About me:

--- Background: ---
Well... it's always so complicated to figure out how to start a introduction so I guess I'll just start with something.
My name is Svein Engelsgjerd. I came to this world 15 december 1977 and I am currently living in the western regions of 
Norway (vestlandet). I have a social secutiry number, I pay my taxes and I even carry out my own garbage from time to time!
There is really not much more to say about the subject!

--- Interests: ---
I am a person who generaly find most things interesting. However there are some things that obviously are more interesting 
than others and for me the most interesting things are astronomy, computers and in particular programmming, mechanics and 
electronics, music composing and like most perverts I do of course have a special inerest for women ;)

Astronomy:
I am no classic example of a number freak that memorizes every star name and id number from a catalog. I spend 
my time watching the skies instead. Every single time I watch the milkyway on a clear night I get overwhelmed and sometimes I
also get a kick of "awareness" where I realize how small we are and that there is something out there that is so large and
uncomprehensive that man kind probably never will be able to understand it fully!

Computers and programming:
I have always had a interest for computers since I first saw a program called 'datastart' 
on Norwegian television (NRK). I can't remember how old I was then but that was what ignited my interest for computers.
I rougly know most things what needs to be known about computers and I have a good understanding about what's going on 
'under the hood' of layers and layers of software that hides the inner workings of a computers.
It's a bit disturbing to see that some newly educated programemrs don't even know what microcode, cpu instructions,
assembly code, interrupts etc etc.... is!
It's even imporant to the enviroment to write efficient code since it saves a lot of energy who means profit! Saved energy is 
a few more coins in the moneybin
As a coder I have some experience in the following langauges: in C, PHP, MC680x0 assembly, AmigaE, Amos and Various basic 
dialects.

Music:
Since I've been a Amiga enthusiast I started making music using the legendary ProTracker and have now moved on to ModPlug 
(OpenMPT). I usualy make music that sounds quite diffrent than most other pieces of music out there. As a musician I'm 
self-taught and plays (poorly) the following instruments: Willow-flute (known as Seljefløyte in Norway), Mouth-harp (Jaw harp) (Munnharpe),
Guitar (very poor) and keyboard (also very poor).
When it comes to music I am quite biased towards funk. Now there is a lot of horrible music out there who claim to be funk but
for me real funk will always be about rythm and a good solid bassline that carries the tune.
However even if I am quite picky on music I can like everything from electronica, classical music and boogie woogie.
I have a great disgust for "popular music" e.g. what I usualy call 'copy and paste' music meaning that the so called
composers simply copy other peoples work purely for profit and not for the music.
Hip hop and/or rap music is in my oppinion the most primitive and braindead 'music' available. It's basically a loop in the
bacground playing over and over again and some people talking about more or mostly less interesting things.
This music have not evolved a bit since the late 80's and for some reason people still listen to it. To me that proves that
most of the world really don't care about music at all or don't understand that there is a wealth of great music out there.
I am really looking forward to the day that some rap artist will sue another rap artist for plagiarism 
remember the loop i was talking about? now this would be a never ending loop of lawsuits!

I'll list some my favorite musicians/songs here sometime when I feel like it ;)

Misc stuff:
Also for as long as I can remember I've been a fan of old classic Donald Comics and cartoons (1940-1950 style timeline). I 
have quite a bunch of Donald comics that I have saved since I was a little kid. I have to say that I'm most impressed by the 
drawing style of Carl Barks, Al Taliaferro and ofcourse Keno Don Rosa. When it comes to cartoons I'm a huge fan of Goofy, 
Roadrunner, Tom&Jerry and last but not least Daffy Duck. When it comes to modern cartoons I think The Simpsons and Futurama is 
great fun.
What I find so interesting about old cartoons is that they in my opinion was made for both adult and kids at the same time.
If you watch some of those old cartoons you will see that there is a lot of references to more adult topics.

 --- Work: ---
After quitting school in 1994 I started working full time on my farm. In 1999 I decided it was time to start doing something 
else for a change...
I started working for Elmag Instrument A/S in 1999 where I for the most part worked with assembly of 21" industrial CRT monitors 
until the product was discontinued. I also did a few other things including assembly of 17" CRT industrial monitors, 
glasswork, warehouse related stuff and a few handyman assignments.

Later Elmag Instrument A/S was accuired by Hatteland Assembly and eventually we moved to a new larger production facillity. 
There my main job mainly consisted of preparing parts for the 23" industrial flat panel display and assembly of a few minor 
variants of this display.
After ages it seems I also got the "pleasure" of doign some "cleanup" jobs for displays that was returned for 
repair/service mostly due to dust particles inside the display. This was a job I found quite frustrating because the 
facilities was far from good enough for the job and it was near impossible to put the display back into perfect 
working condition. This is without doubt the assignment I disliked the most however I was lucky enough to get some transport 
assignments to relieve me from the constant frustration. I have always enjoyed driving so even if these small transport missions 
was quickly completed I really appreciated this very much since I relaxed and could take a break but do something useful at the
same time.

I also stepped in at the warehouse every now and then plus I worked there for roughly 6 months and was offered a permanent 
position but I declined sice I mainly prefer to work with other things alltough I thrived at the warehouse.
I returned to display assembly, but to my surprise (or maybe not) I was asked if I wanted to work on another project that 
included the assembly and testing of some special oil/fluid pressure alarm system for use in oil tankers and whatnot... At the 
time it was the idea that this should be a own produciton line in parallel with the display production. However this never 
happened and the project was put on ice and eventually canceled so I was back in the display production for a brief time again.

I was barely (some might argue) able to start irritating my coworkers again before I was asked if I want to work with 
another project called Autostore. I decided that since the previous project sailed off into oblivion I could try 
something new instead of display production.

I have always been a independent person and working more or less alone with the Autostore project was a nice change for me!
Since I started working with Autostore in 2005 I have worked more or less independent with various things including (but far 
from limited to) assembly, repair, problem solving, warehouse management, software cunsulting, training of personell and
...well you name it! I am also happy that I have been able to contribute to shaping the project to something better. Too see 
your ideas in practical use is some of the most rewarding things you can experience.

In March 2007 the display and assembly section where I was working was accuired by Ferd (now Hercules capital). This lead to 
another milestone for me and in Januar 2008 Hatteland Computer who is responsible for the Autostore project wanted me to work 
directly for them. This was something I have been hoping for since I started with Autostore and my "dream" finaly came true.
This change was something I had been wanting to happen since I saw it as important to "move on" and get rid of the display
production once and for all. To my great surprise this was not as easy for me as I had expected mostly due to one very 
skilled  person who I've always admired and who have my deepest respect. This particular change learned me a very important
lesson about people that I will never forget since I felt it would be a relief to "get rid off" this person.
but even if I was right to some degree I think this must have been one of my greatest mistakes of all time.
I guess that's just another one of life's hard and strange lessons....

I also have a drivers licence for about everything that run on wheels and I usualy get used to new vehicles very quickly. I have 
driven a quite impressive numbers of different cars, motorcycles, trucks, tractors and even a few forklifts. My friends often 
describe as a skilled driver.

--- Misc: ---
I'll just throw in some philosophical stuff here to confuze people:

- 'Now' does not exists. IT is actually based the reconstruction of the recent history of the last milliseconds present in your brain!
- Those who die have lived in vain.
- History can't be changed - however it's always smart to explain your version of the history.
- If someone says they like you - they feel sorry for you.
- If someone feels sorry for you - they try to make themself feel better.
- Is existence based on history or on expectations?
- Why do we wonder why?!
- Being nice to someone can actually be very egoistic. By doing something nice to others you often feel better yourself!