Journal Keith Russell's Journal: Bio 5
Name: Keith Russell
Home: Pittsburgh, PA. Lived in this area all my life. Most of that time in West Deer Township. It's the 2nd largest municipality in Allegheny County in area (behind the city of Pittsburgh itself), but dead stinkin' last in population. That adds up to a mix of farms, subdivisions, and boarded-up coal mining villages. That's it. It was a 20 minute drive from my house to the nearest conveinence store that was open after 9 pm. Friendly neighbors, great place to raise kids, but it's miserable when you're young, single, and (relatively) social. Moved to a house in Glenshaw in December 2001. Now, it's a 20 minute commute. Hasn't been a money pit so far. (Knock on wood.)
Birthday: 5 July 1972. Yeah, that's right, 30. T-H-I-R-T-Y. The Establishment. As in "Don't trust anyone over...." The object of ridicule when I was 23. Funny, I don't feel old. That's a good sign.
Situation: Single.
Job: Code slave. VB upbringing (quit laughing!), but it's been more C++ and PL/SQL lately. I see a lot of Java in my future, too. Recent non-production tinkerings have been with Python and C#.
Education: Grove City College, B.S. in Computer Science, Class of 1994. Deer Lakes High School, Class of 1990.
Kit: The desktop is a home-built Athlon running XP Pro. The laptop is a Sony GRX600, dual-booting XP Pro and SUSE 8.1.
Sports: Like any proper yinzer, I love the Pirates, Steelers, and Penguins. Like any proper yinzer, I hate all New York and Philadelphia sports teams, as well as the Atlanta Braves. (Francisco Cabrerra is a curse in this town.) And like any proper yinzer, I've grown to like basketball since Ben Howland took over at Pitt. Hockey nut in particular. Grew up watching Mario Lemieux take the Penguins from the dregs of the NHL to the Stanley Cup in six years. Which makes it all the more painful to see them freefall to their current status as poster child for the impending labor armageddon between the league and the player's association. Although I am rather enjoying the schadenfreude of Rico Fata outscoring Alexei Kovalev since the trade.
Cars: Serious car nut. Haven't gone through the ritual of restoring an old Charger yet. My tastes are less muscle car, more British roadster, anyway. Which should explain why my current daily driver is an Audi A4 wagon, not some SUV.
Online Presence: Sorely lacking, if only because I'm waiting for my ISP situation to stabilize. I was just getting to the point where I could get a server together, only to see my ISP, DirecTV DSL, go titsup.com. I'm now at Speakeasy, but my time to work on the server has gone by the wayside. Grr. Until then, I'll have to settle for sorta-blogging on Rob Malda's dime.
Faith: Christian. Methodist family, Presbyterian education. Haven't regularly attended Sunday services since college. Probably because the churches in my old neighborhood were either institutionally stagnant or were country clubs with prayer services. I've been meaning to try some of the churches in Glenshaw.
Playlists:
- 24 Mar 03: David Bowie, "Heathen"
- 28 Mar 03: TNT, "Roadhouse," airing #1,237,434
- 10 Apr 03: Coldplay, "A Rush of Blood to the Head,"
W00T! (Score:2)
Can't watch the Penguins (for the same reason as you). And I'm so much more into football, that I'll only catch a few pirate games this year...
But the steelers are looking mighty strong this year
Re:W00T! (Score:2)
Oh, I still watch the Pens. Watching them right now, as a matter of fact. I just have to learn to watch the Pens the same way I've watched the Pirates over the past few years. They're young, they're learning. I know they're learning, because Rick Kehoe has figured out what nobody on Rangers or Flames did: Richard Lintner is not a defenseman; he is a wing who can skate backwards.
Speaking of the Pirates... Have you made it back for a game at PNC Park yet? That is a great place to watch a baseball game. And
Kordell (Score:2)
Blue Jackets hockey fan here.. they suck. Especially hate seeing Minnesota that came into the league the same year making the playoffs. Oh well, maybe they'll become the Panthers and we'll become the Senators (without the bankruptcy
Re:Kordell (Score:2)
You don't know Pittsburgh "football fans", do you? There are entirely too many so-called fans who turn on the Steelers starting quarterback, regardless of how well he has done in the past, the moment he throws two consecutive incompletions. One of the local radio morning shows calls it Steeler Schizophrenia. If they score a touchdown, they're going all the way to the Super Bowl. If they go three-and-out, they're not going to make the playoffs. And God help them if they turn the ball over. Believe me, for ev
Re:Kordell (Score:2)
Jackets fans are still giving some time to the org b/c it's only the 3rd year, but D