User:Nick Johnson

Background

Nick Johnson has a bachelor's degree in Computer Engineering and Applied Mathematics from the University of Virginia. He works as an embedded systems developer in industrial sensing and controls. Outside of work, he is a computer, electronics and mechanics hobbyist.

Interests

In no particular order, Nick is interested in:

• Cycling -- city rides, country rides, bike maintenance and repair, bike hacks.
• Organic Gardening -- mmmmm tomatos.
• Traveling -- trying to get to Africa for the first time this spring/summer.
• Computer programming -- compilers for novel languaes or architectures, embedded software development, open source software movement.
• Electronics/Mechanics -- while a computer program is cool, designing a physical device that does something will impress even non-geeks.

As well as whatever Nick forgot to mention here. In general, if you show a passion for something, Nick can relate.

Trivia

• Nick is a vegetarian.
• Nick likes to spend vacations sleeping on the streets of foreign countries.
• Nick has never paid for a haircut, and never will.
• Because Nick grew up in central Virginia, USA, Nick hates cold weather. His ideal climate is about 95F and 400% humidity.

Some Quotes

When you ask a creative person how they did something, they may feel a

little guilty because they didn't really do it, they just saw something. It seemed obvious to them after awhile. That's because they were able to connect experiences they've had and synthesize new things. And the reason they were able to do that was that they've had more experiences or have thought more about their experiences than other people have.

- Steve Jobs, Wired (March, 1996)

If you need a machine and don't buy it, then you will ultimately find you have paid for it but don't have it

- Henry Ford.