J-Mag Guthrie

That's me. I'm an Astros fan. I'm unemployed at this time, but I used to be the operations manager for Brokersys. We were a small, Houston-area ISP for about six years. I also used to be a programmer, but once I started having small children and caring for them while I worked, I discovered it's tough to concentrate on programming and childcare simultaneously. Now, no one uses the languages I know. I read science fiction, fantasy, mysteries, and occasionally other stuff. My favorite author is Lois McMaster Bujold. I also hold novice amateur radio license KD5SBI. Before you ask, my mother did not name me J-Mag, but it's what everyone calls me, so you should, too. It's actually from my initials, J. M. A. Guthrie. Back in the bad old days of computer bulletin boards, some male people were less than totally well-mannered towards women. So I quit using my given name and started using my initials. When someone would quote what I wrote, it would say JMAG> at the front to identify me as the source and I got the nickname and it stuck.

Jonathan

My wonderful husband. He has a degree in aerospace engineering, but he's currently working as a computer programmer for a company that cannot be named. This company is so paranoid that when they talk about a debugging tool, they mean a narrowband receiver. He does not particularly care for the Astros. He was a second-sacker at one time (batted clean-up, too). He does read science fiction and he's also a licensed single-engine pilot and extra-class amateur radio operator KA8KPN.

Kelly

Kelly is my oldest son. He lives and goes to college in Arlington Texas, near his sweetie. We visited him for his birthday and were introduced to Stepmania. It's like Dance Dance Revolution. And it's harder than it looks.

Yoshi

Yoshi is my second son. He was born with cataracts and has badly malformed middle ears, so he wears hearing aids. With the hearing aids, he is just within the bounds of "normal" hearing. We also found out recently that one of his kidneys is abnormally small. He also has Asperger's Syndrome, which is a disorder on the autism spectrum. If you've ever seen the movie "Rain Man" he's like a smarter, better-adjusted version of Raymond. He can take care of himself and suchlike, but he doesn't always think like an average person or understand things in the same way. He reads a lot and spends a lot of time in IRC. He's also on the development team for zsnes, a Nintendo SuperNES simulator.

Andy

Andy's in 10th grade. Her long name is Andromeda. She is a typical teen-ager. She likes to spend lots of time on the phone. During the 2002 postseason, she caught a couple of Angels games and now has a major crush on Frankie Rodriguez aka K-Rod. She got his replica jersey for her birthday, as well as a signed ball. As a Yule gift last year, I bought her the sponsorship of his page at Baseball-Reference.com. She would like to marry him. I have no real objections. Not that I think Mr. Rodriguez would be foolish enough to want to marry Andy, but ya never know.

Iker

No, her name isn't really "Iker", it's "Rhiannon" We just call her "Iker". She's in third grade at Eiland Elementary School. Her favorite baseball team is the New York Mets and her favorite player is Mike Piazza. She wants to be a major league catcher when she grows up. And she is very much into dragons.

T-Bob

T-Bob (Cajun for "Little Bob") is six. He just started first grade. He says his favorite Astro is Jose Vizcaino, but he was devastated by the trade of Billy Wagner to the Phillies. His favorite bedtime song was "Enter Wagner" and he was very angry at the Phillies and wanted to go to Philadelphia to "punch them because they took Billy Wagner away." He played tee-ball for the Spring-Klein 6yo Mets where he wore the number 10—Viz's number. He especially liked to play 3B and catcher. One game, he recorded two outs playing 3B and so he thinks it's his natural position.

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