, I can do, just not as long or as far or as fast as most. I don't drink (except on special occasions), I have never smoked, never done any drugs, I use very little to no commercial drugs either (headache medicine, pain relievers, etc.).  I have medically proven over reactive immune system, so it takes a lot to get me sick.

I FOLD on a second computer when the power bill is not too high for my grandmother (lung and breast cancer), and both of my aunts (ovarian cancer).

I have always been the "Computer dude", but I came to TPU because I know enough to know I know very little.  I have learned a lot here.  I know more about anime than I do computers.  I listen to a much broader variety of music than most.  I am quick to make simple mistakes because I don't think before acting.  And thus far I only have one real regret in my life, ruining a friendship with a woman I do still genuinely love.  I am depressed and when I am depressed, I eat too much.


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## Woody112 (Oct 17, 2009)

Robert here aka Woody aka Romeo Whiskey. 29 years old, served 8 years in the USAF and did a lot of interesting things myself as a CCT. Since then I've got out and now doing some interesting things here in the civilian side of the house.LOL Computer's have always intrigued me so I started building them and what not. Found TPU here to be a big help when I was getting started with the whole thing and since then have found this to be a great place for new ideas, reviews, and nonsense in general.
I don't fold, tried it but kept running up the power bill like crazy. Well that's about it can't think of much else.


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## Kreij (Oct 17, 2009)

My name is Dean. Thank the Lord my parents' named me that because that is what everyone calls me. 
I'm an IT Manager, Network Analyst, System Admin and Programmer. 
I have a wonderful wife and we celebrated our 10th anniversary last month. 
We had an 18 year old son, but two year ago he was killled in a car crash by another kid his age who had been drinking at a graduation party. Some of you may remember the threads in GN.

I used to fold (and maybe a forgotten machine at work is still giving its all), but I have not gotten involved in the Grid.

The way I have been helping out on TPU has been to basically give away all my spare parts to anyone who needs them. 
I am sure is you ask around you will find someone who got a good deal. 
The money means nothing to me, but the response from (usually) young people when they are getting something they could never afford, is priceless.

Anyway, being that we are faceless, anonymous names on the internet, the charity we do (parts, folding, grid, etc.) is only half the battle. 
The other half is to get away from our computers, get out in the community or at least the neighborhood and let people know that you care about them, love them and are willing to be there for them when they need it most.

Life is not about who you are, where you live, what you own or about how much you earn.
It's about what you do for others that makes a difference in their lives. You will never find anything more personally rewarding, and they will never forget you.

Thanks for all you do everyone, and God bless you all.


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## Duxx (Oct 17, 2009)

Kreij said:


> My name is Dean. Thank the Lord my parents' named me that because that is what everyone calls me.
> I'm an IT Manager, Network Analyst, System Admin and Programmer.
> I have a wonderful wife and we celebrated our 10th anniversary last month.
> We had an 18 year old son, but two year ago he was killled in a car crash by another kid his age who had been drinking at a graduation party. Some of you may remember the threads in GN.
> ...



He forgot to mention he's a motivational speaker   Sorry about your loss, but am thankful for your help in the TPU community.  Much appreciated..

EDIT: Glad this thread has been resurrected.


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## bogmali (Oct 17, 2009)

Woody112 said:


> Served 8 years in the USAF and did a lot of interesting things myself as a CCT.



Combat Controller eh, glad to have you on board.



Woody112 said:


> Since then I've got out and now doing some* interesting things* here in the civilian side of the house.



 Is it related to your CCT duties?


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## Kursah (Oct 17, 2009)

My name is Sean, I'm 26, been @ TPU for 3 years, lived in the wonderful state of Montana and still working on finding out who I am. Took a pretty harsh blow a little over a month ago when I came home to find my fiance had left me 2 weeks before our wedding with nothing more than a  note, she took her clothes, the cat and her pc, haven't heard from her since. I thought I knew how things were gonna go, had plans, goals. Now I'm still kinda lost...but not completely lost, and really not even as upset or pissed as many think I should be at this point. I've found peace with what's happened, which is probably due to lesser activity in the drugs and alcohol department clouding and exaggerating things, and one thing ya learn is that you gotta keep going no matter how bad the shit gets, not just in the game or at work, but in life, you can't always expect to have your hand held or that everything will work out happily ever after, you gotta make things happen and take that step...so that's what I'm working on. I'm not dying, injured or sick, so I know damn well I'm still useful and can do plenty of good, and I still gotta lot left in life to get done, so moping isn't gonna cut it.

Part of what keeps me at peace is I like to help others and I enjoy doing that, I like the feeling of knowing that I helped someone and that they appreciated it, that some good came out of a situation that could've been ignored like so many people do these days, instead of stopping for a second, a minute, an hour and doing something good. Whether it's doing something extra for a customer at work, helping someone at the store or on the street, teaching my nieces and nephews how to fish, driving my drunk friends home to smite any chances of a dui on their shoulders, or even on this forum where I try to give back as much as I can since I've learned so much and been privileged to be a part of this place for as long as I have. TPU's been pretty important to me, I may not be uber active, or even always helpful, and there are many times where I'll start a post only to go back to the main index instead of posting because I tend to proof read too much and decide the post isn't worth it.

Beyond that my life is nothing special, I'm not in debt, I have 2 cars paid off (nothing special, both were cheap and needed fixin', good thing that's my line of work!  ), I work 5-6 days a week to keep the bills paid, I go out once every couple of weeks or so, have a few drinks, I'm a beer man...great place I live, go Big Sky Brewery (Moose Drool rocks btw!). I love the mountains and all they provide to do, the scenery, the animals, hunting, fishing, pure freedom that's a short drive from my apartment. Umm..let's see, what else, I'm a gamer, not pro or anything like that, but I enjoy many games, also in a clan comprising of local friends, called America's Team BeerMe, pretty good stuff.

Beyond that, I used to fold a ton, I had both my ex-fiance's rig and my rig folding and crunching 24/7 till the weather got too hot to deal with extra heat in my place...haven't really returned yet, still sorting out if I can afford to do it much or not...and tbh I don't know if I'll return any time soon, but when I do it'll be for TPU only. I do gotta say I always hope that some good comes from crunching and folding, and I'm sure it will...but there's no better gratification in life at least for me than getting out and helping people in smaller measures, something so simple and easy, yet something that could mean so much to others. So while I might come back to folding and crunching, I know that helping here on the forums, or out in society, I can still do some good.


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## bogmali (Oct 17, 2009)

Oh shit.....I'm sorry bro Hope you get it over quick (about the ex fiancee) and just keep truckin'. We're always here if you need anything


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## Woody112 (Oct 17, 2009)

bogmali said:


> Combat Controller eh, glad to have you on board.
> 
> 
> 
> Is it related to your CCT duties?



ya doing contracting now. It's money to pays the bill, keeps me drinking, and single.


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## Kreij (Oct 17, 2009)

@Kursah : Take a road trip and come visit us here in WI. Won't cost you anything but the gas to get here. Maybe we can drink enough beer to come up with a new idea for GPU


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## Duxx (Oct 17, 2009)

Kreij said:


> @Kursah : Take a road trip and come visit us here in WI. Won't cost you anything but the gas to get here. Maybe we can drink enough beer to come up with a new idea for GPU



Better yet come to kellogg! Going over there when it starts snowing   Got my parents cabin ima be crashing at some weekends.


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## Kursah (Oct 17, 2009)

bogmali said:


> Oh shit.....I'm sorry bro Hope you get it over quick (about the ex fiancee) and just keep truckin'. We're always here if you need anything



Work in progress, but really it's been kinda nice having my own space and having that damn cat outta here! That damn thing pissed on everything it could...grr! I'm keeping my head up, I stay busy, and really as bad as it was at first, it's not nearly as tough to deal with now...which is why I decided to share it with you guys. It could be much worse, I could have a deadly disease, be dying of something else horrible, or something much more disasterous than what I'm dealing with now...I don't feel sorry for me, I figure things happen for a reason and I gotta keep going...too much good I'd miss out on if I stopped now! 



Kreij said:


> @Kursah : Take a road trip and come visit us here in WI. Won't cost you anything but the gas to get here. Maybe we can drink enough beer to come up with a new idea for GPU



Might just do that, I'll have more vacation to use up this spring...sounds like a good deal to me.


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## Steevo (Oct 17, 2009)

I am me. 

Stephen
Live and work in Colorado.
IT/precision guidance specialist
29 I think.


I fold for something, and it is good. Did climate modeling before folding, and some other community projects too. I came to rest at TPU after multiple moves, and the last one caused by a forum of holy rollers who forgot what fun was. Still mod and admin a couple sites, but never get to use the ban stick too often, except spam. Tehy are mainly a close knit group of friends.

umm, married, two kids and that was enogh stress to get them both out into the world and keep them going.


Yeah, I like computers too.


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## vaiopup (Oct 18, 2009)

<--------45 year old nobody.

Guess I don't really count cos I am not part of your team .........but I have been crunching since 2004 

I work in the health field looking after the elderly mentally and physically ill.

My main interests are in trying to keep my DC team alive lol......and football (the proper English football )

Have 2 daughters who are at the difficult ages, 16 and 14.....ugh lol.
Love them to pieces but they can be a worry and a PITA sometimes (14 year old grounded as we speak)

Tis about it really.

Just a crazy nobody who likes to crunch, and occasionally annoy other teams, such as XS, Ars Technica etc 

Ooh, I see something shiny...............


Addendum: I am also part of a group that has for the last 6 years or so done "guest crunching" at various other teams.(Like our friend Mike047).
A strange concept to many but it can be fun....and it's good to meet fellow crunchers.


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## El_Mayo (Oct 18, 2009)

Dipo
15 (16 in a few weeks ^-^)
Student.. obviously
I joined this forum because computer hardware interests me 
i crunch.. just cos i can, my computer's on most of the time anyway
i wanna be a computer engineer but i have no idea how i'm gonna go about that!
any ideas?


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 18, 2009)

Hello, as per request I will post here.


My name is David, mostly known as Chicken Patty, or CP, or chicken, or whatever.  I am 22 years of age.  Not married, no kids, just a bit too early if you ask me.  I work for a company called Mediterranean Shipping Company. We are the worlds 2nd largest Steampship Line. I do the Intermodal part of the company.  

I live in Miami, Florida which is highly overrated if you ask me, but it's a nice city.  Other than that don't know what to say.  Ask on I guess


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## mike047 (Oct 18, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> <--------45 year old nobody.
> 
> Guess I don't really count cos I am not part of your team .........but I have been crunching since 2004
> 
> ...



Hey Guys, the Pup is a long time friend and crunching buddy..  We have worked a lot of teams and projects together.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 18, 2009)

vaiopup & mike047


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## vaiopup (Oct 18, 2009)

I am no big hitter like mike......more a cheerleader


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## freaksavior (Oct 18, 2009)

I would like to add to mine.

My name is freaksavior, real name Aaron. 19 soon to be 20. Most people on the forum call me freak, of fs.Both my aunts on my moms side had breast cancer. This is not only for them but also for everyone else out there that has or had cancer. For chicken patty, so i can beat him which i already have so far, i would like to be #1 on our team, or at least in the top 10. I love pie, cant ever get enough. I was home schooled, graduated in summer of 08 i now go to DeVry to study Electronic Engineering and Technology to hopefully be an IT admin or something similar.


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 18, 2009)

freaksavior said:


> I would like to add to mine.
> 
> My name is freaksavior, real name Aaron. 19 soon to be 20. Most people on the forum call me freak, of fs.Both my aunts on my moms side had breast cancer. This is not only for them but also for everyone else out there that has or had cancer. For chicken patty, so i can beat him which i already have so far, i would like to be #1 on our team, or at least in the top 10. I love pie, cant ever get enough. I am was homeschooled, i go to DeVry to study Electronic Engineering and Technology to hopefully be an IT admin or something similar.



if i didn't push your lazy butt sooo much about beating me you would have still been averaging 1k a day.   Now you go to Star bucks and hold everybody hostage and force them to download and run WCG the whole night.  no wonder you are beating me


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## vaiopup (Oct 18, 2009)

Chicken Patty said:


> i   Now you go to Star bucks and hold everybody hostage and force them to download and run WCG the whole night.  no wonder you are beating me



......And he hooked them up to MJ12 too, and they wonder why their wifi is so unresponsive


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 18, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> ......And he hooked them up to MJ12 too, and they wonder why their wifi is so unresponsive



not familiar with that vaiopup.  Mind telling me what that is?


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## vaiopup (Oct 18, 2009)

http://www.majestic12.co.uk/

Web crawling.
Can get thru some serious bandwidth if you allow it to......hit 100gb over the weekend 

p.s Apologies for hijacking the thread.....bad habit I have had for years....we call it smap


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 19, 2009)

vaiopup said:


> http://www.majestic12.co.uk/
> 
> Web crawling.
> Can get thru some serious bandwidth if you allow it to......hit 100gb over the weekend
> ...



hmm, I'm just not sure exactly what it does when you run it.  If you can please explain


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## vaiopup (Oct 19, 2009)

http://www.majestic12.co.uk/about.php

Basically it is a spider that crawls the web hitting url's and seeing if they are still current etc.
Web indexing.....just something to make use of spare bandwidth with.

Some of us run DC projects just "because we can"


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## zithe (Oct 19, 2009)

I'm a 17 year old student of Churchville Chili high school in NY. I'm currently developing skills in the arts and I really want to be an actor and do a little music on the side.

I currently distract myself with writing music, filming small shorts, drawing, and school work.

I'm trying to find a job to fund the purchase of a new HD film camera and some PC upgrades.


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## LittleLizard (Oct 19, 2009)

FFFF. i always hate to present myself because my name is RARE... whatever, here i come.

My name is Dositeo, im a 16 year old teen, i love cars, video games, computers, poker and money. Im located in uruguay (the worst country from latin america IMO). I live with my parents, a 70 year old blind "GODLIKE" is my father and a 53 momma with more health problems than anyone can imagine is my mother. Im currently studying for being an accountant and... Dont know what else to seay


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## BUCK NASTY (Oct 19, 2009)

Wow, look at all these great people in here sharing who they are. Well, my name is Jamie and I am 41 yrs old. I've been hanging around TPU for a couple of years now. I am a twice divorced(yes, 2x) father of 3 children(18,17,&13). I manage a roofing supply company in Stuart, Fla. I am currently single(3 yrs)and love my free time(alone). My friends describe my as OCD when it comes to the projects that I undertake. This would explain my obsession with F@H and WCG. I am a Halo CE PC fanatic and you can usually find me on the popular CE servers at night under Buck N@sty. My version of overkill is playing Halo PC on a Tri-Sli 260 GTX Rig (talk about cycles going to waste)

I started folding in July of 08' and have been building the farm ever since. Paulieg convinced me and several other folders in May, to crunch our CPU's in exchange for GPU time on the crunchers rigs. Well, as you can see, both teams have grown phenomenally and continue to grow. I used to see a definitive line between Crunching and Folding, but no longer. We are brothers following the same cause(s) and running DC projects for the common good. I look forward to working with all of you in the future.


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## LittleLizard (Oct 19, 2009)

oh, if u ask me why i not fold/crunch is because

A - parent wont let me have pc turned on all day
B - internet conection here is poo
C - my pcs are poo
D - we can barely keep up with the bills so, having either pc all day is impossible


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## vaiopup (Oct 19, 2009)

BUCK NASTY said:


> I used to see a definitive line between Crunching and Folding, but no longer. We are brothers following the same cause(s) and running DC projects for the common good. I look forward to working with all of you in the future.



Amen!

Just different projects looking at things from a different angle but with the same aims......to make a better tomorrow


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## Bot (Oct 19, 2009)

this thead is a great idea.
i am 34. i was born and raised in germany and came to the states in 1999 when i was 24.
time is going by to quick. i have a 6 year old son how is as interested in computers as i am and i new edition on the way which should be here next month. boy as well.
got my interest for computers by tinkering with a c64 in my early teens.
went to a few schools yada yada and ended up here working as a dispatcher.
i was first introduced to folding and it captured me right away. the idea of being able to support a major sience project from my own home with the mere unused time of my computer was all it took to convince me. 
i also started crunching but i have not yet found a good setup that i could just let crunch away. i fold for different teams and also created my own team 53269
i folded for HWA, and i currently fold for PNY and my team. 
i am not directly effected by cancer or my family but i had family members pass from other illnesses and i know how it is to lose someone special and/or close to you, so if there is even so much as a very slim chance to prevent that or prolong it then i think it's an effort well worth it.


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## adam99leit (Oct 29, 2009)

I have joined up ill be running my i5 750 at 4ghz 24/7 for the team


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## Chicken Patty (Oct 29, 2009)

welcome aboard bro, nice to have an i5 with us


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## GREASEMONKEY (Mar 9, 2010)

Bumpin for new crunchers


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## blkhogan (Mar 9, 2010)

Well a lot of you already know me. Ive been here at TPU for a few years, most of that time just a silent reader. Been active the last year or so. 
My name is Donavon. Im 38 (just turned March 1) I live in Washington State in the small town of Goldendale (same town as GREASEMONKEY).  I own a small HVAC/R company that keeps me way too busy most of the time. I got into computers because I am the type of person that has to know how things work.  
I got into crunching a few months ago to try and give back to the medical world. My father is a 3 time cancer survivor (prostrate, lung and brain). I saw the amazing technology that they use up close and personal. My family has a running history of cancer on both sides, so I am doing this also for my future and my kids futures. Ive met a lot of really good people here at TPU and plan on staying around for awhile. TPU WCG FTW!


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## KieX (Mar 9, 2010)

Hi all! My real name is Dan, 24. Ever since I hosted a couple of servers for other students at university KieX has also become my real life nickname and monicker for my wish to help others with my computers. I had read TPU forums and news for years and in december joined the forum and WCG team simultaneously. Just recently joined the F@H team as well.

My experience with cancer is a mixed one. I lost the teacher who inspired me as a teenager to cancer, but on the other hand my father has had cancer twice and beat it. It seems cancer is a family thing so these projects may benefit me one day as much as others.

In real life I have commitment issues with everything, so I'm always changing jobs, countries, hobbies and so on. I have been fortunate that my closest friends and family have always been there though. These projects are possibly one of the first things that I have felt can remain constant in my otherwise varied life.

I hope to stay with the team and commited to the project till it's impossible to do so


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## Broom2455 (Mar 9, 2010)

Just to introduce myself. I'm Neil , was 41 January this year. Production Supervisor at a small company making adhesives that serves uk and Worldwide. Any of you from over the pond heard of Insulate Industries in Seattle, Ferco in Quebec, or G.U. Industries ?

I'm now beginning to really get into PC's having met my other half on the net in AOLChat/Msn Messenger... We're still together after 8 years!

I crunch daily for TPU after reading about it on here and having family members suffer from cancer, I also have WCG running on the works PC (don't tell anyone lol) I just like to do my little bit to help, and I am very grateful for the advice from all of you, and reading other posts from other members has often helped me out 

I have even used the forum to help me sort out other peoples PCs.

I must say I am glad to be a member of the forum and will hopefully see Panther x12 at the Dabs .com live show this weekend .

You guys all deserve a


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## mjkmike (Mar 9, 2010)

Hi everyone. My name as you must surmise is Mike. I will be 44 in April. I live on a farm just north of Edmonton, Alberta. Moved back after my dad died so my mom could stay.
 Just got back into computers after a long time. My first was a tandy model one I bought myself new when I was 13.
  Joined WCG to help others and to justify all the computer power I have and will add to over time.

 Have great respect for the people in this forum and hope I can contribute to it.
 THX MIKE B.


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## AlienIsGOD (Mar 9, 2010)

Hey guys!!  My name is Marc and i will be 34 in April 14.  I live in Kingston, Ontario.  Well i got into computers as a kid and really liked them.   BUT, things fell apart and I became homeless and fell into bad habits from about 1993-2000.  I cleaned up and turned my life around and needed something to fill the void.  I do WCG for no other reason than that i think its important and useful research.


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## Black Panther (Mar 12, 2010)

Well, I've been a TPU member since May 2007 if my memory serves me well - right now I'm a 34 year old with a 7 y/old daughter and a husband, and I run my own business.

No one in my near/extended family is afflicted with cancer, muscular dystrophy or any other fatal/heavily debilitating disease. 
I decided to start contributing to WCG after reading about Loonym  that compounded with other experiences of mine.

I can understand what it feels like to have someone in hospital. My daughter suffers from severe asthma, no matter how careful we are to keep her away from allergens in 7 years we took her 4 times to the main hospital, as an emergency case, where her oxygen level was found to be in the danger zone of the 70's (it should be over 90),  I'd spend 3-5 days with her at hospital days and nights while she gets oxygen and ventolin treatments every hour, then every two, then every three, till she gets weaned off... When she was a baby and later a toddler it wasn't that serious, she'd get short-breath, I'd give her her inhalers, they wouldn't work, I'd take her 3 or 4 times to the clinic for an hour treatment with oxygen, ventolin and pulmicort and she'd be fine after the treatments. 

But then when she got older we'd be taking her to the clinic for treatments, they won't work, after 30 minutes she'd be gasping for breath, and we'd have no choice except going to the emergency of the hospital. She'd need to spend between 4 - 7 days and nights at the hospital and I'd stay next to her all the time. 
I'd be going blue myself from holding the tears back so as not to make her panic, before I see her breathing stabilise. Only then I might able to get a couple of hours sleep on the reclining sofa next to her hospital bed.

Now it's heartbreaking when you see your beloved baby gasping for breath, it's terrifying even if one is in hospital let alone if you're still on the way and your kid is gasping and going blue in the face  One might justly say that asthma is nothing compared with fatalities occuring in more serious diseases like cancer etc, but sadly too often 'mistakes' occur like some doctor diagnoses croup, and after 2 days the kid dies for the low oxygen, other times the parents didn't realise the urgency of the situation and/or didn't make it to hospital in time, with the result that their child suffocated before they managed to get help  This latter instance has always been my horror ever since my kid had her first attack at 6 months.

I can imagine how much more heartbreaking would it be were a child, heaven forbid, to start suffering from some condition which as of now is defined as uncurable. I've always put my mind at rest that as long as I got my kid to hospital in time she'd be safe and she can recover. 

But in the cases of diseases which we crunch for it's not that simple. 
That's why I decided to start giving my utmost here, and am sad that I hadn't started earlier.

Hopefully one day such diseases, even though always heart-breaking, will share the same hopes of recovery as other curable ailments.

I will keep contributing in the hope that a cure be found.


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## GREASEMONKEY (Mar 12, 2010)

Black Panther said:


> Well, I've been a TPU member since May 2007 if my memory serves me well - right now I'm a 34 year old with a 7 y/old daughter and a husband, and I run my own business.
> 
> No one in my near/extended family is afflicted with cancer, muscular dystrophy or any other fatal/heavily debilitating disease.
> I decided to start contributing to WCG after reading about Loonym  that compounded with other experiences of mine.
> ...



 I would throw a thousand thanks on this post if i could.Having two daughters of my own,i could only grasp a little of what you must go through.
 There are no emoticons that will fit here,So i'll just say my thought's are with you and your family.


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## Black Panther (Mar 12, 2010)

Thanks for the support guys. It's darn frustrating knowing that for normal people a sniffle would be a common cold but for her it'd trigger tightening of the bronchial tubes and the further pneum branches with resulting asthma and an actual death risk if we don't act quickly enough. Sometimes I almost think this is like stupid (kinda like too simple to be true?), what has my daughter done to deserve all this suffering? :/

Even very minor stuff hurts, like I myself have a runny nose one day, and yet  I persist in keeping distance from her - and way too often I can't make her understand why and she cries.. It just doesn't make sense.


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 12, 2010)

Black Panther said:


> Well, I've been a TPU member since May 2007 if my memory serves me well - right now I'm a 34 year old with a 7 y/old daughter and a husband, and I run my own business.
> 
> No one in my near/extended family is afflicted with cancer, muscular dystrophy or any other fatal/heavily debilitating disease.
> I decided to start contributing to WCG after reading about Loonym  that compounded with other experiences of mine.
> ...







*THIS DESERVES SOME TYPE OF HEADLINE ON TPU OR ON THE WCG FORUM.*


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## Poppageek (Mar 12, 2010)

Black Panther said:


> Well, I've been a TPU member since May 2007 if my memory serves me well - right now I'm a 34 year old with a 7 y/old daughter and a husband, and I run my own business.
> 
> No one in my near/extended family is afflicted with cancer, muscular dystrophy or any other fatal/heavily debilitating disease.
> I decided to start contributing to WCG after reading about Loonym  that compounded with other experiences of mine.
> ...




Many years ago I lived with a woman whose son had chronic asthma before we were together and just as you describe they would have to rush him to the ER in the middle of the night. He was better when we were together but still had to do the breathing treatments and meds. He has been fine for years now so it CAN get better!

Nothing more terrifying than watching your suffer so and so little you can do. I had 3 daughters and now have 7 grand kids. I've learned to do more praying and giving thanks but it is hard to not worry. 

Do you mind if I link your story on my web site? www.poppageek.com. If not that is ok. Thanks for sharing your story.


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## ChewyBrownSuga (Mar 13, 2010)

Black Panther said:


> Well, I've been a TPU member since May 2007 if my memory serves me well - right now I'm a 34 year old with a 7 y/old daughter and a husband, and I run my own business.
> 
> No one in my near/extended family is afflicted with cancer, muscular dystrophy or any other fatal/heavily debilitating disease.
> I decided to start contributing to WCG after reading about Loonym  that compounded with other experiences of mine.
> ...



This has driven me to start crunching


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 13, 2010)

ChewyBrownSuga said:


> This has driven me to start crunching



  Welcome aboard bro, post here, we'll get you started on all you need to know 


http://forums.techpowerup.com/showthread.php?t=85784


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## D.Law (Mar 16, 2010)

Hi, I have been lurking around for quite a while now, never got myself to register and post anything. Find this thread to be a great place to make my introductions.

My name is Damien, 26, from Malaysia. I work for an IT firm here and been highly active in both hardware and gaming industry for the past few years. Been crunching for TPU since 3rd Feb 2010 and I don't have any reason in particular that got me crunching other than that of donating spare CPU cycles for a good cause. Not to mention having my daily dosage of cherry pie doesn't hurt either  

I still have quite a few rigs that I can bring online but it is being hampered by lack of space, insane power draw and mainly lack of free time.  My job keeps me busy 6 days out of the week, sometimes 7 if there is an event/roadshow. Anyone interested in co-hosting some of my rigs? 

I kind of like Chicken Patty's move in helping other members to reach milestones. I think that is a great way of motivating new crunchers. I might just follow suit once I reach a million or 2 (in another month or so I hope). 

In the mean time, nice to meet you guys, and CRUNCH ON!!!!!


___________________________________________________________________________________________________
Cruncher #1 - Core i7 965 | #2 - 2 x Intel Xeon E5420 | #3 - Core i7 920 | #4 - Core i7 870 | #5 - Core i7 860 | #6 - Core 2 Quad Q9450 | #7 - Core 2 Quad Q9400 | #8 - Core 2 Quad Q9400 |
Total Threads - 52
Total HDD Space - 45TB
Total Power Draw - INSANE!!!


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## KieX (Mar 16, 2010)

D.Law said:


> Hi, I have been lurking around for quite a while now, never got myself to register and post anything. Find this thread to be a great place to make my introductions.
> 
> My name is Damien, 26, from Malaysia. I work for an IT firm here and been highly active in both hardware and gaming industry for the past few years. Been crunching for TPU since 3rd Feb 2010 and I don't have any reason in particular that got me crunching other than that of donating spare CPU cycles for a good cause. Not to mention having my daily dosage of cherry pie doesn't hurt either
> 
> ...



It is real good to know who you are at last! Had been wondering for a little while . It is a pleasure to have you in the team and bid you my humble welcome 

That is quite the farm you have, take some pics and post in the farm pics thread, oh pretty please. Quite the sight me thinks.

Thanks for posting, and joining. And enjoy your stay


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## Chicken Patty (Mar 16, 2010)

About time d.law 

welcome aboard an we are very pleased to have you here.  Since I've reached one million I have helped out 2 different members which doesn't seem like much but I've gave away about 300k BOINC points to other members which to me means a lot!

Crunch on buddy and stick around.  You'll have a great time here


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## blkhogan (Mar 16, 2010)

Welcome to the team. Now we can put a number to a name.  Hope you stick around awhile, great place to hang and do good for humanity.


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## mjkmike (Apr 29, 2010)

Would like to give this post a good bump


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## mjkmike (Jun 20, 2010)

another bump


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## Chicken Patty (Jun 20, 2010)

I know we are missing a lot of member intros so post'em up fellas.


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## (FIH) The Don (Sep 20, 2010)

damn you W1zz !!!!

oh well i try again ahha

im 24, on the 3rd year with my GF, gonna move in together soon i hope, within the next 6 months or so

i crunch because i find it interesting, and i have also lost 3 members of my family to cancer, both grandparents and my mom. so i know how hard that shit hits

and i will never join another team, 

this team is awzumtastic, and imho, we have the best El'Capitan out there, yes David, that is you, you are a genuine good guy, and i hope to meet you one day, and some of the other members too aswell

so thats me, come again you others who lost their posts to w1zz mass murder lol

and crunch on, and do it hard as you can


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## p_o_s_pc (Sep 20, 2010)

(FIH) The Don said:


> and do it hard as you can



That's what she said


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## JATownes (Sep 20, 2010)

Another try for me too.  W1zz used the "erase" spell today  

I am a 35 years old with a beautiful wife and 2 great kids, a 6yo girl and a 14yo young man.  I have been an escrow officer and title agent for the past decade but this last week have started as a Senior Lease and Title Agent for a top 5 oil and gas company.  I have been building computers for the past 15-20 years and have made TPU my home on the web.  

Just want to take the opportunity to say thanks to all here for always making me feel welcome and always offering me assistance when it is needed.  You guys (and girls) are also always good to make me laugh, and sometimes spew soda on the keyboard with your antics.  Keep it up.


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## garyinhere (Sep 20, 2010)

My name is Gary and i am 30 yrs old... I have a 5yr old boy and a 4yr old girl who are my life and a good woman that supports me! I get to sit in front of the computer all day and thought i should do something productive with my time so i studied up on crunching. I personally lost an aunt and grandfather to cancer so crunching is very important to me. I don't work because i am a disabled vet from the Iraq war. We have an awesome team captain and other behind the scenes players that makes our team the best... i recently won the crunching contest and have another rig up! I have a nice little farm starting i'm up to 4 computers that crunch 24/7. I am VERY proud to be a member of this team!!!


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## brandonwh64 (Feb 27, 2012)

Hello, My name is Brandon and I am 27Yrs old. I was previously in the U.S. Army (tech still am until October 2012). I was a 11C Infantry and did two deployments to IRAQ. I have completed my associates degree in Electronics Engineering Technology and I am currently going for my bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering Technology. I currently work for Alstom Turbo Machines in Chattanooga TN.  I have a wife and her name is Jill along with a step daughter. Crunching to me is important because the research we do could save future lives and I want to do as much as I can to help the cause. Many members here at TPU have been so kind in helping people who want to crunch get everything setup!


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## Frick (Feb 27, 2012)

Angry and whiny.


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## Chicken Patty (Feb 27, 2012)

Good that you brought this back from the dead, lots of new members that could introduce themselves.


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## AlienIsGOD (Feb 27, 2012)

can i contribute to raising the thread, err dead


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## twilyth (Feb 27, 2012)

It seems I never posted in this thread.  You can call me Ray or you can call me Jay, but my family, when I talk to them that is, call me Robin.  I've had at least 3 different careers, if you don't count driving a bus, so I'll spare you that bit.  I got involved with distributed computing when United Devices was pretty much the only company doing grid computing.  I think IBM actually pioneered it but it was United Devices and similar companies that actually made it happen.

Eventually they folded.  By that time, there were a fair number of grid projects.  I wanted to help with medical research and went to Rosetta I think it was - or maybe F@H - but I heard such good things about WCG I ended up going there.

I don't have a personal stake in any of the research, at least not so far and not directly, but I like the idea of contributing.  I also give to various charities but this is a little more "real" than just writing a check or seeing a charge on your credit card.  Plus I have OCD and this is like crack on steroids (how's that for mixing metaphors) for people like me.


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## Mussels (Feb 28, 2012)

I used to be a spam bot, until w1zz OC'd be until i gained sentience. Now i'm trollbot9000 and i work for w1zz because i'm his roboslave.


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## ChaoticAtmosphere (Feb 28, 2012)

Haha Mussels  Have you ever given a serious intro?


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## Mussels (Feb 28, 2012)

ChaoticAtmosphere said:


> Haha Mussels  Have you ever given a serious intro?



serious? does not compute.


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## ChaoticAtmosphere (Feb 29, 2012)

Mussels said:


> serious? does not compute.


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## trickson (Feb 29, 2012)

Hello my name is tom I am an unemployed mixer truck driver married 3 kids 3 grand kids. 
Why do I feel like I am in an AA meeting right now?


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## twilyth (Feb 29, 2012)

trickson said:


> Hello my name is tom I am an unemployed mixer truck driver married 3 kids 3 grand kids.
> Why do I feel like I am in an AA meeting right now?


The support groups are where you go after you go broke building rigs and paying for electricity.  

I'm a friend of Bill W.  Need a sponsor?


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## trickson (Feb 29, 2012)

twilyth said:


> The support groups are where you go after you go broke building rigs and paying for electricity.
> 
> I'm a friend of Bill W.  Need a sponsor?



LOL Yes.


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