Bio - Chez Goodman 
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 Introduction 
Enneagram

Hello. My name is Dave, and I'm a programmer. (This is where you go, "Hiiiii, Daaaave.") Sit back, relax and put on some music if you like.

In no particular order, here I am in a nutshell (where I belong): male, married, straight, human, husband, father, programmer, electronics engineer, thinker, tinkerer, inventor, speaker, writer, camper, comedian, magician and Type 5 personality on the Enneagram (INTP if you prefer the Keirsey temperament system). Whew!


 Table of Contents 

 Table of Contents 
Biography of Dave Goodman 
Other Sites I've Designed 
My Mascot, the Frog 
Family 
Personal Likes and Dislikes 
Top 10 Favorite Albums 
Top 10 Favorite Authors 
Top 10 Favorite Books 
Top 10 Favorite TV Shows 
Top 10 Favorite Movies 

 Biography 


Chimp


So you're asking yourself, "Why does this guy have a web page? Is it vanity? Maybe he's just another bit-twiddling geek. I'd better find another web site, quick!"

Well, it's not vanity. It's self-defense. (I'm not defensive! I'm not!) These days you've got to have a home page to be cool. But do I care? No. I'm not cool, I'm just tired of people asking me where my web site is. And whattaya know, here you are reading it. So this is your chance to satisfy your curiosity about "that Goodman guy" without my even knowing.

I was born at an early age. The event was so traumatic I didn't speak for over a year. People in Southern California during the late 50's didn't listen to newborns anyway. I must have suffered a terrible childhood, because I don't remember much of it. Or maybe it's just from growing up during the 60's. At a suitable age, I attended Chatsworth High School and Cal State University at Northridge, but I'm still not enlightened.

After working in the public library during my education, I started servicing video games, then hard disk drives and finally entire computer systems. I had learned to program in high school (thank you, Mrs. Joyce Domike!), and found myself jumping back and forth between electronics design and software design.

Once I got tired of having to order parts, I realized that perhaps software was better than hardware. Cheaper, too. I spent a number of years writing software for industrial automation, and then in 1990 joined a company that publishes games and educational software for the PC. I've been designing games ever since.

I enjoy designing web pages. You can view some of the pages I've done for friends at Blaha's Burrow and Diane's Home Page.

My mascot is the frog. You can tell which computer is mine by the rubber frog sitting on the keyboard. Frogs eat bugs, and programmers hate bugs. Get it? People mostly hold up the butterfly as the prime example of metamorphosis, but I prefer the frog, who moves from water to land, giving up gills and tail for lungs and feet. Frogs are cool looking. Ever see a butterfly up close?

I read somewhere that the retina of a frog's eye has circuitry designed to spot bugs, and directly instruct the tongue where to strike. In other words, the frog is sitting there, maybe daydreaming of proposing pollywogs to his partner, when a dark, moving object that's the right size shows up on his retina. The retina says, "Bug at 2 o'clock!" and gives height and declination ballistics to the tongue, which lashes out and snares the hapless fly without the frog's brain having to slow down the process by even thinking about it. I can just see a frog sitting there in his reverie, suddenly blinking as it dawns on him, "Hey! I swallowed a fly! Cool!"

Ribit.

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 Family 


I now live in Northern California with my wife, Connie, and daughter, Debbie. We have two cats and countless computers. (We had salt-water fish, but they gave their lives saving our house from a fire. No lie.) Our relatives live mostly in Southern California. Like every family, we have stories we tell, over and over.

Dave's Ugly Mug

Pictures? You want pictures? As if I'd open my wallet for the likes of YOU! Anyway, consider yourself spared. I do. How'd you like to be someplace with your family and another nerd who saw your web page points and yells "HI DAVE!" while waving frantically? Besides, graphics take too long for those of us with arthritic modems and overburdened providers. You'll have to make do with this thumbnail.

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 Likes & Dislikes 


My hobbies are bicycling, camping, electronics, folk dancing, genealogy, ham radio (I'm KD6TEE), online role-playing, karate, magic, palmtop computers, programming, public speaking (try Toastmasters), reading and science fiction, not necessarily in that order. Did I miss anything? Motto: "Actio sequitur esse." Old Motto: "If your PC doesn't fit in your pocket, it's not a PERSONAL computer."

PEOPLE: I like people who are funny, who let you know what they want but don't insist on it. I dislike people who are pushy or pushovers, and 95% of the attorneys I've met.

FOOD: I like red meat, barbecue, fresh fruits and vegetables and exotic foods. T-bones, artichokes, pizza, matzoh brei and noodle kugel are high on my list. I dislike mayonnaise, liver, brussel sprouts and seafood.

OTHER: I like exotic people and places, gadgets and driving fast. I dislike solicitors knocking on my door, junk mail, dishonesty, and most advertising. I like simple and elegant. Clean designs. I like mystery and challenge. I need adventure.

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 Top 10 Favorite Albums 


These are not the ten best albums, they're just MY ten favorite albums. That means that I can listen to them more than twice, and that I like at least 90 percent of the disc. Where possible I have links to get you started finding other related sites on the web. For a list of some of my favorite singles, see my Favorite Singles.

 Album  Artist 
 Brothers in Arms  Dire Straits 
 Dancing with the Lion  Andreas Vollenweider 
 The Dream of the Blue Turtles  Sting 
 Friday Night in San Francisco  Al DiMeola, John McLaughlin & Paco DeLucia 
 Pleasure Victim  Berlin 
 Primal Magic  Strunz & Farah 
 Songs from the Big Chair  Tears for Fears 
 Best o' Boingo  Oingo Boingo 
 The Golden Age of Wireless  Thomas Dolby 
 The Turning Point  John Mayall 
 Tragic Kingdom  No Doubt 
 Trilogy  Emerson, Lake and Palmer 
 Under the Table and Dreaming  The Dave Matthews Band 

These ratings subject to change without notice. They've already changed. Did you notice? What? You say there were more than ten? So sue me!


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 Top 10 Favorite Authors 


I've picked these as my favorite authors because they've written a lot of books, and I like most of them. An author needs quality AND quantity to make this list. For example, I love some of John Brunner's books, but too many of them I didn't like. I'm a fast reader, so I give lots of points to authors who can keep me reading.

 Author  Series 
 Robert A. Heinlein  just about everything 
 Spider Robinson  the Callahan's Saloon series 
 A. E. Maxwell  the Fiddler series 
 Robert B. Parker  the Spenser series 
 John D. McDonald  the Travis McGee series 
 Sue Grafton  the Kinsey Millhone series 
 Louis L'Amour  the Sackett series 
 Arthur Conan Doyle  the Sherlock Holmes series 
 Ian Fleming  the James Bond series 
 John Sandford  the Prey series 

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 Top 10 Favorite Books 


"When I get a little money, I buy books; and if any is left, I buy food and clothes." - Desiderius Erasmus

 Title  Author 
 The Moon Is A Harsh Mistress  Robert A. Heinlein 
 Time Enough for Love  Robert A. Heinlein 
 Stranger In A Strange Land  Robert A. Heinlein 
 The Past Through Tomorrow  Robert A. Heinlein 
 Stand on Zanzibar  John Brunner 
 Shockwave Rider  John Brunner 
 The Goblin Reservation  Clifford D. Simak 
 Way Station  Clifford D. Simak 
 Callahan's Crosstime Saloon  Spider Robinson 
 The Odyssey  Homer 

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 Top 10 Favorite TV Shows 

 Show  Comment 
 The X-Files  Question authority 
 Ally McBeal  Quirky, hysterical, touching... and Renee is great 
 The Practice  From the theme to the closing credits, a rousing look at law and humanity 
 Xena: Warrior Princess  I just love strong women 
 Law & Order  Exploring human behavior and depravity from both sides 
 Babylon 5  Storyline, character, graphics... it's got it all 
 Dharma & Greg  I laugh myself silly every week. Elfman's great! 
 Star Trek: The Next Generation  The best of the Star Trek series 
 Nash Bridges  Great music, good humor, glamour and action 
 Homicide  Cool characters and intriguing plots... but I miss Michelle Forbes 

Yes, I watch television. I admit it. A lot of the time I just put it on to have some noise in the background while I read, write or program. Please don't hate me.

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 Top 10 Favorite Movies 

 Movie  Favorite Stars 
 2001: A Space Odyssey  Keir Dullea, Douglas Rain & HAL 9000. 
 48 Hours  Eddie Murphy, Nick Nolte and Annette O'Toole. 
 Addicted to Love  Meg Ryan (oh, baby!) and Matthew Broderick. 
 Being There  Peter Sellers, Shirley MacLaine and Melvyn Douglas. 
 Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid  Robert Redford, Paul Newman and Katherine Ross. 
 Harold and Maude  Ruth Gordon and Bud Cort. 
 Independence Day  Will Smith, Jeff Goldbloom, Judd Hirsch and Robin Givens. 
 Raiders of the Lost Ark  Harrison Ford, Karen Allen and John Rhys-Davies. 
 Men in Black  Will Smith and Tommy Lee Jones. 
 Real Genius  Val Kilmer. 
 Silverado  Kevin Costner, Brian Dennehy, Danny Glover, Linda Hunt and Jeff Goldbloom. 
 Star Wars  Mark Hamill, Harrison Ford, Alec McGuiness and Carrie Fisher. 
 Terminator  Arnold Schwarzenegger and Linda Hamilton. 
 The Stunt Man  Peter O'Toole, Barbara Hershey, Steve Railsback. 
 Top Gun  Tom Cruise, Kelly McGillis, Val Kilmer, Anthony Edwards and Meg Ryan. 
 True Lies  Arnold Schwarzenegger, Jamie Lee Curtis, Tom Arnold and Charleton Heston. 

Okay, I can't be sure these are my 10 favorites, but they're close. Let's see YOUR list! And yes, there are 10 listings. It's in hexadecimal. So there!

I sometimes use The Internet Movie DataBase to find out about a specific film.



I also have a resume, pictures of people and places, a list of people I've known and a timeline of where I was living and going to school or work for each year that I've been alive. If you're a friend, family member or have a compelling reason, I can send you the file or web address on request.

Wow. You made it to the end. Are we having fun yet? Thanks for coming. Can we just be friends?


Copyright © 2004 David K. Goodman. All Rights Reserved.
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