Joel Hruska
e-mail: joel@vanshardware.com
I came into the world at a
very young age in 1979. Life was good--my parents threw scraps of food down into
the basement on a fairly regular basis, and every now and then I got to play
with Kitty. Kitty was a lot of fun. Tigers aren't known for having a good sense
of humor though, so every now and then Kitty would get mad and maul me. I always
got in trouble when Kitty mauled me.
I grew up in Southwest Indiana, where my young eyes discovered the glory of the
computer at the age of eight. My parents thought this was wonderful because it
gave me something to do other than follow them around begging for food all the
time. I liked computers. My first program generated an equation to create world
peace. Unfortunately it crashed. So I downloaded Space Wars and had fun with
that.
I went to DePauw University where I majored in political science and studied
classical singing.
If you are wondering about the usefulness of such majors, don't worry--so am I.
I graduated in 2001 and began the lengthy process of begging for work.
Coincedentally, just as I graduated, the entire economy crashed. I am hoping its
just a coincedence, but I'm noticing that the longer I search for work, the
lower the economy gets. I have begun to suspect it is my fault and am
considering retiring to a small shack to eat Doritos and yell at small children
in order to help the economy recover.
When not jumping up and down, I enjoy swing dancing, singing, martial arts,
video games, swimming, rock climbing, playing with my dog, reading, following
hardware news, and cranking out articles for Van's Hardware. I live near
Indianapolis, I brush my teeth, help old ladies across the street, and always
wash behind my ears. I've owned a variety of small businesses, been a computer
game mod writer (I created the Cold Fusion mod for Diablo II) and can be found
wandering around as Dputiger or Jarda Fireheart (my mod making name) on the rare
occasions I leave the asylum.