Maximum PC

SpotLight on eggman_42

eggman_42 started folding 8/28/08
points 119,340
ppd 4,685
processors xx - I'll get it updated soon
posts 11

Lets meet eggman_42 ...............

Where do you call home these days?

Pueblo, Colorado with my beautiful wife and two beautiful children, a boy who is 1 and a girl who is 2. It's a tad bit warmer here than most of the rest of Colorado but not too bad. I've been all over the world and U.S. and without a doubt I love it right here.



The beautiful children



His beautiful wife.
He wasn't kidding about her or the kids - beautiful.






What got you started folding?

I was actually on the Nvidia website reading about CUDA and I stumbled upon Stanfords website. I looked at the team lists and discovered a magazine I have been reading for many years had a team. It seemed like a challenge. I was just getting off a two year stint on Active Duty and was on leave with nothing to do. In short order I became hooked. After the first month and the power bill was not severely affected I decided it was for me. Like anyone else I've had family members affected by some of the diseases we are helping to research and thought it was something I could have fun with and make some sort of difference with at the same time.


Where are you employed?

Lets just say I work for Uncle Sam during the week and also one weekend a month and two weeks a year. (Sometimes that turns into Two Years straight.)


What other hobbies or interests do you pursue when not folding?

I like Mt Biking, shooting, photography, computers and just hanging out with my family.



How did you learn about computers?

Received my first computer from my parents and immediately set about to upgrade it because it wouldn't edit video like I wanted. I haven't bought one from a store since (except a laptop). Uncle Sam sent me to school to learn how to do it for real several years ago. The hardware part I already had down cold from my self-learning. The software part takes much more effort but we all learn something new every day.


What hardware are you currently running?

Thermaltake Lan-Box Lite
Asus P5K-VM
Enermax 480 W Power Supply
Intel Core 2 Duo E6550 @ 2.3GHZ
2GB Crucial Ballistix DDR2 1066
EVGA GeForce 9600 GSO 602/1782/900
WD 500GB
Asus Blu-Ray Player/DVD Burner
Creative SB X-Fi Xtreme Audio
Windows Vista Ultimate 32bit




Do you build your own computers today?

Every chance I get.


Do you overclock any machines?

I have before but stability and less heat is something I cherish more. It was fun back when it involved a pencil .


What are the main things you use your computers for today?

I don't have any dedicated folders but I do seem to use the laptop more and more so that I don't slow my desktop down. I of course, when money allows want to have a dedicated Folder.


What Broadband provider do you use - are you happy with their service?

I have Comcast. It's Comcastic!! Not really. The service can sometimes have unacceptable Signal To Noise Ratio and the service will drop out. They are trying though. They called me recently and wanted to come without me asking and check everything out. They are apparently shooting for a Nov roll out of Voice and need to improve line quality. I just performed a speak easy speed test with the server in SF CA and here is the result. Last Result: Download Speed: 18652 kbps (2331.5 KB/sec transfer rate) Upload Speed: 1550 kbps (193.8 KB/sec transfer rate). I have seen speeds during a regular download in excess of 2MB per second the last time I downloaded drivers from Nvidia. Customer Service with Comcast can be crappy but it's the only show in town.

What do you like most about Folding and the MaximumPC forum?

Folding is surprisingly rewarding. I'm sure everyone can relate to a sense of accomplishment that tweaking a client for a few more points can bring. It's nice to have a forum that isn't all about flaming that has steered me away from most forum type environments for many years. People like Gordon who are generally nice people make coming to Max Pc Forums a pleasure. There are more than a few others that are genuinely helpful.


What are your future folding plans?

Of course making the top 100 at some point and a million points are on every ones list.

Eggman_42 thanks for doing a great SpotLight.
Great pictures of the family having fun.
Especially with that rather large cookie.
Did he actually get it to eat?
That would have been one amazing sugar high for such a little guy.
You are doing a great folding job in the short time you have been with us.
Enjoy folding and the forum and we'll see if we can't change the world for the better together.
eggman_42 was the third person to do a SpotLight for A Winter Wonderland Entry with no strings attached.

Thanks for a great spotlight!

AGR? (I was a reservist for 15 years before I retired. Had someone in admin that was a civilian 5 days a week, then put on a uniform for drills.)

I was going to ask the same thing. AGR or Tech?

No He's only 1 as of the 5th of this month so no gigantic cookies for him yet.
My wife made it for me as a joke and I thought it would make a cute picture next to him because it was bigger than his head.

No I am neither an AGR or a State Technician. I am a Gov Civilian. Sorry for being vague as to what I do but discussing exactly what I do on the internet in these times could expose my family to unnecessary risk which I would like to avoid.

I would also note that I added the picture of my son wearing the monkey PJ's for all the monkeys out there.

Sounds almost like Competitive rather than Excepted. Fed employee sorta speak.
Be careful of those monkeys.

I don't think you have anything to worry about here. You're in friendly company here.

*Gathers all the ex military and sets up a protective perimeter around eggman's house*

nice to meet you mang....

don't worry there's no flaming or anything around here... we're all really really nice to everyone....

Great spotlight!

Wow, I didn't know Comcast had 20Mb service anywhere, is that fiber optic? How much a month?

That's just the power-boost making the speed test results look better. Like I said 2Mb/s is all I've really seen in real life and even that is unusual. The distant end is usually much slower.

Thanks, nice write up, also thank you for serving our great country!

Yet, oddly enough, you felt it safe to post a photo of yourself along with them here?

Don't you think that someone who you piss off doing your job might recognize your face? ....or are you just worried about people who might have been pissed off by your coworkers and take it out on you by your association to them?

I ask as a fellow vet, who is also currently a Gov't civilian who is also worried about protecting my home life and my family.

Welcome aboard, nice spotlight and a great looking family you've got there.

Looks like we've got ourselves a monkey in the making there

All those monkies see the world through the same lens.

Welcome to the forums and thanks for talking about yourself a bit. And thank you for wearing the uniform.

Wow, we have very similar tastes in hardware.

I'm a big fan of that case...I've built like 5 systems based on it. I've also been using a G33-based MB, I've just been using the MSI model for it's dual eSATA ports. The "stealth" front 5.25" bays are a pain....I can never get the button on the panel to actually line up with the optical drive behind it. I've finally just started removing the panel altogether so I can get to the drive directly. Heh, I'm even using the same webcam.

My kids are just over two years apart...I can only imaging how much "fun" having two just a year apart is.

Great spotlight, and thanks for folding with us!

I have this insatiable desire for a giant cookie now....

Awesome spotlight, and great looking family!

Good job eggman-welcome to the team. An Army Dad thanks you for your service. Hope you win some of the great prizes in the upcoming Winter Contest to ramp up your folding the way you'd like.

nice spotlight, yum cookies.