Both Ryan and I are pretty personable people. We like to interact with the community here and elsewhere, and we like to understand and get to know our readers. Similarly, we’d like our readers to know a little bit about us too!
The idea for writing a post with some random facts came from Kyle over at Kyle’s Cove who took some time to let his readers know a little bit about himself. We thought it was a great idea, so without further ado, here are a few things you may not know about Ryan and I (The picture is of Ryan and I when I graduated from college).
- We’ve been married for four years and currently live in Ames, Iowa. No kids yet.
- To help pay our way through college, we ran an eBay business on our own where we listed and shipped hundreds of items every week.
- Our mornings typically start at 6:30 where we wake-up and head over to the gym for a morning workout. Then it’s back home to get started on scouring through our feeds to look for news. We typically work from about 8:30am to anywhere between 6:30–7:00pm, sometimes later.
- We’re cruise fanatics ever since the first one we took for our honeymoon. We’ve been on four thus far and can’t wait to see more places!
- On the weekends, you can typically find us at the local lake attempting to catch fish, although this year so far, the fish haven’t been too friendly with us.
- We’re originally from the Chicago area, and yes we are HUGE Cubs Fans (one of these years, they’ll go all the way, I just know it!) and Bears fans.
- Ryan has a degree in Computer Engineering and I have a degree in Elementary Education from Iowa State University. Go Cyclones!
- We’ve never seen any of the Star Wars or Lord of the Rings movies (and yes, we’ve already been harassed for this). Recently we’ve gotten into seeing a few movies every month which we usually talk about in the forum.
- Ryan loves to play basketball and has an obsession with Spiderman.
- Recently we bought rollderblades which we’re trying to re-teach ourselves how to do because it’s been about 10 years since we’ve done it!
- I’m really into music. I love to listen to it, and play the piano.
- One of our favorite desserts is called “better than sex cake” – funny name, but it’s good stuff!
That’s a little bit about Ryan and I. This is normally one of those “tag” posts where you tag blogs to do the same. We’re going to do it a little bit differently because we’re tagging ALL OF YOU! We’d like to get to know you, so let us know a few things about yourself in the comments. How hard is it to say something about yourself? Or, if you decide to do something like this on your own blog, just drop the link in the comments. So go on, let us know at least one thing about you… 
Hi, I’m Ethan. I’ve been a Cybernet News reader/follower for less than a year or so. My only feeds are this and digg ^^. I’m going to be a senior in high school and I hope to enter the field of medicine. Computers has always been a passion of mine and this site helps fuel that passion. Huge Red Sox fan right here!!! We will go all the way again within 85 years kthanx.
Awesome Ethan…nice to hear from ya! But a Red Sox fan? I’m not too sure about that.
xpgeek here, real names Mike, I’m 27 and uh, (cheats and just copys the blurb I wrote about myself on my myspace page).
I am, a person who finds it hard to write anything about himself, and a movie buff, and a computer geek (and proud of it), who lives in northern Jersey just outside of New York city.
I have a love for history and science, and like to be aware of everything thats happening in the world. I watch and read the news far too often, and get pissed off at what I see far too easily. I grow tired of a government that only serves itself and not its people anymore, and I grow tired of people that want it to change but don’t even bother to vote.
My friends, the few that I have, would call me a ‘dark person’, always seeing the negatives of the world far more then the positive. I am left handed, and proud of that, and like to think of myself as the quiet intelligent type.
Oh, and I’m a lifelong NY Yankees fan!
Cubs fans? Yay!
I also am a diehard Cubs fan. Typically when the Cubs suck, I just don’t follow baseball closely, but years like this, I watch pretty much every game (online or TV).
I need to get to some Cyclones games in the near future. Was sorry to hear about Mike getting kicked off the team.
I’m OldManDeath, aka: Robert Wade, aka: Cycle Jockey (this is new and more to come later).
I served 20 years in the US Navy in Engineering (Steam Propulsion), Air Conditioning & Refrigeration, Mechanical Calibration, Law Enforcement, Predictive Maintenance, etc., etc. I worked mostly Maintenance related fields, but ventured outside maintenance when on shore duty.
I currently work for Kroger Manufacturing (Kroger Food Chain) in Irving, TX at America’s Beverage where we make and package the Big K brand of carbonated beverages as well as Kroger water.
I have been into computers for quite some time and am all self taught. I worked as a computer technician and build my own computers. I also have developed and maintained website professionally as a part time job for a few years. Now I just work on my own personal website (had stopped for a while, but back at it).
I am an avid (obsessive/religious) cyclist (road bicycle) and ride every chance I get, which is usually not enough for my liking. This is where Cycle Jockey come in to play; I am going to be developing a website dedicated to Cycling Enthusiasts which is going to be a bit different than anything I have seen out there so far.
Well, I guess that is long winded enough. You can find out more about me at my personal website: [robertwade.com.] There is more on my Navy Career as well as a humorous writing about “How to Simulate Shipboard Life”.
very fun post — i admit it’s a neat surprise to learn about the person you’ve been reading for a while. sometimes i forget their are humans on the internet and it’s not all written by mechanical devices
Here here. But no Star Wars or LOTR?!! What the?!?!
ffextensionguru, aka The Guru – real name Al Hutchison. Born and raised in southern California. Spent 18 years in a little city south of Los Angeles called Hawthorne (home of The Beach Boys). Moved to Arizona with my folks in June 1993. What better way to get use to an Arizona Summer (which run April-October) than jumping right in! Been all over the Phoenix metro area, though have spent the majority of my time in Mesa (8 years) and Chandler (5 years).
Love the Diamondbacks, though not to thrilled with the new colors. Sadly, I don’t think they will ever be able to do what they did in the 2001 World Series! Suns are okay, but they just can’t win a championship. Don’t really follow the Coyotes (hockey) and have long since given up on the Cardinals (I’ve seen pop-warner teams with a better record).
In 1994 I started the first of three years at Chandler-Gilbert Comm College. During those three years I was very active in student government. I graduated with an Associates of Business. The following 2 years I attended Arizona State (Go Devils!. I was involved with the American Marketing Association and graduated in 1999 with a Bachelors in Marketing.
From 1999 on I worked various customer service jobs. The past 5 1/2 years I had been with Target Stores on the financial services end. Sadly, that came to a very sudden and unexpected end in the beginning of June this year. This only added to a very chaotic year I was having with the loss of two family members and some other issues I had been dealing with.
Out of boredom/desperation, I applied for a sales/support posttion with GoDaddy.com (North America’s largest Registrar of Domain Names and hosting provider) on a Friday afternoon. Completed the online application and had an e-mail waiting in mintues from a recruiter. Called in, compelted and passed a pre-screening interview and told to come in the following Monday for the ‘test’. Took the ‘mother-of-all tests’ and thought ‘well it was worth a shot’. Much to my surprise I made it to a second interview and then a job offer.
My hobbies include cyclung and Digital Photography ([s188.photobucket.com]) and of course anything to do with Mozilla Firefox & Thunderbird. I despise Internet Exploiter and MS Outhouse/Outhouse Express! I use/test/crash nightly builds for both Firefox and Thunderbird 2.
I stumbled upon the CyberNet blog a while back while looking for info on Fx 2 for my own blog. I was also a part of the debut of the CyberNet forum last year. I started the blog in May ‘06 on a fluke, kinda just to see what would happen. I never imagined it would take off like it has a year later. Also never though I would still be blogging.
Getting back to the nickname, I test, review, evaluate and of course break Fx Extensions. On another board I was given the name Firefox Extension Guru and I have used it every since. Besides my blog I also have a Firefox related site ([ffextensionguru.info]) which links to my own discussion forum.
Great Picture. I’m an Egyptian Doctor who loves creating stuff on his computer . I’ve been mentored by your site daily for the last year & half. This post made me encouraged to say Hi & many thanks.
I am Bryan, and I am 36 year old technology enthusiast that feels very fortunate to be a full time stay at home father. I enjoy finding new stuff on the web. My family members call me the guru of the net. Thanks to voip my need for a 800 tech support line for my family has subsided. They now my number and that I am always available and willing to help.
It is great to find out little facts about the writers. I enjoyed this post. Thanks!
Keep up the work!
Keep up the Great Work!
Sorry.
I’m 30, married for over 6 years, my daughter, flickr.com]'>Sophia, just turned one. I have a bachelors degree in computer science and I’m a software developer for a company that specializes in customer relationship management (CRM). I live and work in southern Indiana, a few minutes north of maps.google.com]+Ky&ie=UTF8&ll=38.296404,-85.766144&spn=0.476378,0.933838&z=10&iwloc=addr&om=1'>Louisville, Ky.
@Al – What is cyclung? Cyclops Lung?
@CoryC – I was just on vacation in SE Indiana (Batesville/Greensburg area).
Things we do know about Ryan and Ashley: They’re really hard working folks. They’re kinda likeable too.
Few things about me:
– My dream is to write fiction. Short horror stories… the kind you find in Stephen King compilations.
– I prefer dogs (and animals in general) to people.
– I am shit-scared of flying & once woke up a pig-farmer from Canada on a trans-atlantic flight coz I thought the plane’s wing was on fire.
On closer inspection it turned out to be one of the blinkers on the wing but he was v.understanding about the whole incident.
I’m four foot nine, and I have a hook for a hand. My life’s ambition is to drunk a basketball…
Okay, this is ridiculous. You guys know me already. I will add one thing though – I’m not excited to take more classes without Ryan/John/Aaron/Mike etc. I’m surprised you you all but said where you went to college.
@OMD that is a good question. A better question would be how that made it past Flock’s Spell check.
Okay, this has been really fun to read the comments so far! It’s kinda nice to know a little bit about all of the commenter’s and readers we’ve had. Thanks for sharing! And for anybody else reading this, feel free to add a few things about yourself as well
You mean to tell me that you’re really going to miss late nights finishing projects with Ryan? You don’t have to lie
And yes, you’re right.. I forgot to mention that one important detail that we graduated from Iowa State University.
Hi, My name is Rebekah and I discovered this site within the past two weeks. After reading one or two posts, I’d added you to my RSS feed.
I’m 37, a part-time paralegal, addicted to links (I’ve been reading ResourceShelf for about two weeks… bookmarked 31 links today) and trying to maintain knowledge. My mom was a Sandy Koufax fan (Brooklun Dodgers) and we grew up in a baseball-loving house – until the strike. I’m dealing with chronic pain, and the doctors don’t know what causes it. I used to travel before the damned medical bills… but I’m not on CyberNet News to whine. I’m getting my first bike since second grade, in order to reduce gas expenses. Given the choice between a tattoo and a pedicure, I’d choose the tattoo; given the choice between a necklace and a pedicure, unless it’s Tiffany’s I’m choosing the pedicure. My second son plays bass for Sworn Enemy and my baby is now 19 and learning to tattoo. I’m PROUD of my influence.
I’m Erick, I am a chemist but I like to know about computers and software and so on. Since I’m self taught on this, I’ve learned on the internet everything I know. This is where your website has been very helpful to me, a good way to be updated on computer news before going to more computer geeky sites. Thanks a lot and keep the good work!…and I’m sorry, maybe this is not the best year to admit it, but I’m a White Sox fan
Hi, I’m Max.
I’m a 20 year old college student going into his junior year at St. John’s University in NY. I’m really interested in computers and am learning to become a programmer when I grow up. My dream is to work at Google one day.
I like reading (HARRY POTTER!), watching movies (TRANSFORMERS), and playing sports (soccer, football, volleyball, badminton). I also love animals and I want to get a dog sometime in the future!
I been reading Cybernet News ever since I downloaded Portable Firefox about a year ago at work and discovered the link on the bookmark toolbar folder.
It’s nice to see people coming out of the internet shadow. It is also nice to see that Cybernet News readers come from 2 continents thus far.
Lets add another one.
My name is Yaniv, 34 years old, living in a suburb of Brussels, Belgium with my wife and 4.5 years old son. I work as a freelance web consultant/problem-solver for an R&D related project in the European Commission.
Cybernet News is the only source I use for IT related news. It is not uptight as some other IT websites and this is one of the reasons I keep coming back.
Thank you and continue the good work !
Wow! I just spent some time reading all of the posting and visiting some of your own sites. What amazes me the most is that the idea didn’t occur to do a post like this a little earlier.
I think “mouser” said it best in his comment when he said that it’s a nice surprise to hear something about the people you’re reading from. The same goes the opposite way as well…it’s nice to know about the people who are reading what you write!
And for all of you who said that you’re not a Chicago Cubs fan…I wish you the best.
Greetings! I’m Dave and a proud Canuck! Can’t say I follow sports, but I do enjoy snowboarding. I’m an electrical engineer and while IT isn’t my primary field, I’ve been playing around with hardware and software since the good ol’ days of DOS and VMS (which is why I sometimes hate having to use a mouse, but that’s another thread about Fx extensions hehe).
I was the first in my class in university to start programming in HTML back in the mid-nineties… why the heck didn’t I clue in that I should do that for a living?
I still do a bit of web and database programming here and there, all self-taught. I’m a geek to the core, and I love reading about the stuff you guys post here. I’ve found a lot of great software and tips thanks to the great people here. Haven’t quite found the time to contribute much to the forum, but I have registered there!
Thanks for this great site Ashley & Ryan (and everyone else who adds their Two Cents (Canadian, American, Aussie, et. al.) or Two Euros or Two Pesos or Two Whatever-your-currency-happens-to-be.
P.S. Thanks for posting this thread. I’ve been wondering for some time who the masterminds behind CN were…
Yeah, there are too many people who don’t know how to handle a computer when they don’t have a mouse.
Sometimes it is kinda fun to unplug it and see what you can get done with the keyboard.
I’m glad you liked the post, and we really appreciate you dropping in your own info!
Forgot to mention, I also play the piano. And percussion. So yay for all the musical geeks out there! Go Ashley!
I used to play the piano way back, but then moved to drums. I would really like to get back into the drums though.
I’ve never played an instrument before…well, never with the intent of learning to play it.
I can do Mary had a Little Lamb on the piano.
Ryan, we should start a band together. I’ll rock out on the drums and you can play “Mary had a Little Lamb” in the back ground. Unstoppable!
My name is Kevin Johnson, I’m 19 years old.
Well, you may have noticed from one of my early posts, but I’m a fellow Iowan. I’ve lived in Iowa for 14 years. I attend Brigham Young University Idaho [yeah, the name's a bit long] working towards a 4-year degree in Mechanical Engineering. This winter, I intend to take a break from school and go on a two-year proselyting mission for my church.
I consider myself to be an amateur photographer [ [spacewhale.deviantart.com] ] and I’m currently learning to plan the guitar. I own both an acoustic and an electric guitar.
Umm… yeah. That’s all I can think of at the moment. Thanks for reading!
You’ve got some pretty awesome photos up there!
Hi my name is Ryan and I am a comput-a-holic. I am a geek! Nice background Ash.
And I thought ashley was taller… thats weird!
Wow thank you, just stole my story and put your name on it….
@Ryan & Ashley:
My name is Omar aka Epiac1216. I’m in love with computers and the Internet, even though I’m 61 years young. I’ve been using computers since 1983 when I purchased an Apple II-E which I used until it was too old to work. She is now retired.
I’ve been an Accountant/Comptroller/Auditor most of my life. Have a lot of experience in those fields, mainly in budgeting and cost control.
Like to go to the beach and stroll aimlessly, write in my blog, read a lot and listen to orchestral music. Internet music is great and you have all sorts of options available with just a few clicks. I understand Ashley also likes music. May I ask what kind of music?
Been married for 27 years with the same woman. No kids. Have two gold fishes as pets (Reddie and Whitie). One is red and the other one is white, thus the names.
Learned about CyberNet about a month ago and am hooked to it ever since. I read your posts about five to ten times a day. You have so much useful information for us.
Now you know a little bit about a guy called Omar who comments now and then.
Regards,
Omar.-
I am Satur9 aka Anne, I’m 39, I live in Gent (Belgium, you know that country where it took them 6 months to form a government), I am married and have 2 children and 2 stepchildren. So a busy household of 6 people. I work part-time in a non-profit organisation.
I really enjoy music (from Crowded House to Tool), I’m addicted to reading, and I love anything related to PC’s. I don’t even want to start to count how many PC’s and laptops are in our house
(an educated guess would be 6 PC’s and 3 laptops, of course ranging from old and slow to more recent, my husband is upgrading his own and my son’s PC’s as we speak)
We have a computer related site and blog (Google for Zonderdank you’ll find it), and I have my own personal weblog, but they’re in Dutch so there you go
I discovered Cybernet quite some time ago, and have been reading articles almost daily ever since. One of my favourite feeds in my FeedDemon!
So now you know a bit more about one of your somewhat irregular commenters
We’re glad to learn about you Omar and Anne! It’s always interesting to hear about the things people like who read our site. And Anne, it’s nice to know that we do have a female audience (even if it is rather small).